sara.ringham@gmail.com
Posted Jan 10, 2008, 11:20 am
My mom will be taking me to South Korea and America with her in a few weeks time and I hope to see the snow when I'm up there. It's very hot here, but I'd like to see what the cold is like too, I've heard I'll like it - but I also like the heat a lot, so I don't know how much I'll really like it, but we'll see I'm happy to try anything and everything. :-)
Here's a picture of me:
My mom will be sending me to different hosts after I come back to Australia in mid-March so I hope to see the world even more than I'm going to, see all the oceans, see real lions and wow, I'm just very excited! I'll update when I have more pictures later on. :-)
sara.ringham@gmail.com
Posted Jan 21, 2008, 4:09 pm
Mom says I'll be traveling around Australia a bit when I come back from my holidays in America, and maybe more in a while after that. I'm excited to see Australia though - I haven't seen the beaches or any native wildlife yet sadly, but maybe if I'm lucky I'll be able to with my other little toyvoyager friends before we go up to America. :-) We can only hope... maybe I'll get another voyager friend tomorrow, hopefully! It's so exciting!
sara.ringham@gmail.com
Posted Feb 4, 2008, 10:27 pm
This is a photo driving to Bathurst which is 45 minutes out of Orange. It was around 1am when this photo was taken, but it was sure dark and tiring to be awake so late at night!
As you can see it was REALLY rainy and cold in Sydney when we left, the second photo is the actual plane I was traveling on. Thankfully I had other TV's to keep me company, I was with Benni, Cronus/tv], Fish, Benson and Kooka three others that traveled along with us as well! Kooka was a new addition from the Sydney Airport! He was too cute to pass up so we got him and gave him a bit of traveling! He seems to enjoy as much as we all do!
First thing we did when we got to South Korea was called Daniel, isn't this pay phone weird? It even had a keyboard! How strange is that!
I had a look out the window, and it looks like the plane we rode in on, but it wasn't, this plane was off to Singapore in the morning!
We all shared a drink of Pepsi too on the stay in the terminal. Then we found somewhere to lay down and sleep for a bit... but of course we took a few photos prior to that, here are some random photos from around the airport...
We sat down again for a rest, this is a HUGE airport, then we finally found somewhere to sleep! All the TV's and I slept in a bag but Sara slept with us to keep us safe!...
Goodnight! :-)
During the daytime we took some more photos of what was around the airport, and we couldn't see much, but it still was pretty scenic since none of us have ever been to Korea let alone Asia! :-)
...almost time to go now...
...our flight was delayed about an hour as the other plane hadn't come in from Seattle yet. When it go there it was only 30 minutes and we were stepping back on the plane for another shorter flight of only 9 hours! :-) We landed in Seattle at 1130am and met up with mom's family at around 1pm after getting through immigration and customs. :-)
When we got there we met up with [tv]Charity Bear who is from Russia, she was in a bag for a few days before Sara arrived, she looked very happy to be out of there!
Afterwards we got to meet the resident cats, Jethro (the one in the top photo) and Ellie the one that was sniffing us. They're very nice! and surprisingly not brother and sister, they were born a day after each other! How strange is that?
We all helped Sara by making a pavlova for her family, it was really really yummy!
Afterwards we had a look outside, it was very cold! Sara said there's been avalanches in the mountains!
Now it was about time to just sit down and rest for the day I'm quite jet lagged but I'm happy to be able to rest for a few days!
sara.ringham@gmail.com
Posted Feb 11, 2008, 7:16 am
This is a view from the very beginning of the trail, isn't it beautiful? It's so cloudy and gross looking but it's still gorgeous, it's got a lot of snow and had a very cold wind coming down from the mountains... but it wasn't too bad after a bit of uphill walking. :-)
Here's the river that comes off of the many falls that are around where we were walking. We walked the wrong direction for a while, but we finally found our way... it was pretty crazy!
Here I am next to the water, isn't it nice looking? Oh but it also looks SO cold!
... and here I am next to another set of falls, much smaller but it sure was nice to look at all the surroundings!
Now this is the direction we went the wrong way for a while - this hill got extremely steep and very hard to climb. Only at the top was when everyone realised we were going the wrong direction... Oops. :-)
Here are the rest of the photos from the trip up and back down. We didn't fully make it, because of a past injury Sara had we had to turn back early, didn't help she sprained her ankle and bruised the bottom of her feet pretty good... but saying that, we have plans to do it again - and make it to the top this time. It's a 2.7 mile walk up to the top of the falls. We'll be doing it again hopefully before we go back to Australia! :-) So you'll see this all again hopefully soon!...
On the way home we stopped and got some dinner at a BBQ Bus in a Reptile Zoo car park. It was really yummy, and pretty unique! :-)
There was another bus that was right next to it that had tables to actually eat your food in... very cool! I really enjoyed it and the food was awesome!
... Almost home again, we stopped at a river right near where we live for the time being in Monroe, it was very cold and getting dark... the water looks like it was freezing, and again, a cold breeze, but even colder than earlier!...
The last photo is of a railroad track that used to be there a few years ago but they tore it down because people were getting injured on it... cool photos though, we didn't stay long because it was freezing we finally went back home and rested our feet!
No plans as of yet for more, but a bit of rest this week and back off to Kirkland. Expect another post soon! I hope you're doing well! Talk soon!
sara.ringham@gmail.com
Posted Feb 11, 2008, 7:26 am
... but thankfully I was able to swing on the swings a little bit, too bad they're so big for me, but I did my best... you know, it's not the size that counts. :-)
... and then we finally got to Lake Tye... there actually were a few people there, but we did our best we still had a lot of fun but there sure was a big chilly wind that seemed to go straight through you...
... this is obviously straight facing the lake, now I turn around... and this is what I see...
... although it's cloudy isn't it just SO pretty? Who would know I would get much closer to them today!... I'll update that a little bit later though!...
These were some of the ducks at the lake, they were all really close to each other while they were swimming no matter what... maybe they were family, Sara told me it looks like there are three males, but maybe one female? So probably a family of ducks! How cute!
Well I'll update again soon there are a lot of pictures, we visited Wallace Falls in Gold Bar today! :-)
sara.ringham@gmail.com
Posted Feb 11, 2008, 7:30 am
On Thursday we got to visit with Sara's sister, Julie. She's got 4 kids, and here's a picture of all of us with Alissa...
Alissa is 6 years old and she absolutely fell in love with all of us... we had an extremely busy day but in the morning I got to visit a bit with Tank a "tuxedo manx cat" which means it's tail is very short... not docked, but just born very short... isn't he cool looking?
Granted, not really the best photo of him... but he was scared of some of the dogs that were over for a few hours. I was a bit scared too though, they were SO much bigger than all of us and they were all very rowdy! But I did meet one nice pup, his name is Scooter...
He's a 9 week old "hot dog" dog, isn't he cute? He loves to cuddle with anyone and everyone and seriously, could not hurt a fly. So I was more than happy to spend some time with him... :-) We we're busy most of the day though so not much else was photographed plus it was really yucky outside, but I'm going back next week so hopefully I'll get some better photos then!
We went shopping on Friday and got some Sockeye Salmon, it was SO yummy! Sara said bears that are a bit bigger than me love to go fishing and catch these when they're running upstream. Thankfully the bears aren't in the area, or at least where I live... although we do get possums and raccoons Sara says... hopefully we'll be able to see some while I'm here maybe. I've seen some squirrels, but they were moving so fast I couldn't get a photo of them...
Then today we went to a hobby show expo thing where I saw a lot of model planes flying and even go-cart racing with really small kids, it's amazing how fast they were going, but it was really cold so we went home... maybe later we'll go to Lake Tye... Sara has been meaning to get some photos and take us down there with her but it's just been so icky outside... but there are hopefully some plans to go to Leavenworth and maybe the San Juan Islands... Leavenworth is a small German tourist town on the other side of the mountains, hopefully we'll go there - it'll be very homey I'm sure. :-)
I'll update again soon! Sorry it took me so long I've just been so tired, all these dark rainy days make it so hard to want to do anything much! Maybe we'll get some snow! :-)
sara.ringham@gmail.com
Posted Feb 14, 2008, 6:55 pm
So all of us ran errands with her around town, here's a picture of me next to the little area where all the shops are in an area of Kirkland called Kingsgate.
Sara says she knows this area very well, because if you look behind all the stores and you could see through the trees she lived in apartments behind there for a few years before moving to Australia. She told a bit about living in this area, and how it's extremely expensive to live there! Thankfully I don't have to pay bills or rent, that doesn't sound like fun at all!
We went and had teriyaki for lunch and it was REALLY yummy! No photos as Sara probably would have gotten some dirty looks taking photos when she was the only one in there with us... but later on we got back home to Monroe and got to see a very pretty sunset!
...the clouds are pink, Sara always says... "Pink sky at night, sailors delight... pink sky in the morning sailors warning" meaning if there's a pink sky at night - it'll be a nice day tomorrow, and in the morning means storms... so I guess it'll be a nice day tomorrow! It's Valentines Day tomorrow, I wonder what that will bring to us? :-) We shall see!
sara.ringham@gmail.com
Posted Feb 15, 2008, 5:55 am
You know I told you that we bought a heap of stuff for Daniel? Well here's what's on the list to come back home to Australia with us, not much as of yet, but I'm sure the pile will just keep growing...
