Larnach's Castle

The only Castle in New Zealand.

It's pretty cool.

So are the Chandeliers.

I have been practicing my photography skills on various things in and around the castle.

I think the coat of arms for the castle is a cat, which is a bit different and interesting.

It's very big. And kind of expensive to see, but they use the money to help restore it so people can come look at it.

The gardens are quite pretty as well.
We spent most of the day wandering around everywhere, and then went home.

(PS what kind of posts would you like to see more of? Please leave your thoughts in the comment section.)

Pictures and the Science Festival

I have been drawing, again. (How shocking)

This is a picture by one of my sisters, Hannah. She has just started a blog, writingdraw.blogspot.com it's a bit like this blog.

One of my other sisters has also started a blog, woodshavingsandbirdnests.blogspot.com this is something she's working on.

(What could it be!)


Well, on to the drawing!

At one of the events we went to they gave us pads of paper. So, naturally, I drew evil fairies, fish and a lizard on mine.

I momentarily forgot what insect wings look like

Once upon a time, I was bored. However, I just so happened to be in a library with free WiFi in it. Instead of reading something to improve my mind, I googled three different invertebrates and drew them.

By the way, if you ever find an octopus like this, be aware they are very poisonous, As is said above.

In the first event we went to, we looked at stuff, like these alum crystals, some of which were grown by my family. 

We went to a few more events, too, including one where we were taken around part of Otago Polytechnic and did various things. We built water wheels.

Looked at robots.

Built towers

And smashed them. (The one I helped with only broke after 25 kg was put on it. The engineer there said that the international student's one only got to 17)

We made paper rockets and shot them at the sky.

And butter is pretty expensive just now.
(Apparently Kiwi butter is cheaper in the UK)

There was an art exhibition as well.

We were making giant coccolithophores (Try saying that quickly) by gluing bits of paper on the giant spheres over there.

We drew some anonymous pictures and left them there. I wonder what happened to them.

This is one of Hannah's.

Daniel drew a Butterfish.
The exhibition was ocean themed, to raise awareness of the rubbish in the sea. (Save the ocean, save the albatross in Hawaii!)

Oh yeah, there was another thing...

I got a pencil sharpener! :)

And fancy chocolate

(PS. If anyone has questions, suggestions or comments, please leave them in the comment section. The end. Until next Monday.)

The Actual End

PART TWENTY FIVE
"So, where are you going?"
Iva looked up from the magazine she was reading to see the familiar pale face of her sister; a little worn since she had last seen her, but still the same smiling girl sitting across from her.
"Ena! What are you doing here?" Iva attempted to rise from her seat, but was thrown back by the jolting of the bus.

"I'm going back to Mum and Dad. Where's Dione?" Ena broke off.
"He's in the bus behind this one, looking after Angele and Chantel."
Ena nodded slowly. "Aha, and who are they?"
"Some people we met in Ivan." Iva couldn't hide the tone of disappointment in her voice.
"What? Didn't you stay? I thought you and Leone and Dione were going to stay there forever. Nobody comes back from Ivan!"
Ena gripped the arm rest of her seat and looked at her sister in shocked confusion. Iva, borne down under the stress of the last few days, the last few years, slumped in her seat and looked hard at her brown skirt, biting the sides of her mouth to suppress the tears which she had kept back for hours.
"Well," she began in a small voice she was trying to keep steady, but which Ena had no chance of hearing. "Maybe they were kept from leaving."
She heard Ena unbuckle her seatbelt and stagger across the aisle to sit beside her.
"Where's Leone?" Said Ena, putting her arms around Iva.
Iva sniffed and croaked through her tight throat, "He's with Dione, I told him I'd be alright." she took out her hanky and blew her nose.
"He obviously didn't think so or he wouldn't have called and asked me to come." said Ena. This was too much for Iva. Sobs overpowered her. Leone was so thoughtful, even though he should be angry at her for persuading him to come on this wild goose chase.
"So, what happened?"
"I don't know." Iva said between her sobs.
She clung tight to Ena, that shard of sound, the gunshot, stabbing her ears. Had it hit anyone.
The headcount once they'd hidden.
The shock that three of them were absent.
"I don't know."
Maybe the others had got away, but gone in a different direction. Maybe if she hadn't decided to go on The Long March none of this would have happened. If she was good all the rest of her life could they be okay? No, that wouldn't happen. She would never know.
"Mum will be excited to see you." Said Ena.
The thought of their mother only brought on more tears and memories. Mum had always been so patient, kind and unruffled by most things. She had never understood why everyone thought The Long March was so important. She thought getting on with other people was a better way of using time and energy than going off and never coming back. No one who went ever did come back, As Ena said. If they did come back it was because they gave up. They would be dishonoured for life. Mum just didn't think that was fair.
Along with mum, came memories of Dad, who loved them all and had a wicked sense of humour. Why did she ever leave? She wished she could have stayed home forever, but she had been young, newly married and feeling overly confident. When one of her friends said she was going on The Long March, Iva decided that was a good idea and persuaded Leone and Dione to come too. How would Mum and Dad be glad to see her? How would anyone love her again after she had been so mean? She fell into an exhausted sleep.

Epilogue.
In the years following the escape, a war was fought, Angele had a child she named Holly, the capital was taken over, Evan was executed for aiding in the escape. Etina had a child who she named Enia, and was subsequently imprisoned for life in the newly captured capital. Lana and Ivan also had a child who they named Alia. Chrystal died, leaving the ruling of the country to Ivan. Connal was kidnapped by Rhoda, Shine's nurse, who disappeared with Walter and Mirabell. Angele went into hiding with Iva's family. Chantel married Leone's brother, Manuel. Under assumed names, (Amiri and Carl), Leone and Iva attempted to inform the world of the truth regarding the Hidden City. They were unsuccessful and had to flee over the mountains on the outskirts of the capital, where they began a community focused on plants and animals.

