Blue Mountains Autumn
A journey to the Blue Mountains and a little further west offers wonderful opportunities to experience and appreciate nature’s seasonal change of autumn.
One significant location, 15 kms from Oberon is the Mayfield Gardens where 20 hectares (49 acres) of private property has been transformed by local tradespeople and landscapers into a delightful garden.
Spectacular features include the Bluestone Bridge, the Grotto, Cascades, the Red Bridge, Boardwalks and the 16.5 metre Obelisk.
These images, photographed in early May 2021, hopefully, will convey the autumn beauty of Mayfield Gardens.
Hobbiton Movie Set
The Hobbiton Movie Set was a significant location used for THE LORD OF THE RINGS and THE HOBBIT film trilogies. It is located on a family run farm (utilising 14 of the 1200 acre property) about 10km southwest of Matamata in Waikato, New Zealand (North Island) and is now a TOLKIEN tourism destination offering guided tours of the set.
When Sir Peter Jackson (Director) began to look for suitable locations, he first saw the Alexander farm during an aerial search in 1998 and concluded that the area was “like a slice of ancient England”.
After negotiations with the owners, work commenced in transforming part of the farm into sets in 1999. Work included building the facades of 37 hobbit holes and associated gardens and hedges, the Green Dragon Inn, a watermill and a double arch bridge (as portrayed in my portfolio images) and the erection of a 26 tonne oak tree which had been cut down and recreated on site complete with artificial leaves. Thatch on the inn and mill roofs was made from rushes growing on the farm.
Early filming began and in 2010 the set was rebuilt in a more permanent fashion. Guided tours of the movie set site commenced in 2002 which last about two hours, and operate daily via a shuttle bus which departs from the Shire’s Rest Café. By 2013 more than 500,000 people had visited the set.
Reference: Wikipedia