There's a lot more kool-aid than what's shown but we all helped pick out what we thought Daniel would like for his very delayed Valentines Day he's going to have... yummy candies! :-)
... and here's me with the candies we all got today, each of us got a little lollypop to suck on, even though it's almost as big as me, I guess that means it'll last longer. :-)
Well tomorrow we're off to Redmond (Famous for being the home of Microsoft) and Bellevue maybe... :-) Maybe we can see a bit more.. then probably Saturday will be something exciting! Lots more pictures to come! :-)
sara.ringham@gmail.com
Posted Feb 20, 2008, 6:14 pm
Saturday, because it wasn't so sunny out we decided this would be a great day to visit Snoqualmie Falls... very famous falls in Snoqualmie, Washington here's me at the top of the falls...
Next to the top of the falls is a hotel called the Salish Lodge, it looks very expensive to visit there - Sara says she's never been in there before...
Straight across from where we were standing at the top of the falls on the observation deck that hangs over the edge kind of - this is the view straight across from us... it kind of puts it into perspective on how high we really are!... See that we're over the top of some of the trees?!
...and this is the view kind of straight down facing the Snoqualmie River... Sara doesn't like heights but I think she said we we're over 300' up over the edge of the falls...
Then we took a trek down to the bottom of the falls it's half a mile down and half a mile back up... it was really busy at the lower observation deck so Sara didn't have a chance to get us all with photos sadly but we stayed safe where there was no chance of us getting knocked out of Sara's hands...
As you can see there are tons of people on the rocks. It was a bit too slippery for our liking so we just took a few photos and headed back to the car, a bigger day was in store for us tomorrow... I'll update a bit later with those photos...
sara.ringham@gmail.com
Posted Feb 20, 2008, 7:17 pm
First stop, Lake Wenatchee for a family picture... that was a bit broken up and sadly no real good photos turned out (Sara said anyways) but she sure had a good slip in the snow and was bleeding a lot so we didn't stay too long, here's a photo of me at Lake Wenatchee.. isn't it pretty?
As you can see in this photo, 95% of the lake was actually frozen over. Sara's brother Todd was out sitting on the lake for a while before the family photos had started. Me and the other toyvoyagers just sat in the snow and waited patiently (as patiently as you could) for our photo shoot to have happen. Then we were put back in the backpack where it was SO much warmer... I think Sara told it it was 23'F outside where we were sitting... brrr!
Next stop was just a little mountain on the side of the road, I think it looks pretty cool. Sara didn't stay out with us very long though since we were only half way to Leavenworth - still a ways to drive, and a lot more snow to get through before we get there!
...and finally we are in Leavenworth... most of the time we were here we just visited shops and looked at all the interesting things they had, there was so much to look at - we spent a few hours walking through the main parts of the town... here are some of the photos Sara took...
By the time it we were done it was almost time to head home. We had a late lunch at a restaurant called King Lear's. Sara had a German sausage and her dad had a Bavarian Bratwurst... they were really yummy they said... the other two had just a hamburger and soup, so nothing really fancy for being in a little American German town... hehe. :-)
On the way home we stopped at a little shop before we got fully into the Cascades called The Alps, and this is a view from the shops... there was SO much snow, no wonder they've been having avalanches... there were a lot of road signs fully covered by snow... that's a LOT!
Well more updating later... we still one big day to go after updating Friday (when Sara gets the photos off of her dad hopefully tonight)....
sara.ringham@gmail.com
Posted Feb 20, 2008, 11:18 pm
This is me standing way back from a ferry dock. We docked at a dock right next to this one... but this is the one the ferry took off from when we arrived there... there wasn't too long of a wait and our ferry arrived...
That's the view we had from the car waiting to drive onto the ferry, they're HUGE! Sara says there Washington States biggest attraction! It was very exciting to be on something so huge, and so nice!
The moment the ferry took off from Anacortes Sara took all of us outside to the front of the ferry, it was REALLY windy, so windy when Sara took the lens cap off of her camera it blew out of her hand and onto her bag... thankfully it didn't blow into the cold ocean, that'd be no good! So we didn't get a lot of outside photos for fear of loosing us... here I am...
...and here I am in front of the front of the ferry, the captain of the ship looked at Sara a bit funny when she saw her holding us up for some photos, hehe... this ferry's name was the Kaleetan. :-)
Here's some pictures Sara took from the ferry - it was around an hour ride until we arrived at the dock in Orcas Island...
...and now we have arrived at Orcas Island... how exciting! Time to go to the car as were ready to start docking on the island...
First things first... time to get some breakfast, it's now 930am and we had a nice breakfast at a place called the Sunflower Cafe. It was yummy now were on our way to Mount Constitution... a very long and winding road later we were almost there...
... another 10 minutes of winding roads and we were there... besides a steep hike up a snow filled hill, it wasn't easy for Sara to get up from the fall she had had the day before, but we made it up, very slowly but none the less... and wait for it, these pictures are gorgeous!
Now that we're up at the top of the hill it's time to climb up this tower... it was around 300 feet tall in itself and the mountain is around 2500 feet from sea level, so it's the highest point in the San Juan Islands so we got to see everything, this is the view of the ground from the top of the tower...
...and here I am at the top, looking out over the islands...
In the first photo I'm looking out over islands and you can see Mount Baker in the background, one of the three volcanos in Washington state... and the next photo is a photo looking over part of Canada... :-)
Here are the other photos that Sara took at the top of the tower... not all of them, but some of them... :-) Enjoy!
It really was absolutely gorgeous... well with 40 minutes to spare after driving time we headed back to the ferry dock for our 115pm ferry... we got there, and it was full! Dang! The next ferry was 335pm. We had a long wait in the ferry line, instead we went and got some souvenirs and some postcards, and had some lunch at the ferry dock. Yummy!
Finally 3pm rolls around and we're ready to board the ferry to go back home... bye bye Orcas Island... here are some more photos on the way home from Orcas Island...
Well that was a BIG day for all of us... the next day was pretty lazy and slow but that wasn't a bad thing... not much planned as of yet, but on Thursday we're going to Kirkland again to see Sara's family... :-) I hope you enjoyed what you saw of my busy last few days! It was very exciting! I had lots of fun!
sara.ringham@gmail.com
Posted Feb 25, 2008, 10:17 pm
I can't even describe it, but Sara described it as the hottest thing she'd had in a long time. Sadly, Sara didn't get the photos so she wasn't able to get us in the shot, but we were there and experiencing everything, but not quite man enough to try the "man" sauce. :-)
Here's a picture of Sara with the owner of the BBQ. He was pretty fun and he carried around the sauce in a little pot and he asked Sara how much she wanted "a little or a lot" and he put a tiny little drop of it on her sandwich and told her to stick her fork in it to try... and even that tiny bit on the edge of a fork, her mouth was burning for probably a good 10-15 minutes easily... not really for the lighthearted.
Sara even got to put a pin on the map of where she's from. Of course the yellow pin is hers it's exactly put on Orange, NSW Australia. How exciting!
Now, to really show you how many people from all over the world have been there - here are the maps surrounding the walls with all of the other pins marking their place in the world...
...and the last picture is the new maps that have been put up, which is where Sara put her pin point in the Australia map. How cool is that? It's amazing how many people have visited this one little BBQ restaurant!
Later that day we got to visit at Sara's old schools and met up with her first grade teacher even but no pictures - she didn't want her picture taken because she was sick so we didn't stay too long! It was a nice day out definitely!
sara.ringham@gmail.com
Posted Feb 25, 2008, 11:40 pm
But saying that... today we got a new visitor! How exciting! :-)
Her name is Mel how exciting to meet a little koala bear, who would have known we would meet her in Washington?
sara.ringham@gmail.com
Posted Feb 29, 2008, 12:18 am
First the one cube of butter needed to be chopped up and put in...
We melted all the butter in the oven at 325'F until all the butter was melted and we then sprinkled graham cracker crumbs all over the top of it... yummy!
...and even more graham cracker crumbs!...
Then it was about time to pour the sweet condensed milk over the top...
All done... it's starting to look so yummy... but looks even more yummy very soon! :-)
Then we sprinkled the chocolate chips, and coconut over the top... mmm!
Then sprinkled walnuts over 2/3 of it, because Sara's brother doesn't like nuts, oh well, looks so yummy already though!
...22-25 minutes later...
Out of the oven, still very hot but looks SO yummy! This is a desert tonight after dinner... yum yum yummy! Sara said she wanted to give everyone the recipe too incase they wanted to make it too... so here it is:
SEVEN LAYER MAGIC COOKIE BARS
1/2 c. butter
1 1/2 c. graham cracker crumbs
1 can sweetened condensed milk
1 pkg. semi-sweet chocolate morsels
1 pkg. (6 oz.) butterscotch chips
1 1/3 c. flaked coconut
1 c. chopped nuts
Preheat oven to 350 degrees (325 degrees for glass dish). In a 13 x 9 inch baking pan melt butter in oven. Sprinkle crumbs over it. Mix together and press into pan. Pour sweetened condensed milk evenly over crumbs. Top evenly with remaining ingredients. Press down firmly. Bake 25-30 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool before cutting.
