I’m in the Sydney airport now, and I’ve got Internet connection! I’ll catch up on the last few days here.

First, I've got a few scenic pictures, ending with an unlit Sydney opera house picture I took early this morning. We've gone twice to both Sydney and Brisbane on this trip, if you're wondering why I'm back at Sydney yet again.

We did get to see Rivendell, but I was so in awe that I forgot to get pictures of the actual scenery! My dad got pictures though. Here's some pictures I took of the signs:

 

 

The autumn leaves seen falling in the background of Rivendell in the Fellowship of the Ring (they symbolized the passing of the elves from middle earth) have a funny story attached. An advertisement was put up that the first 50 respondents who wanted their yards cleared of leaves would have a filming crew quickly descend and clean up the leaves for them, free of charge. Thus, the respondents could have their own leaves portrayed on screen.

We reenacted the fellowship first embarking from Rivendell, with me as Gandalf, Lauren as Frodo, and Julia as a fellowship extra. My dad filmed it and said at the end, “Peter Jackson would be proud.” I’m not sure if he was joking.

Peter Jackson actually filmed the whole Lord of the Rings trilogy, but cut 900 hours into only 9 hours of film. This includes the scenes that he had to re-shoot. He had the Lord of the Rings books with him while he directed scenes to ensure it was as true to the actual story as possible, minus scenes he deemed necessary to change.

At the site where Isengard was filmed, I gave Julia my white sweater and Mom gave Lauren her gray sweater so that Julia could be Saruman and Lauren could be Gandalf. Julia tied her hair in a ponytail in front of her face to create a beard. When the orcs pull down the trees at night, there are actually only two trees being pulled down. When each shot was taken, there was a hinge attached to the trees that would pull them back up. These trees were already dead, but the leaves had to be reattached after each shooting. The shots were taken at various angles to make it appear that lots of trees were being pulled down. I found it interesting that Peter Jackson decided not to just use fake trees for that night scene.

Julia got a chance to be Frodo when we acted out the black rider (Dad) sniffing for the hiding hobbits. I was Sam, so I grabbed Julia’s (Frodo’s) arm when she was putting on the ring (Dad’s wedding ring). Lauren was Merry and Mom was Pippin. We pretended to be concerned about the bugs.

We saw the site where Helm's Deep and Minas Tirith were filmed. It was a working quarry, so Peter Jackson bought the quarry for a year so that he could use the site. He also bought all the Styrofoam in a factory to make the sets, but realized that was silly, so he ended up just buying the whole factory.

We met Bombur’s stunt double. He was also another tour guide. Our tour guide said that almost everyone in Wellington had some part in The Hobbit or Lord of the Rings films. That’s why in New Zealand there’s a five-minute thank you from Peter Jackson to the Kiwis before the showing of the third hobbit movie, which I still haven’t seen.

We went to Akaroa to see Edoras (Mount Sunday in real life). Most of the places I’ve been to in New Zealand have been really windy, and the hills of Akaroa are no exception. The wind blew my hair into my face so that it was hard to see. I’m not sure how Legolas kept his hair out of his eyes while running through the hills of middle earth!



I've seen some weird things in public eating areas here:

First off, Julia looked at a menu in a coffee shop and saw they were selling an avocado along with other side dishes. She thought that was strange, but an avocado sounded good to her, so she ordered that at the counter. However, when her order came in, it turns out that an avocado is a type of milky coffee drink. When the barista saw Julia’s surprise, Julia explained that she thought she had asked for the fruit, not a coffee drink. I’m not sure why that drink wasn’t organized with the other coffee drinks on the menu, but the barista kindly gave Julia a refund.
And...

??????

This nice restaurant displayed the behind of a zebra for some reason. Maybe to show where the exit was? I found this wallpaper quite funny.

Julia has developed a bit of an accent, and I can now distinguish between Aussie and Kiwi accents. Kiwi accents are softer, like Pacific Northwest American accents, while Aussie accents are like how American southern accents are much more noticeable and drawled out. In addition to the Whytes who moved from New Zealand to Australia, I’ve met several Kiwis who poke fun at Aussie accents and mimic them, like how Americans mimic southern accents sometimes.

