Hobbits get lost on the way to Raglan

The Middle Earth map of Waikato - good for fun, but not for navigation
The Middle Earth map of Waikato – good for fun, but not for navigation

We have been hearing increasing numbers of reports of hobbits getting lost on the way to Raglan. For some strange reason they have been ending up at the tiny settlement of Kinohaku, south of Kawhia harbour.

When Raglan 23 investigated we found that the the problem was an online Middle – Earth story book developed by Tourism New Zealand. In the story book there is  a ‘middle-earth’ style map of Hamilton and  Waikato featuring the Hobbit Movie Set, Waitomo, Maungatuatari, Te Aroha Hot Springs and Raglan. On the map Raglan is wrongly located near the tiny settlement of Kinohaku. While it’s 40km south of Raglan, it is a actually a 125km, 2 hour drive! While it’s obvious the map isn’t intended as an accurate travel map, the mislocation of Raglan is a pretty major error.

 As it is, the drive from Hamilton to Raglan is a quick 45 drive along State Highway 23. However, the drive from Hamilton to the map’s “Raglan” location is over 100km and would take well over 1h 35min.  And hobbits might have a problem finding Hamilton using the map as it is plotted west of the Waipa River rather than being on the Waikato River.
So if you see hobbits or tourists looking lost on the back roads of Otorohanga, point them in the right direction and suggest they use an AA map rather than the the Middle-Earth one from Tourism NZ.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *