Lothlorien, Pillars & the Parting

Aparrently I never posted this in 2010 - oops
Anyway, it's some pictures from the ride in paradise. This one --->
is where they filmed Haldir & co meeting up with the remaining 8 in Lorien


This one --->

is where Aragon & Lurtz had their scrap at the end of the Fellowship

as is this one apparently

Sorry they're not more interesting. Must do better hehehe

OAO

S x

I forgot Arwen's Flight to the Ford !

These were at Tarras where the mega chase took place & then at the location for the Ford of Bruinen wherre Arwen brought the river down on the Nazgul.

The next 2 are from North Island & were where the scenes down the Anduin in the Elven boats were filmed on the Rangitekei River

These 2 were from near Queenstown on South Island - not far from the Ford of Bruinen location at Arrowton

This is the Kawarau River

No time to do Lothlorien - I need to find the photos 1st & I only have 2 min left. Must get myself a laptop & make life simpler :-)

OAO

Lessons in swordsmanship & Crebain

OK
This was the helicopter location
There's almost a face on that one in the middle.
Intend to watch the DVD & see if I can spot it!














This may have been the flat bit where Merry & Pippin were having their lesson. Shall have to check the DVD to be sure, but it was the only flat bit big enough for the scene

More craggy, weird rocks

Maybe a rock to hide under?

The view down the valley where Legolas 1st saw the 'cloud'

See prev blogs for pics of the flight

Loth lorien & Anduin next.

OAO

LOR stuff - Hobbiton to Bree, Weathertop & Rivendell

I had planned to carry on with what happened at Kuching & the Longhouse, but due to leaving my SD cards by the telly, I have no photos to illustrate, so here's some stuff IRO my LOR location adventure.




No 1 is a statue of Frodo taken at the Weta Cave.










No 2 is a still of me as Frodo - with pipe & a bloke (I'd need to look at the blog for that day to get his name!) as Sam. It is the exact tree used, & as I said at the time, I'd never have found it without Ted. There's also a vid of it which Ted took.






This one is the actual POV from the film. Ted showed us the scene on his laptop, & if you pause yours, you'll see the 2 broken, pointy branches on the top left & the other trees in the shot












This is me hanging over the 'Shortcut to Mushrooms' drop


All these were taken at Mt Victoria at Wellington while I was on the LOR tour with Ted - I've not got round to looking for easter egss yet, though

Ted got us all to pose in the exact positions, & was complete with broken carrot & poo props!
He even gave me a leaf to put in my mouth!

This is Ted standing more or less in front of the "Mushrooms" line

& this is the drop where they built the tree for the Hobbits to hide from the Nazgul. The POV of the Nazgul is the next. If you look behind the horse, you can see these trees in the background

There's a road at the top of the hill & we got out of the minibus & walked down. I turned round & immediately recognised the shot & took a photo. I've no idea how it happened, but the camera made it look like it was back lit by moonlight, just like the film - weird, but cool.

After we'd done the other shots, we came back & Ted turned 3 people into a Nazgul on his horse - clever!

After Aragorn had got them all organised at Bree, they set off for Rivendell via Weathertop. This is a photo of hobbits & Bill from Weta Cave.
Gandalf hadn't shown up at Bree, but he'd been imprisoned at Orthanc.

This photo, taken at Harcourt Park shows

the path where
Gandalf rode up to Orthanc. If you look closely, you can still see where the took up the grass to make the path - it's a darker green line, just to the R of the tree in the middle. And it took me ages to find it!

Meanwhile the Nazgul were attacking at Weathertop. This is the POV when Frodo looked down & saw them approaching. It's also the POV from Dunharrow when Aragorn & Eomer were looking down at the muster below.





This is all that's left of Rivendell, apart from the

platform used when Legolas tested his bow - used in some promo shots.

This is a model of Gimli from the Weta Cave

So now the Fellowship is formed & they're all off to Lothhlorien via the Misty Mountains.

Watch this space for photos of their journey

OAO

Noos from the zoo

Going back a bit now, but have a bit more to say about my fortnight at Zoo Negara.