That's not all we did, because we're leaving soon we helped Sara put together her bags for leaving, she reorganizes them a lot, so we we're seeing how everything fit, we'll be on the carry on so we won't be like these other poor saps...
...not sure if you can see, but under Cronus foot kind of is a stuffed toy, a few actually, and the big eye you see is a scarecrow wind sock that Sara got, isn't it cool? This is a huge vaccum seal bag that Sara puts everything in to fit it a lot better than what she'd normally be able to fit...
After all that was done we got a new sitting place for a little bit of time while we're not doing anything... aren't we all just so cute? :-)
Yesterday was our last day in Kirkland, it was all sad goodbyes and everything, but we made it - next stop is Olympia to see some other parts of Sara's family before we head back to Aussie land...
sara.ringham@gmail.com
Posted Mar 4, 2008, 6:04 am
Here's a picture of me standing near one side of the huge centre piece... here are some other photos..
As you can see there we're a LOT of animals on this huge piece, most of them are very old going back as much as 90 years ago for some of them, there was even a huge polar bear and a musk ox!
This is one of the fish that Sara got clearly in a photo in the little aquarium thing they had, this is called a Sun fish and Sara said she used to catch these when she was younger in Wisconsin visiting with her grandparents, kinda pretty aren't they?
... and upstairs, they even had a small African exhibit with some unique and interesting animals...
... the last picture is a White Rhino, which are the less critically endangered of the two Rhino species, it was interesting to see one, kind of sad though seeing all the animals at the same time...
Last but not least we got to see a big cat that resembled Cronus there we're a few of them on the centre piece, it's amazing to think that a cousin of Cronus can be SO big, and so fierce looking!
After we left, we went to a house where Sara spent time with some more of her family, there was a crazy dog so we didn't come out much besides to just be seen and that's about it - we had to stay protected in the bag, there was no time for pictures, the dog was just so crazy! But it was a very busy day! I'm glad I'm back home, more relaxing, we fly out on Saturday morning!
sara.ringham@gmail.com
Posted Mar 8, 2008, 7:42 am
Then we we're off to Seattle - we went inside a few shops on the Seattle waterfront, and there we're a lot of really cool wooden statue things that we're hand carved... here's one of them I particularly liked! :-)
...we took a stroll down the waterfront and we saw this sign - which is a memorial, it's straight in front of the Argosy cruises for the Lake cruises and the Locks cruises that they have in Seattle! It looked exciting, but not today! :-)
...and then after a bit more walking we got to the world famous Ye Olde Curiosity Shop...
This was the entrance to the store, it was already quite interesting... so I wonder what's inside! I've heard a lot about this store from Sara...
...and meet Sylvester... the most famous well preserved mummy in the world!
...and here's some information about our famous Sylvester, we heard a lady talking about the origin of Sylvester... apparently after the cowboys found him they left him standing on the side of the road for people to see, then one day a traveling circus drove by him and covered him in arsenic which caused his preserved state even more so, and then they brought him with them around the United States on the traveling circus. Then eventually a dentist actually got a hold of him and had him in his office and had him occasionally pop out on some people (mean huh? haha). When the dentist died, the wife called the Curiosity Shop and asked if they'd like him for their museum... and of course they agreed! :-)
...and now it's time to meet Sylvia...
...she is a white, female mummy, probably a Spanish immigrant found in the highlands of Central America. Scientists say that she died in her early thirties from tuberculosis, prehaps contracted during the long sea voyage to the New World...
Here's more information again about both Sylvia and Sylvester... very interesting information really... :-)
Here's an interesting thing - in the middle of the closed off area on the waterfront, there was an actual working carousel that was really pretty! I wanted to ride, but I was way too small! :-P
We decided to get some food at Ivars, the famous seafood shop on the Seattle waterfront, they have a lot here, but they were founded and established in Seattle from 1936.
While we were waiting for our food, we saw some seagulls up close!
...in the background of a second one you see a famous and familiar sight of Washington, the ferries!
Sara thought this was cute... the Clam Central Station across from Ivars!
When we got home we we're so tired, but we had to pack and get everything ready, we're about right on the limit for stuff we can bring back to Australia - so how exciting will this be! :-)
So before we decided to travel, we decided to get up to date with the world... :-) Here I am reading the newspapers from the countries I will be visiting... :-) How exciting! <3
...and here I am remembering all my fun times while I've been in Washington... my favourite was Leavenworth, how exciting it was to visit a town that looked so much like home, and yet so far away from home!
...and now it's time to write up my last entry for America then I'm off to Australia again tomorrow! Wish me luck!
sara.ringham@gmail.com
Posted Mar 11, 2008, 12:00 pm
Here I am at the gate where Sara will be boarding the plane... we only have a few hours to wait now since we managed to get through customs, immigration and all the screening pretty quickly...