Because there’s a great diversity of people who come to New Zealand and Australia for vacation, it’s easy to almost walk into people on hiking trails and paths. One time a woman and I were walking toward each other, both on the left side, but she started to move to her right, probably thinking I was American, while I stayed at my left, thinking she was from New Zealand. Then she laughed and asked, “Which side?” I explained simply, “I’m American.” Then she said, “Ahhhh.”

Our tour guide called one of the security staff “the smiling assassin.” This is pretty accurate, and it’s this one security guard in particular who seems unkind. She smiles, but is quite ready to scold us over basically nothing. The smile is only a façade; a look she gives when devising potential ways to point out our minor faults. She also misdirects us every time we see her.

The town of Dunedin in New Zealand feels like Seattle’s summer now because they’re at around 46 degrees latitude, while Seattle is at around 47 degrees latitude. The spelling of Dunedin looks like the Lord of the Rings Dunedin, but it is pronounced differently. Dunedin has the steepest residential road in the world, so we got out of the tour vehicle and ran up it. This road is on Baldwin Street and has a steepness of 34 degrees. It gets steeper near the top of the road too.

 

 

 

 

 

“They figured they could probably get away with it.” –our tour guide, referring to Baldwin

Street.

Dunedin is known for its beautiful architecture. Lauren said, “So this day is for me!” after Mom talked about the architecture we’d see in Dunedin. Lauren wants to do “something with design and something with math” in Lauren’s exact words. In the past, she has wanted to be an architect or an interior designer. She’s not exactly sure what she wants to do for her occupation now. 

We visited the University of Otago in Dunedin to look at the beautiful gothic designs of the structures. The Scots were involved with the University of Otago, and there were originally three Scottish professors and only one English professor teaching at this university. 

Eighteen species of penguin exist worldwide. We got to view yellow-eyed penguin chicks through peepholes in dugout trenches, living in their natural habitat. I liked the warm trenches as they had pretty leaves and kept out the cold and windy climate.

 

 

We also saw albatross and bachelor sea lions. Only black swans live in New Zealand. There are no white swans.

Our tour guide said there’d be a surprise for us…and there was!

 

Our tour guide’s children danced a Scottish jig in front of the train station with a recorded bagpipe. It was the first day they had ever danced for tourists.

Later, we watched two men playing the bagpipe.

 

We have a picture of the family next to the sign in Eastern Washington that says “Seaton Road.” It turns out that our English family name is popular enough in New Zealand to exist on signs here as well!

 Seaton Road is near Seaton Bay.

“This is probably the hottest day in Dunedin since last Christmas” –our tour guide

Although it’s New Zealand’s summer and it looks tropical in photos, New Zealand got a bit cold (and windy) for me, especially in the southern parts. Even the New Zealand capital is sometimes referred to as “windy Wellington.” I like how Australia was warmer, but both are beautiful. Although I love Washington, sometimes people ask me why I live there if I feel the cold so deeply. The reasons are that Washington is beautiful and most of my family lives there. I’ve got great memories in Washington as well. It’s fun to visit both Australia and New Zealand because these places used to just exist in my imagination and seemed so far away. Although I had never been to Australia or New Zealand before this trip, I've had a kindled fascination with these places from movies, stories, and books. When I was little, I watched a lot of Steve Irwin and Discovery Channel, some of which was filmed in Australia. When the Whytes lived in Washington, they brought stories of New Zealand and Australia with them. I also had a kids’ book about a kiwi who wanted to fly, so he found ways to artificially fly, like bungee jumping. At the end of each story, the narrator would say, “Kia Ora little kiwi, at last you learn to fly.” So, I’ll end this blog with a Kia Ora:

Thanks for following our family vacation through Australia and New Zealand! This concludes my blog, but I’ll see most of you guys in person soon. We're flying to Los Angeles soon for a long layover before coming home to Washington.