THE END :) 😁

End (Except for the Epilogue)

PART TWENTY FOUR

The receptionist was just packing to go home, when around the corner rushed a crowd of about eight people, three of whom he'd seen a few hours earlier. They ran past without noticing him. It wasn't usual for people to leave. The receptionist decided it was none of his business and resumed what he was doing. As he entered the city, however, a group of guards passed him and also left the city. The receptionist decided this was also none of his business and continued on his way home.

Sonia declared a halt on a small hill not far from the cave entrance. Angele, Evan and Etina needed a rest. When Evan got his breath back he exclaimed on how dark it was and sat heavily on the ground. Etina joined him while Angele took possession of a large rock. The others stood around awkwardly.
"Where exactly are we going?"
Sonia roused herself from wondering what had happened to Ralf to realise that she was the leader now.
"Um..." Where were they going? She looked around and espied a cluster of lights. There must be a town or city down there.
"We're going there." She pointed, hoping she sounded confident. She was met with silence. They were probably judging her decision. She sat down and glared at them through the dark.
Glittering stars peeped through the rippling red night lights in the sky; stars that seemed to pierce through the group like icy needles. Their breath came in clouds like the steam from eight kettles.

One of the strangers, the woman who had spoken to Sonia, approached Angele.

“It's a beautiful night.”

Angele, still in shock, nodded mechanically.

“Were you on the long march too?”

This question brought back the memories of Ralf, Lana, Jermaine and Connal, all of whom Angele believed must be dead. Tears filled her eyes and choked her lungs. Her head rang with that gunshot. He couldn't be dead, not after all the time they'd spent together. Right now she'd do anything to have him back, even die herself. What was the point of living without him? Years of loneliness and despair. The woman was speaking again, Angele couldn't hear what she said. She felt her hand being tugged and got to her feet. Through her tears she saw Evan and Etina begin to move down the hill into the dark. The woman beside her pulled her along behind them.

Sonia came up beside Leone, who towered over her.

“How far behind us would you say they are?” she struggled to keep up with his long strides.

“Not very far, they are better at running than most of us.”

Sonia silently agreed, too out of breath for words.

The guards were trained to easily catch anyone, either by speed or stealth.
Thankfully they were nearly at the outskirts of the town Sonia had seen.

However, to her horror, across the road and surrounding fields sprawled a blockade, cutting them off from their escape.

The town authorities must be under Chrystal’s control and have been informed that they might try to get out that way. They were trapped. Guards behind them and the blockade in front of them. There was nowhere to go, except sideways, there could be anything that way. The world was too big. She couldn't move, see, hear, or think. She fell to the ground. She felt it rumble as the guards surrounded her.

Evan and Etina clung together, frozen with fear. The others had disappeared. Ahead of them Sonia lay on the ground, and behind them came the shouts of the guards as they overtook them. They were roughly torn from each other and walked away, a hand on their shoulder. A single gunshot ripped through the night. Sonia was dead.

Release

 PART TWENTY THREE
"I've got the keys!"
Angele wondered if she was still dreaming. She'd had dreams like this before. She turned over on the hard mattress. The door of the cell was open.
"Wake up!" Someone whispered in her ear. She looked up to find Sonia was standing over the bed.
"Sonia. What happened to you?"
"Come on!"
Angele woke Ralf.
"Ralf, Sonia's here."
"Hurry up! We're escaping!"
"What?" Said Ralf.
"Come with me! And keep your voices down."
Ralf and Angele followed Sonia uncertainly, Ralf holding Angele's hand. They almost tripped over the bodies of unconscious guards in the dark outside the cell. After what seemed like forever, they heard footsteps behind them.
"Run!" Sonia yanked Angele forward,
"But Ralf-" she'd lost his hand. Sonia was dragging her away from him. She tried to call him, to find his hand in the dark, but he was gone. Ralf had always helped her, encouraged her, and loved her. Now he was somewhere down the hall as a guard grew ever closer. She heard a shout. A gunshot. A scream burst out of her as air bursts from a balloon. Had they just killed him?
"Come on!" Sonia pulled Angele away. Up some stairs, along a corridor and into the carpeted public waiting area, a large, dimly lit grey and blue room full of sleeping people. Sonia noticed Chantel on the floor and woke her.
"We're escaping, do you want to come with us?"
Chantel looked at her with wide, scared eyes. She must have only been sleeping lightly.
"From the city?"
"Yes."
"Okay. But my friends come too."
"Where are they?"

Etina turned to Evan, who was looking around curiously at the lights, people and buildings. He had never been out of the palace before.
"When do you think they'll come?" She said.
"I don't know."
He pointed at an awning covered in fairy lights.

"Isn't that beautiful, Etina?" He turned in a circle to take in the whole street.
"It's almost a pity to leave everything behind."
Etina leaned on his shoulder.
"There are more beautiful things outside."
"Hmm."
Maybe it was selfish to want to escape, they would probably have a better life where they were. It was a prisoner's life, but at least it was probably easier than life outside would be. Evan was a guard, what would he do in the outside world? And she had the security bracelet. But being outside again would be so... it was so hard to choose! Before Etina could decide which was better, Sonia joined them. Etina counted five people behind her.
"Hurry!" Sonia ran up to them.
"Do you know the way out?" Said Etina.
"I got us a map." Sonia held it out. "I think we go all the way down this street and then left."