Flying High in Vernon: Mitchell

Uncle Ken's plane with Jackson, Aunt Sue & Mom riding in it:



Aunt Sue, Mom & Flat Stanley:
After visiting the Islands, we drove to Kamloops to see our friends that used to live in Ottawa - Todd & Becky and their kids Micaela, Ben and Talia. We also saw them in France. Mostly we had water gun fights with them and the adults sat on the patio.

Our Kamloops friends:
Talia took a real shine to Flat Stanley - we had to gently pry him out of her hands:

On July 9th we went to a city called Vernon to meet my Aunt Sue and Uncle Ken. Aunt Sue is my mom's sister. They have a new home overlooking a lake and it was very nice. We stayed there for several days and it was very enjoyable, too. We did lots of cool stuff that I will talk about.

First, we got to do something really neat, and that was flying a plane! My Uncle Ken owns a plane called a Cessna and we took it for a flight. Four people can fit in this plane so we took turns. When it was my turn, I went up with Uncle Ken and my dad. I was the co-pilot so I had a chance to fly the plane, and I was careful not to crash it. However, I did not land the plane, because that looked a little harder. There was special radar in the plane that let me see the elevation around me to see if I was above any nearby hills, and it could see other planes too. We flew over both Okanagan Lake and Kalamalka Lake and up the valley to Armstrong and then back again.

Uncle Ken piloting the plane. He tried to freak mom out by saying he had chest pains once they were high up in the air:

I am reading off the take-off instructions:

Jackson's turn later:

We also went swimming at a beach on a lake called Kalamalka Lake. It was a nice beach, and it had a cool slide. Also, the water was not cold at all, and from their house you could see the whole lake, which was nice.

Later on we went to a movie theatre to see Toy Story 3. All of us liked the movie and I thought it was very funny and clever. It was also a movie I was dying to see, so I’m glad I saw it eventually. My Aunt Sue laughed through the whole thing and said she really enjoyed it.

Rainbow over Kal Lake:

Swimming at Kal Beach:

Incredible view from Aunt Sue & Uncle Ken's living room:

We celebrated Aunt Sue's birthday a few days early - Happy Birthday Sue!

Last but not least, we drove all the way to Kelowna because we were going to meet three Club Penguin moderators. Club Penguin is a fun computer game I like to play that’s based in Canada. Kelowna is the headquarters for Club Penguin. The company was started by three guys but then got bought by Disney for millions of dollars. Moderators are people who keep the game safe and reply to emails sent in by people. The three moderators we met – Carlos, Lucas and Cassie - were very knowledgeable and knew a lot about Club Penguin. Jackson & I got to ask lots of questions. Even though we only got to see the lobby, I liked the Club Penguin theme a lot and I thought it was very well designed. It was a lot of fun to speak with them, and maybe next time we can tour the whole place.

Overall, this was a very fun stop on our trip across Canada and I enjoyed it. I also got to try new things and see the Club Penguin headquarters, and I was disappointed to leave.

At Club Penguin office in Kelowna:

Coming up . . . Banff to Jasper and Edmonton via the Columbia Icefields Parkway.

Hotel California: Mitchell

Scenes from Club Intrawest in Palm Desert:

Medjool Dates, famous in Palm Springs:After a long 10-hour flight from Samoa, we arrived in Los Angeles, California. We like Los Angeles, but we are not staying there. We are staying in a city an hour and a half away called Palm Desert. We chose to stay there because there is a time-share there called Club Intrawest, and we are members so we are allowed to stay there.

So after we got out of the airport, we took a shuttle bus to a car rental place, since we were driving to Palm Desert ourselves. There were lots of cool cars, but in the end we got a white Chevrolet; I forget what the model is right now.

After our long drive, we arrived at Club Intrawest, our time-share. Since we were very tired from a long day of traveling (driving to the airport in Samoa, flying from Samoa to California and driving to Palm Desert), we rested for the rest of the day and swam in the pool and relaxed. Club Intrawest is a really nice place and we are all enjoying it here.

Most days, we just hung around the pool and did nothing much, but one day we went to a zoo about the desert and its animals, called “The Living Desert.” It had information on many different deserts around the world, and a large collection of plants and animals that live in the desert. We saw many cacti, other plants, and animals including giraffes, wolves, coyotes, ostrich, bobcat, mountain lion, cercal, tortoises, bat-eared fox, zebra and warthog. We even got to feed a giraffe and see a presentation about owls. The zoo was a really cool place because it was just like a desert!

After lounging around for most of our days here, we went all the way to a place called Irvine, a suburb near Anaheim. We went all the way there to see mom’s friend Julia and her family. They have two sons close in age to me and Jackson. At their house, we ate lunch and then decided to go to the beach. It was a nice place called Laguna Beach, and lots of people were there. When we got there we tried to swim, but the waves were way too big so we went to a cove a little out of the way because the waves were smaller and easier to go for a swim. Also, Sebastien and Justin, the two kids we met, had these boogie boards that were really fun to use.

We also went to this market called the Palm Springs Street Fair. It was pretty cool and it had lots of interesting items like medjool dates, jewellry, and paintings. However, we have been going to markets all around the world, so it was a little boring, but my mom and dad liked it.

Last but not least, we went to a water park called “Knott’s Soak City Water Park” and it was great! It had lots of rides, like ones with tubes, and some without, and it even had a big pool shaped like a river and it had a current so you could just float along with your tube. However, the best ride there was definitely a ride called the “Pacific Spin.” It was a really fun water slide. It is the scariest ride there, six storeys high, and I was impressed that even my mom went down it.