Whilst there I was called Sharely by my southern fellow volunteers.

They were quite bemused when I commented it would be strange to be called Shirley again! ;-P

One evening at dinner, Organising Emma even told us how our bras should be fitted ! I felt sorry for Jon, sitting at the dinner table whilst his girlfriend discussed underwear with women he barely knew. ?

Organising Emma was like that, though. She frequently slagged him off for some infringement or other in front of us, & generally treated him like a little boy who needed watching closely.

I was also told, having asked what her bikini was like before we went to Langkawi,

"I don't have a bikini, I have underwear"

Maybe I'm being a bit harsh, but what a tosser!

It was amusing to watch her suddenly become all loving, & drape herself around his shoulders when he spent too long talking to one of us 'other women'. Even though Penny & I were old enough to be his Mum!

Jon & Emma were volunteering at the zoo for a month (Organising Emma wants to be a Vet when she grows up), & after the 1st few days at the Ape Centre, they worked in other areas of the zoo, including with the vet. I was quite jealous of that. It must have been fascinating.

That meant my days were spent with Penny & Surly Steph, who had a bit of a regime together for cage cleaning. I had to be quick or all the decent brushes would be gone!

I didn't mind cleaning cages on my own, though. It meant I got to spend more time with Maz & Denice, who'd come in & help, & at least if I got covered in diluted Orang poo, it was my own fault!

My favourite Orang was Chokey, an adolescent male who'll not be able to go out into the main enclosure unless his Dad dies & he becomes the dominant male. Either that, or he's sent to another zoo.

He's a right character with a wonderful ginger beard (very Scottish hahaha). I was able to give him the 'enrichment' toys I'd made, ie the food pockets & the goodie box. I got some decent photos of him being enriched as he figured out how to get at the fruit & nuts inside. Here is a photo of him with an ice lolly I made.

I filled a small plastic bag with water & blackcurrant cordial & froze it. Once solid I removed the bag & gave the lolly to Chokey. He seemed quite pleased, but with those soulful eyes, it's very difficult to tell whether they're smiling or sad.

I'll post a full blog about Chokey another time, as I've LOADS of pics of him & my time at the Library today is ticking away!

Here's a few more zoo photos, but I'll do a full one of that too, as there's loads.

This is the second one I took on our 1st day when we were shown round.

I call it Tweedledum & Tweedledee.

See what I mean about soulful eyes?

The 2nd is the Copybara family - Mum plus 4 kids of very different sizes.

Theirs was the 1st cage I cleaned & I got some good vid, too.

They were really cute - for the largest rodent on the planet! & I fed them by hand, which was really cool as a 1st zoo experience.

Next is one of the Slow Loris I mentioned.

Such an adorable little thing, but they have the most poisonous bite in the mammal kingdom apparently.

Maybe someone with easier access to google could check this out, as we were told some incorrect stuff by some of the keepers, so it may not be true.

About to get booted out so

OAO for today

OK - I'm back in civilisation

Briefly. . . .
Went to the rain forest for 7 days & nights, got wet frequently, got nobbled by leeches, got bitten by all sorts of bugs & crawling/flying things, had to sleep under a mosquito net & get all tangled up every time I needed the loo in the night, went in an Iban longhouse, saw a wild Orang utan, took loads of painkillers to help me trek up hill & down dale (latter with frequent help from Amggun), got a cool stick (from previously mentioned Amggun), planted a tree, made a carved sign with a pic of Blackpool Tower on it (to put next to previously mentioned tree), saw bear claw marks on a tree, saw a gi-normous spider (in previously mentioned loo), ate stuff from the forest (but missed out eating a bug as previously mentioned Amggun ate it all), and had a great time.

About to have a last drink with the other 6 volunteers, so going now.
Will blog more - with photos, once back home & I can do it in the Library for free.
Cheers - or Oooo Haaaaaaaaa, as the Iban say
OAO

Forest vs jungle

OK
Left KL for Kuching & was picked up & brought here on Thurs.

The hostel is lovely, &, as there are 7 of us, I'm on my own - as James & Sal are sharing a room.

