Hello!
We just got back from Sydney. We ended up staying there for almost two weeks! It was so much fun. I'm kind of hoping that we move there. I do like Kiama because it's peaceful. But it can get a bit boring at times. Plus bad things happened to us around there, so there's some bad memories attached.
I don't think we're ever going to move back to London. Julia is dead set against it. She associates it with Rhyden. I don't think she ever wants to step foot in the UK again. My parents seem happy in Australia, so I think we're here to stay.
I'm fine with that.
I met new friends in Sydney. Malcolm is probably my favourite. We went to his house for dinner when we first got to Sydney. Then a couple of days later we all went to the wizarding village. The entrance is in this puppet shop in The Rocks. There's a hidden wall behind some puppets. But you have to wait until Muggles are not in that part of the shop, so they don't see you disappear. Well see....the type of Muggles who like shops full of weird puppets are often the type who likes weird things and notices weird things. It's not like the train station where people are too busy to notice a bunch of wizards are disappearing into the wall.
The Muggles who own the shop are aware of the wizarding world because they have wizard relatives. Sometimes they'll help keep the other Muggles occupied, but other times they'll be too busy. They'll get annoyed if wizards ask them to try to keep Muggles out, because they don't want to lose business. That's understandable.
We went to the wizarding village three times. And we did other stuff. We went to Bondi Beach. We did a day trip to the Blue Mountains. We had picnics at Royal Botanical Gardens. We went to the Sydney Aquarium. All this we did on our own (my family). The Cawoods didn't come with us. They like to do wizarding stuff only. They're kind of weird about Muggles. They're very welcoming, and not prejudice at all against people who are Muggle-born wizards or relatives of wizards. They consider people like me as being sort of honorary wizards. They figure that since we have wizards in our immediate family, we should be seen as part of the wizarding world. It's kind of nice. But then they don't much like the Muggle world, and they can't understand why we'd have any interest in being part of it. I kind of got the idea that they think we should give all of it up.
I like the wizarding world, but I also like the Muggle world. They're both great.
Malcolm is very nice. I kind of worried that he might like me more than a friend. Then I'd be all confused because I have Jason. But nothing ever happened between us. We spent a lot of time together. We went to their house several times after the first dinner. They came with us to the wizarding village each time we went. Malcolm introduced me to all kinds of wizarding candy. I knew of some already because of Julia.
We went to the bookshop together. They have a whole section for Muggle relatives! I thought that was cool. I got a book called So Your Sister is a Witch. Some of it is a bit daft, but other parts are helpful. They talk about how you should stick up for yourself if your sister is using you to practice her spells. I told this to Julia and she rolled her eyes. She said, what can you do to stop me? I have a wand. So I threw my butterbeer in her face. Okay. I usually don't do crazy things like that. And plus I did it in the middle of a restaurant with the Cawoods right there. They were all laughing so hard. My dad laughed so hard he had tears. I thought Julia might be mad and embarrassed, but she wasn't. She thought it was funny too. Oh...it was so much fun, but hard to explain. I think it's one of those things where you have to be there.
Back to the bookstore....I sort of wanted to get this book called Dating Complexities: Finding Love in the Magical or Muggle World. But Malcolm was right there, and I felt too embarrassed. He wanted me to get this book called Magical Muggles. The idea behind the book is that if you're a sibling or child is a wizard or witch, you must be a little magical too. They don't say you're going to be a full-fledged wizard or anything. But they think if you really try, you'll be able to do a tiny amount of magic. I've been doing the exercises in the book. I work on them about an hour a day. So far, I haven't noticed anything magical about myself. My mum thinks it's a scam. She might be right.
This post is getting long, but I have more to say.
SC Mather, I met Jalena! She's really nice. But you're right. She's a bit serious. Unlike the Cawoods, she doesn't mind the Muggle world, so she met us at a Thai restaurant in the CBD.
I met other people too; friends of Malcolm. Some were wizards, but there was another girl like me who's a sister of a wizard. She was really nice, but was a bit too much into sport. That's all she wanted to talk about. Her sister got on well with Julia. They became pretty close. That was really nice. She's Julia's first wizard friend. Oh! And they're homeschooled like us. When her parents found out Agatha was a wizard, they refused to send her off to school. They wanted to keep her at home. They asked if she could get a tutor instead. I think Julia was a bit resentful that my parents didn't do that for her.
Okay. I'll shut up now.
I hope all of you are doing well. Please update me on your lives!!
25 February 1998
14 February 1998
Sydney
Hello!
Sorry I haven't written a post in a few weeks. I hope all of you are all right. Everyone has to stay alive so we can all go surfing together. Well, I mean all of you will go surfing, and I'll watch!! Seriously though, it's really nice here. I hope you come to visit sometime.
We're in Sydney now. We left Kiama late this morning. The drive was shorter than I expected; less than two hours. We're in the lobby of the hotel; waiting for check-in time. I don't have time to write much because my dad wants us to do some sight-seeing. We're going to balance wizars stuff with Muggle stuff. This afternoon we're going to see the Opera House and take a ferry ride to Manly. Then tonight we're having dinner with a wizarding family my dad's been talking to on the internet. They have a son who's Julia's age, and a daughter who's eight.
We're having dinner at their house. I'm excited about that. I've never been to a wizard's home before. We've been trying to figure out how to get there. They live in the suburbs. We could just take the bus or train; but they suggested we use a Portkey in the Royal Botanical Gardens. That's not too far from our hotel. The problem is the Portkey is a tree, and there are many trees in the garden. They've given us details about the tree, but I'm thinking it's still going to be hard to find it.