Tomrrow morning, we will get up very early to go to Hollywood and Beverly Hills because Jackson really wants to, but later that day we will be leaving for Vancouver, Canada. It's cool that we arrive back in Canada on July 1st, Canada Day! I really liked California though, it has lots of cool places.

Everyone poses with this statue of Sonny Bono, former mayor of Palm Springs, so we did too:

Living Desert landscapes:

Jackrabbit outside our unit every morning:

Feeding giraffes at The Living Desert zoo - we called this guy Gene Simmons:

Knott's Soak City Waterpark:

Ducks outside our unit, looking for snacks:

Greetings from Middle Earth: Mitchell

There are diamond rings, planetary rings, telephone rings, and even onion rings, but the best rings of all are . . . Lord of the Rings!

After we left Auckland, we drove in our rental car to the small village of Matamata. Matamata is a special place because it is the filming location of Hobbiton, also called The Shire, in the first and third movies in the LOTR trilogy. Matamata is also famous for its thoroughbred racing horses, which people come from all over the world to buy.

We boarded a bus to a sheep farm about 10 minutes outside of Matamata, owned by the Alexander family. The Alexander farm was discovered by Peter Jackson on an aerial search for a suitable site. I was very excited to see the actual location of Hobbiton because I have liked the series since I was a kid. When we got there, there was a confidentiality notice and my Mom had to sign a form saying we would not post revealing pictures or comments about what is going on there. This is because Peter Jackson and New Line Cinema are currently in the process of producing the prequel, The Hobbit.


Peter Jackson likes to keep his films a big secret, I think. Our tour guide told us that when the three LOTR films were being made (did you know all three were made at once to save time and money?), he was able to have a no-fly zone declared over the farm that was The Shire. A security guard was posted at the entrance and no one who was not involved in the filming was allowed onsite.

When we arrived at the LOTR film set, we first walked to a place known as the Party Tree. Near the Party Tree is a big field where the Hobbits celebrated Bilbo Baggins’ birthday in the first movie.

We also saw a large pond where the pub in the movie was. We even saw many Hobbit holes, even the one called Bag End, where Bilbo and Frodo Baggins lived. We are not allowed to post photos of these, as they are under re-construction for the prequel.

It was cool seeing all the construction workers re-building Hobbiton and all the Hobbit holes. We were lucky to see a lot of construction activity the day we went.

Here are some interesting facts:

- the road to the movie set of Hobbiton was built by the New Zealand army and it is 1.5 km long
- 37 Hobbit holes were constructed for the movies – there will be 44 for the prequel
- Peter Jackson has great attention to detail. For example, to have plum trees like in the books, he had leaves imported from Taiwan and these were individually wired onto dead trees
- at the peak of filming, 400 people were on site

The word fan comes from the word fanatic. The tour guide told us some funny stories about the craziest fans she has taken on tour. For example, she has seen people who speak fluent Elvish, as well as people who dress up as Hobbits to come on the tour. She told us about one Japanese girl who has been on the tour seven times and each time, this girl has worn a different Hobbit outfit.

While we drove there, we really liked the nice rolling countryside and big green hills with lots of sheep grazing. It really did look like Middle Earth!

Note to Darlene: Your jacket has now officially been to Middle Earth!

Gorgeous rolling countryside of The Shire:

This veteran of sheep shearing took only a couple of minutes to completely shear this lamb:

Watching a sheep-shearing demonstration:

Feeding baby lambs at Hobbiton farm:

Scuba Diving the Great Barrier Reef: Mitchell

A big first for me on this trip: I had my first experience scuba diving and what better place than the Great Barrier Reef. When we got to Airlie Beach, we camped at the Big4 Adventure Whitsunday camping resort, and we all liked it a lot. At the camping resort, we had a pool, a mini-golf course that my brother and I liked, and these go-karts that you could rent for an hour and drive around the campsite.

A few days later we took a cruise through the Whitsunday Islands. We went to three different islands: Hook island, Whitsunday Island and Daydream Island. At Hook Island, we were supposed to go snorkeling, but my mom asked me if I wanted to go scuba diving and I said yes! When I went scuba diving, I had an instructor to help me, and his name was Jayden. I also had to wear a stinger suit, because there are box jellyfish and marine stingers that can kill you with their sting. They are mainly in the water between the months of November to end of May, so we are at the end of the stinger season. I enjoyed scuba diving because I got to go deep under water and feel the coral. I even got to hold a sea cucumber that Jayden passed to me. Jayden told me that I can continue to dive with a PADI-certified instructor until I am 15, then I can become certified myself. Before age 15, you can only take the Junior Diving Course.

Afterwards, we got back in the cruise ship and went to our next island, Whitsunday Island. But we weren’t there for the island; we were there for Whitehaven Beach, a nice beach that is famous for its pure white silica sand. We swam there for an hour or two, and then left for the final island - Daydream Island. Once we got there, we decided to swim at the pool. After that, we played bocce ball, and we happened to see some wallabies. The wallabies were very nice because they would let you come up close to them. Afterwards, we took the cruise ship home, but I had a lot of fun, and I enjoyed it a lot.

Getting ready to go snorkelling in our "stinger" suits:

Whitehaven Beach on Whitsunday Island:

Wallaby on Daydream Island:

Whitehaven Beach (South Pacific Ocean):