The Hobbit Motor Lodge
Apr. 17th, 2024 08:08 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
canyonwalkerNew Zealand Travelog #28
Ohakune, NZ - Tue, 16 Apr 2024, 8am
As I mentioned in my post from last night, we stayed in the Hobbit Motor Lodge in Ohakune, NZ.
No, it has pretty much nothing to do with Hobbits or the LotR movies... except maybe that up in the national park to the north of town are not one but two waterfalls dubbed "Gollum's pool" because it/they were apparently the location scene for CGI Gollum singing about how much he hated a fish. But which waterfall was it? The fact that there are two illustrates to me the cravenness of the industry— as does cashing in on the name with such a tenuous connection. And really it should then be called The Gollum Motor Lodge. But I'm sure that wouldn't sell room. 🤣
This little hotel has zero connection to anything hobbit-y, other than its name. It's just a shit-hole little hotel, the kind I roll my eyes at for having been rooked into booking. ...And No, I didn't book it because it's named "Hobbit", I frankly booked it despite that tourist come-on because the photos looked decent. Except it's apparent from being in our actual room that the photos were... let's just say, heavily staged. It's a quaint motor lodge style hotel of the sort I remember seeing along the honky-tonk strip in my town These relics from the 1950s were torn down by 1990 as the area grew.
How quaint is it? It's still-uses-metal-keys quaint.
And I don't even know why there are 4 keys on this ring. Only one opens the door to our room. One might open the door to the building— though it wasn't locked.
Oh, but, hey! Our room has a kitchen. Yes, we knew that when we booked it, and that was kind of one of the reasons we picked it. Too bad the grocery store was closed last night by the time we got to it, so we had nothing to cook this morning.
Kitchens are actually fairly common to find offered in NZ hotels, especially in smaller towns. Most don't have a full stove like this but do have at least a small range-top.
It seems more common to find a hotel with in-room kitchens than a pool with a hot tub. This hotel was supposed to have both. The hot tub is closed for "repairs", though. I quote "repairs" because it doesn't look like it's been open since... oh, about the time the last LotR movie was released.
Ohakune, NZ - Tue, 16 Apr 2024, 8am
As I mentioned in my post from last night, we stayed in the Hobbit Motor Lodge in Ohakune, NZ.
No, it has pretty much nothing to do with Hobbits or the LotR movies... except maybe that up in the national park to the north of town are not one but two waterfalls dubbed "Gollum's pool" because it/they were apparently the location scene for CGI Gollum singing about how much he hated a fish. But which waterfall was it? The fact that there are two illustrates to me the cravenness of the industry— as does cashing in on the name with such a tenuous connection. And really it should then be called The Gollum Motor Lodge. But I'm sure that wouldn't sell room. 🤣
This little hotel has zero connection to anything hobbit-y, other than its name. It's just a shit-hole little hotel, the kind I roll my eyes at for having been rooked into booking. ...And No, I didn't book it because it's named "Hobbit", I frankly booked it despite that tourist come-on because the photos looked decent. Except it's apparent from being in our actual room that the photos were... let's just say, heavily staged. It's a quaint motor lodge style hotel of the sort I remember seeing along the honky-tonk strip in my town These relics from the 1950s were torn down by 1990 as the area grew.
How quaint is it? It's still-uses-metal-keys quaint.
And I don't even know why there are 4 keys on this ring. Only one opens the door to our room. One might open the door to the building— though it wasn't locked.
Oh, but, hey! Our room has a kitchen. Yes, we knew that when we booked it, and that was kind of one of the reasons we picked it. Too bad the grocery store was closed last night by the time we got to it, so we had nothing to cook this morning.
Kitchens are actually fairly common to find offered in NZ hotels, especially in smaller towns. Most don't have a full stove like this but do have at least a small range-top.
It seems more common to find a hotel with in-room kitchens than a pool with a hot tub. This hotel was supposed to have both. The hot tub is closed for "repairs", though. I quote "repairs" because it doesn't look like it's been open since... oh, about the time the last LotR movie was released.