We had to check the board to make sure our flight was on time...
After about an hour our plane arrived, and we got to watch it be loaded up with everything and pretty soon we were about to board and go on our 11 hour flight to South Korea, I wonder what we'll see now that Sara has a window seat...
Very shortly into our flight we got to see some gorgeous mountains from the air, Sara says these are the mountains on the Washington Peninsula, they're called the Olympics...
We got to take a nap, and next pictures we're in Japan... here's what we saw...
As you can see we saw a lot of mountain ranges and everything, and even a volcano we flew over... we're not sure what it is called but it sure looked pretty!
Even more exciting we even got to see Mt. Fuji, it's in the far distance, and if you look closely behind the lower engine you can see Mt. Fuji in the middle...
We then crossed the sea between Japan and South Korea, and we started to come closer to landing, Sara got some photos of Seoul...
...and now we've landed in South Korea...
When we got to Korea, it was a lot of running around, and a lot of long lines but we stopped for a moment to see the beautiful Korean sunset that was happening right before our eyes...
Funny enough our terminal was the same terminal last time that we were sleeping at before, so the picture looks extremely similar, that's because it was the same exact area... here's our next plane to Sydney...
We've got another long 10 hour flight ahead of us, and then a day in Sydney to plan, we'll see how that goes... we're off to board the plane!... see you in Australia!
sara.ringham@gmail.com
Posted Mar 11, 2008, 12:10 pm
This is a photo just by itself, the little peninsula sticking out is actually the airport runway, so we got to watch some planes landing and taking off it was quite interesting...
What's even more interesting is... this is the plane we all arrived on from South Korea, and now it's going back - not even 2 hours later! It was interesting to watch the plane that had only just arrived, seeing it take off back again... how cool is that?
We took a bit longer on the road and we got to one of the proper beaches, we had to go to the beaches with the shark nets, we stopped at the first one and had a bit of a dip (well I didn't, I don't like the water!) in the Kyeemagh Baths...
Here are all of us on the beach...
...and here I am out in the water, Sara was holding me because she knows I don't like the water, it wouldn't be good for my fur!
Here are some seagulls, there we're quite a lot of them really!..
We took another bit of a drive down the beach to the next bit of the shark nets, and we even got to see the Sydney skyline... as you can see, even for a Monday morning there we're a lot of people at the beach... and this is just where we were...
...another 2'ish hours later we we're on the road to Orange, which most definately is not coastal... so no more pretty beaches, but that doesn't worry me too much... but we stopped off in the Blue Mountains and got to see the famous Three Sisters...
There were lots and lots of people sightseeing there when we all visited there... but we got in and got out pretty quick, we all just were very tired and wanted to get home!
sara.ringham@gmail.com
Posted Mar 11, 2008, 12:20 pm
...and when we got home we met up with another toyvoyager,
Mulalu how exciting, he came all the way from South Africa, so we had a group photo together, now I can also introduce you to all the other toyvoyagers that have been visiting with Sara..
From left to right it's Mulalu, Me, Mel, Cronus, Alpina, Leo Lion, Benni, and Charity Bear... the walrus, lobster and turtle are soon to be toyvoyagers... :-)
Pretty soon we'll be saying goodbye to Benni, Cronus and Charity Bear as they continue their travels around the world! :-) We're going back to Blayney tomorrow so we'll have a bit more of a sight see through the small little town. :-)
sara.ringham@gmail.com
Posted Mar 14, 2008, 7:12 am
We went to Blayney, we've been going everyday to feed the animals at Sara's father-in-law's house... no photos with those animals though they're too crazy. But we stopped to see the local emu, we're not sure if he's a wild one, or someone owns him... but we think he just got stuck in the paddock since he was younger, he comes and goes... he's SO big though...
Next stop, our destination... something kinda unique about this though is - it's one of four Marsden cottages they were built for the workers of the wealthy Marsden family. They're listed on the national trust and heritage as historically important. The house in front of me is the one that's most intact and in best condition of the three of them and has most of the original everything that was originally in the house. The house was built in the mid 1870's. We heard a lot of stories from Sara about some spooky stuff that's happened there, she lived there for 10 months with her father-in-law before moving to Orange in May 2006...
Animals are fed... so next stop... Church Hill...
Church hill is a large hill in the middle of town, so Sara got some photos of Blayney from a bit higher elevation... it was a nice clear and hot day so we didn't spend too much time there before moving on...
We had to also say goodbye to Cronus he's off to Costa Rica, how exciting!...
...and then we had a chance to do a mystery shop with Sara and Daniel... we "shopped" a petrol station... and had to do a report on our findings... there was a lot of information to write down... we all helped how we could...