Our Iban guide, Francis, came by Thurs pm & told us the schedule, & yesterday he and Acok, the driver, took us to Matang Wildlife Centre where we saw animals being rehabilitated, & some being trained for life in the wild.

We saw one huge male, Aman, who was the first recipient of a glaucoma op (done by a surgeon brought in from S Africa), & he can now see after being blind for about 10 yrs.
He also got into a can of glue years ago, & stuck his tongue up, so half of it had to be amputated. I think he can still call, though.

We had a long chat with Leo, the centre director, who's British, &, as well as seeing a lot of saved animals, we got roped in to help with a bit of upkeep.
I helped a girl called Roxanne chuck a load of river stones over a wall into the croc enclosure.
I knew my shot-putt training would come in handy eventually!
Incidentally, the enclosure was empty, so no crocs were in danger of braining by rock ;-P

Today we went to a nearer rehab centre & saw semi-wild orangs being fed. One had a young baby with her, & the other was her adolescent daughter. Not sure of names, will ask Francis & put them up with the photos - which is likely to be once I get home, though.
It was a very interesting morning, & it's good to think these Orangs are successfully making a go of it in the forest.

Afternoon saw me falling asleep in the sun, yes again! & mooching round shops, before I sat down for a drink & got chatting to an American research scientist, from DC, called Clifford.

We chatted for ages - usual stuff: life, the universe & Orang utans! May still have been chatting, but James walked by at some point & told me the group were meeting at 7 for dinner, so we said our goodbyes about 1/4 to.

Tomorrow we have a 4hr coach journey, then about 2hrs in a boat upriver, so I'll be out of touch until next Sunday (31st)

Incidentally - Francis told us the word jungle came from the sanskrit jonglar (spelling may be wrong?) & which was bastardised by the English on their return home after stints in India.
I get the inpression he'd like us to call it forest (as in rain forest - which it is, after all!)

We can leave most of our stuff here, as we'll be coming back for 1 night before our transfers to the airport, & we're only supposed to take the minimum of stuff upriver.

So, as I need to finish packing the little case to take, that's all tonight.
OAO

Off to the jungle

0930 here & just in checking E's & doing last blog in civilisation

Will be staying in a lodge where the main form of transportation is boat; it's the rainy season, so whatever gets wet, stays wet; & the generator is shut down at 10ish.

Flying from KL to Kuching at 1525 & from there to accom.
Tomorrow we visit the rehabilitation centre, but only for a short time.

After that it's the aforementioned jungle.

Not looking forward to leeches, trekking through jungle in the mud, & being continually damp, but I guess you have to take the rough with the smooth?
I just hope the experience exceeds expectations, as this one did!
ie - wrapped in an Orang, as Lesley put it :-))

I still have loads of pics, but doubt I'll be uploading more until I get back to Blighty - certainly not now, as I'm off to buy a brush for the Ape Centre - their's are pathetic & use way too much energy (& therefore sweat!) to clean properly.
Mazrul suggested it would be a good pressie, as my idea for a hose pressure thingummy was not a good idea, as it would not be used by the keepers - they prefer the old 'thumb on the end' apparently!
No accounting for taste, eh? ;-P

Anyway, gotta dash & get to Ace Hardware before my 1/2 hr walk back to the zoo, & final preps for next leg.

Have fun while I'm 'off line'
OAO

Today = wow, but 1st, the Langkawi pics

OK so I lied! The 1st 2 are me & Tsunami on Jan 9th. As usual, I haven't quite got the hang of how to upload in the right order, and put words on. I tried a different way, but it's even worse than before, AND I've been here nearly 3 hours. See below for next 4 & the 7th is also Jan 9th. Then it's an apricot pussy, a palm & nice flowers, Sunsets & Dawn, the Team, Cocktails, the view while I sunbathed, 2 pics from the Ferry, & a couple from Georgetown. Then...... The Tsunami Photos from earlier today. Sorry it's all such a mess. Will try harder ;-) manana OAO

















The next 4 are when we made ice lollies for them.