Day 3

 Blog 5/15/2025 Thursday — Kyle and Hadley

Cow Statues in Morrinsville

Wagon Wheel Bakery in Morrinsville

Today started strong with a trip to Morrinsville to the famous Wagon Wheel Cafe, and a side of adventures through the several farm stores. Morrinsville, a rural town comprised of 6,000 people, is most known for being the dairy capital of New Zealand, housing  approximately 25% of the total dairy cows found in the country. This “traditional NZ small town” is home to 60 dairy cow sculptures by sponsored by several local businesses to represent the importance of the dairy industry. 

Local farm store in Morrinsville

Eartag wall in Morrinsville

After we spent time finding unfamiliar items in a “traditional NZ” farm store, we had a list ranging from kangaroo dog food to possum traps and a whole wall of individual ear tags organized by number. The rest of the time spent in Morrinsville included devouring flavorful meat pies and dub dubs (crème donut with powder sugar) at the cafe, preparing us for our next journey to Grant Wills and Karen Preston’s dairy farm. 

Dairy cows at Grant's dairy

The family dairy, originally rooted in sheep farming, got its start in 1932 then expanded in the ‘50s with an addition of corn and beef. With time and growth, the farm switched to dairy cows in 1998 and has been practicing peak production ever since. Unique to NZ, milk production is based on milk solids, not volume, and the family farm works hard to stay competitive with strict pasture rotations and adaptive management such as implementing fall calving to maximize their system. Thanks to continuous monitoring over the last 30 years, Grant Wills has learned that his forage availability is most reliable during the fall season after forages have recovered from seasonal shortages common on the North island due to drought.

Grant teaching about his milk parlor

Hobbit house in Hobbiton

Kyle and Carl playing peekaboo in Hobbiton

Our afternoon continued with a visit to the famous Hobbiton. We arrived at the visitor center where we collected gifts and sent postcards before setting off on our own adventure. The set is housed on the Alexander farm, scattered with Romney sheep and Angus cattle. The film site was chosen by Sir Peter Jackson in 1998 when his scout was flying over the hills of the North island searching for the Middle Earth to match the imagery of the books. We were treated to a behind the scenes story when Sir Peter Jackson’s scout knocked on Mr. Alexanders door and kindly begged him to allow filming to happen on his farm. With hesitation to leave the sofa to answer the door due to an intense rugby match between The All Blacks and Australia, Mr. Alexander made Jackson wait until half time of the match before responding to his request. Without much convincing, Alexander allowed construction to begin and the first Hobbiton was built. As promised, it was promptly taken down after filming so the farm could resume business. 

Hobbiton farmer catching up on the markets

It was not until 2009 when the Hobbit Trilogy was to be filmed, did they reconstruct the set to create permanent buildings per Mr. Alexander’s request. Now it remains as a piece of NZ history highlighting one of the best stories ever told. We passed by all 44 hobbit homes and explored inside a few too, and conveniently led us right to the Green Dragon Pub, where we each enjoyed a free brew thanks to our tour guide, Danni. Dinner was spent at the NZ Skyline buffet — fueling us up for our next full day!

Written today by Hadley and Kyle

Group photo at Green Dragon Pub in Hobbiton