Then we got to visit a pet store and pick out two little mice, Sara has three other mice that are a little bit bigger so we've been having trouble introducing them together, but slowly but surely they're starting to get introduced one at a time... introducing... Pancake and Waffles...
It's been a long day though, I'll have more to update with what happened on Friday, you'll just have to wait and see, it won't take too long! :-)
sara.ringham@gmail.com
Posted Mar 14, 2008, 7:33 am
Here's a picture of me next to the statue in memory of him...
...and here's the sign from underneath the statue...
The important part of this sign says "The bricks in this plinth are from the original templer's mill that stood on this site during the time of Banjo's birth. The mill was demolished in 1971."
Here's the sign in front of the ruins of the templer's mill:
...and a close up of the sign and what the sign says...
We even then went and saw another sign in memory to Banjo Patterson...
...then last of all before we left, we actually got to sit on the ruins of the mill...
As we left, we all got to learn the words of the famous Australian song... "Waltzing Matilda"...
Once a jolly swagman camped by a billabong,
Under the shade of a coolibah tree,
And he sang as he watched and waited 'til his billy boiled
"Who'll come a-Waltzing Matilda, with me?"
Waltzing Matilda, Waltzing Matilda
"You'll come a-Waltzing Matilda, with me"
And he sang as he watched and waited 'til his billy boiled,
"You'll come a-Waltzing Matilda, with me".
Down came a jumbuck to drink at the billabong,
Up got the swagman and grabbed him with glee,
And he sang as he stowed that jumbuck in his tucker bag,
"You'll come a-Waltzing Matilda, with me".
Waltzing Matilda, Waltzing Matilda
"You'll come a-Waltzing Matilda, with me"
And he sang as he stowed that jumbuck in his tucker bag,
"You'll come a-Waltzing Matilda, with me".
Down came the squatter, mounted on his thoroughbred,
Up came the troopers, one, two, three,
"Where's that jolly jumbuck you've got in your tucker bag?"
"You'll come a-Waltzing Matilda, with me".
Waltzing Matilda, Waltzing Matilda
"You'll come a-Waltzing Matilda, with me"
"Who's that jolly jumbuck you've got in your tucker bag?",
"You'll come a-Waltzing Matilda, with me".
Up got the swagman and jumped into the billabong,
"You'll never catch me alive," said he,
And his ghost may be heard as you passed by that billabong,
"Who'll come a-Waltzing Matilda, with me?"
Waltzing Matilda, Waltzing Matilda
Who'll come a-Waltzing Matilda, with me
And his ghost may be heard as you passed by that billabong,
"Who'll come a-Waltzing Matilda, with me?"
Under the shade of a coolibah tree,
And he sang as he watched and waited 'til his billy boiled
"Who'll come a-Waltzing Matilda, with me?"
Waltzing Matilda, Waltzing Matilda
"You'll come a-Waltzing Matilda, with me"
And he sang as he watched and waited 'til his billy boiled,
"You'll come a-Waltzing Matilda, with me".
Down came a jumbuck to drink at the billabong,
Up got the swagman and grabbed him with glee,
And he sang as he stowed that jumbuck in his tucker bag,
"You'll come a-Waltzing Matilda, with me".
Waltzing Matilda, Waltzing Matilda
"You'll come a-Waltzing Matilda, with me"
And he sang as he stowed that jumbuck in his tucker bag,
"You'll come a-Waltzing Matilda, with me".
Down came the squatter, mounted on his thoroughbred,
Up came the troopers, one, two, three,
"Where's that jolly jumbuck you've got in your tucker bag?"
"You'll come a-Waltzing Matilda, with me".
Waltzing Matilda, Waltzing Matilda
"You'll come a-Waltzing Matilda, with me"
"Who's that jolly jumbuck you've got in your tucker bag?",
"You'll come a-Waltzing Matilda, with me".
Up got the swagman and jumped into the billabong,
"You'll never catch me alive," said he,
And his ghost may be heard as you passed by that billabong,
"Who'll come a-Waltzing Matilda, with me?"
Waltzing Matilda, Waltzing Matilda
Who'll come a-Waltzing Matilda, with me
And his ghost may be heard as you passed by that billabong,
"Who'll come a-Waltzing Matilda, with me?"
...then on the way back from our stop in Blayney we got to see John Lister's grave...
He's the first person to find gold in Australia in 1851... he's buried in Millthorpe, a tiny town 10 minutes towards Orange from Blayney with a population of only around 800 people....
