I Have Seen Where The Hobbits Live!

Everyone knows that New Zealand is the land of the hobbit. I was not sure. At least not until our recent hike.

We walked along a section of the Great Kepler Track. New Zealand is famous for their Great Walks and we are trying to hit some of them on our travels. Exhausted from our Doubtful Sound boat ride ( I think we were over stimulated!), we decided to head to our next hostel–the Barnyard Backpackers.

The outside of the Barnyard Backpackers hostel.

This hostel boasts of their deer farm and their remote location. Okay, I will bite! Especially after a particularly uncomfortable stay at the Te Anau Youth Hostel. Thankfully this one is delightful! One could say we are “back in the saddle”! Our current hostel has no Internet, good and bad. The main lodge has tables set facing the windows to enjoy the view and even a pool table up in a loft. And…a sweet girl from Orange County, California at the front desk. The world is small. Our room is half of a small cabin set lower on the hill overlooking the sheep, cows, horses and deer! Lots of open space.

The view out to the right of our cabin...

...and looking out to the left, we see...a domestic deer herd!

But no hobbits. The hobbits live across the valley in the forest. It is startling how different each one of our hikes has been. This portion of the Kepler Track boasts a forest carpeted with thick moss that winds underneath towering beech trees that let the sunlight gently filter in. No noisy rivers to ford, just birds filling the canopy with music. Perfect place for a hobbit to hide. If you look closely you can see their trails going off the main trail deeper into the woods. And the soft moss allows them to move around silently.

Most disturbing are the hobbit traps. Clearly they are traps. These holes are four feet deep and four feet in diameter. They are coated in the same soft moss that cover the walking path – obvious camouflage. I even saw one hole that had a branch over the top to entice the hobbits to use it as a footbridge. I am sure it would not support their weight. In another hole I saw one to the “bridges” leaning against the wall of the hole. Obviously an escape route. These hobbits are smart. Their hiding spots can be found inside the trees and under their roots if you look hard.

I would share some of my pictures of these hobbit habitats but as “luck” would have it…while deleting a few out of focus shots, mysteriously all of these hobbit-related pictures disappeared! Seriously! Obviously the work of the hobbits.

I am on alert for them now…especially when I noticed how unnaturally low to the ground the door knob in our cabin is. Perfect for hobbits. The good thing about identifying them is that they wander around barefoot and they have very furry feet. I am watching people’s feet!