Well, I'm kind of excited to try it anyway. They said as long as we hold onto Julia while she touches it, we should make it through okay.
Tomorrow, we're all going to go the wizarding village. I found out that there's not a lot of wizards that actually live there. It's mostly business rather than residential. The entrance is in this puppet shop right next to our hotel. I'm excited to see it. The wizard family is going to help us enter. They said it's a bit complicated because the place gets quite a few Muggle tourists. Someone has to distract the tourists so they don't see wizards suddenly disappearing. Sometimes things get messed up, and magic is needed to alter the Muggle's memories.
The wizards told my dad there's bit of controversy over the whole thing. Many in the wizarding community want to move the entrance to a place not visited by Muggles, so there doesn't have to be any worries about that. But a lot of wizards see the puppet shop as part of their heritage, and they don't want to give it up. My dad's new friends want to have the puppet shop closed to Muggles so it just looks like an abandoned shop to them. That's a good idea, but maybe not fair to the Muggle tourists.
Who knows what will happen.
All right. We just got word that we can check in now, so I better go. One quick thing. I might sort of have a boyfriend. Do you remember that guy I mentioned in my last post....Jason? Well, he kissed me when we said good-bye! I didn't expect that. We had been hanging out a lot together...mostly with Julia too. I didn't know he liked me in that way. I didn't like him in that way. But then he kissed me, and now I sort of maybe do like him in that way. We've been writing to each other every day. He's really nice. I get sort of annoyed though because it turns out he really loves fantasy stuff. He likes books about magic and aliens. He's open-minded about all of it. Sometimes, he'd say things like "Do you ever wonder if there are real witches and vampires?" It's so tempting to say, Yes, because there ARE real witches and vampires. My sister is a witch...a real one." But I'm good, and I keep my mouth shut. I hate the lying though : (
Oh...I need to run. Now I'm getting evil looks from my mum.
Please say hello and tell me what's going on in your lives. SC Mather, if you're reading this....I hope you've gotten away from the Snatchers. Oh! And we're going to try to find your friend tomorrow. My dad's friends don't know her, but they said they'll ask around for us!
Sorry I haven't written a post in a few weeks. I hope all of you are all right. Everyone has to stay alive so we can all go surfing together. Well, I mean all of you will go surfing, and I'll watch!! Seriously though, it's really nice here. I hope you come to visit sometime.
We're in Sydney now. We left Kiama late this morning. The drive was shorter than I expected; less than two hours. We're in the lobby of the hotel; waiting for check-in time. I don't have time to write much because my dad wants us to do some sight-seeing. We're going to balance wizars stuff with Muggle stuff. This afternoon we're going to see the Opera House and take a ferry ride to Manly. Then tonight we're having dinner with a wizarding family my dad's been talking to on the internet. They have a son who's Julia's age, and a daughter who's eight.
We're having dinner at their house. I'm excited about that. I've never been to a wizard's home before. We've been trying to figure out how to get there. They live in the suburbs. We could just take the bus or train; but they suggested we use a Portkey in the Royal Botanical Gardens. That's not too far from our hotel. The problem is the Portkey is a tree, and there are many trees in the garden. They've given us details about the tree, but I'm thinking it's still going to be hard to find it.
Well, I'm kind of excited to try it anyway. They said as long as we hold onto Julia while she touches it, we should make it through okay.
Tomorrow, we're all going to go the wizarding village. I found out that there's not a lot of wizards that actually live there. It's mostly business rather than residential. The entrance is in this puppet shop right next to our hotel. I'm excited to see it. The wizard family is going to help us enter. They said it's a bit complicated because the place gets quite a few Muggle tourists. Someone has to distract the tourists so they don't see wizards suddenly disappearing. Sometimes things get messed up, and magic is needed to alter the Muggle's memories.
The wizards told my dad there's bit of controversy over the whole thing. Many in the wizarding community want to move the entrance to a place not visited by Muggles, so there doesn't have to be any worries about that. But a lot of wizards see the puppet shop as part of their heritage, and they don't want to give it up. My dad's new friends want to have the puppet shop closed to Muggles so it just looks like an abandoned shop to them. That's a good idea, but maybe not fair to the Muggle tourists.
Who knows what will happen.
All right. We just got word that we can check in now, so I better go. One quick thing. I might sort of have a boyfriend. Do you remember that guy I mentioned in my last post....Jason? Well, he kissed me when we said good-bye! I didn't expect that. We had been hanging out a lot together...mostly with Julia too. I didn't know he liked me in that way. I didn't like him in that way. But then he kissed me, and now I sort of maybe do like him in that way. We've been writing to each other every day. He's really nice. I get sort of annoyed though because it turns out he really loves fantasy stuff. He likes books about magic and aliens. He's open-minded about all of it. Sometimes, he'd say things like "Do you ever wonder if there are real witches and vampires?" It's so tempting to say, Yes, because there ARE real witches and vampires. My sister is a witch...a real one." But I'm good, and I keep my mouth shut. I hate the lying though : (
Oh...I need to run. Now I'm getting evil looks from my mum.
Please say hello and tell me what's going on in your lives. SC Mather, if you're reading this....I hope you've gotten away from the Snatchers. Oh! And we're going to try to find your friend tomorrow. My dad's friends don't know her, but they said they'll ask around for us!