When we got home... Sara showed us a $10. note, it features Banjo Patterson... that shows how famous of an Australian he is... so how cool to see and learn more about him... today was another huge day, and it was again, so hot... we're hoping for a cool down soon since we're almost a month into autumn now... well time to rest for a while... I'll post again very soon! :-)
sara.ringham@gmail.com
Posted Mar 20, 2008, 8:40 am
...bye everyone I've had fun! Maybe we can meet up again one day in all of our travels! :-)
Posted Mar 25, 2008, 1:01 am
Finally i have been resuced from the dark, tiny hole they call a post box in the country. My host told me i should be thankful i wasn't delivered to a road-side mail box as they can get cold, wet and when a car goes past it can sound scary and noisy!
I wasn't lonely while in the box though, there was a fellow TV named Roberto who travelled from USA. Well, we had lots of time to chat about that country. I told him all about where i had travelled while over there and he told me about his home town, Florida.
I'm going to get to know the other TV's here now.
I miss you but am having a great time.
Hugs
xx Leo xx
Posted Mar 25, 2008, 10:11 am
I had a busy day today. After i was rescued from the post box i was feeling very hungry. Sam, my host, told me we would need to go shopping for food. It was lots of fun shopping. The other tv's and me had our own shopping cart and we filled it with yummy food.I got to sit in the cart as i wasn't tall enough to push it around
When we got to Sam's home after our shopping expidition, i wanted to look around outside before eating but it was raining. Miss 7 quickly gave me a tour around the yard under her umbrella
We then had a little picnic. We couldn't have it outside because of the rain. Sam's children dressed us up. It was hard to find clothes for a little boy Lion like myself, everything was pink with lace! I finally found a black cape that looked really trendy with my green shorts. We met another soon to be toyvoyager named Pirate. He seems really nice, but very quiet, i am told he is old.
I think we ate too much. We had to have a bear nap!
When we woke we could hear someone singing in the garden. It had stopped raining so we ran outside to investigate. It was Fifi Flowertot who has just registered to become a toyvoyager. She loves to do the gardening and sing to all the plants and flowers in Sam's garden. She was picking tomatoes but was happy to have a photo taken with us all.
Fifi showed us some native Australian flowers called Protea's and Banksia's. They don;t really smell but they are very pretty and big.
It is late night here now. The children have gone to bed and now it's time for me to close my eyes and dream of the fun times i have had today.
I miss you mommy
Big hugs
xx Leo Lion xx
Posted Mar 25, 2008, 11:55 pm
You wouldn't believe after all the fun i had yesterday and all the photos Sam uploaded for me, I forgot to tell you that the Easter bunny left me a gift even though i wasn't here Sunday morning. I am soooo lucky and can't wait to eat the yummy chocolate i have.
More updates later!
xx Leo Lion xx
Posted Mar 27, 2008, 4:38 am
We have had a couple of quiet days. The weather has been awfully cold and wet.
Today i ate a Lamington. It's like a small sponge cake, coated in melted chocolate and rolled in desicated coconut.
Sometimes they can have a strawberry flavour to them. Some people say it's a traditional Australian cake. I'm sure you know all about lamingtons though mommy! I had a chocolate tasting lamington and it was yummy!
Hugs
xx Leo Lion xx
Posted Apr 2, 2008, 1:45 am
Today we had a new toyvoyager arrive, ducky-duck and also an adpoted toyvoyager who my host has named Eliza. We sat around and chatted for awhile.
The weather is still horrible. Very wet and windy. I dream of sunshine and blue skies all the time.
Big hugs to you
xx Leo Lion xx
Posted Apr 5, 2008, 4:04 am
We are still having very stormy weather here. Lots of rain and wind. Trees have fallen down, branches blown all over the property. The last few days have been spent clearing up outside and helping neighbours too.
I'm not sure if you can see the trees blowing in this picture.
For most of the day the power was out because of trees falling on the power lines around the area. We played card games, read a book about australian animals and bush life, then when we were feeling cold and sleepy we settled back in bed and watched a movie on the portable dvd player, luckily it is run by batteries and not power from the house.
I'll speak to you again soon.
Hugs
xx Leo Lion xx
Posted Apr 6, 2008, 12:39 pm
You wouldn't believe how quick the weather changes around here. Today was a beautiful sunny day. Blue skies, white fluffy clouds, sunshine all around, very different from the last week! Just when we thought it was a great day we saw something that wasn't too great. Lots of thick, black smoke rising from the forest. Yes, it was a fire! We thought maybe it was started on purpose but after some investigating (lots of phone calls), Sam found out it was a controlled burn by the forestry people. They were cleaning up fallen trees and branches after last weeks windy weather. Phew, our minds were put at ease, it wasn't too far from Sam's home!
Posted Apr 12, 2008, 1:47 am
He couldn't wait to move onto his next host so he packed up and took off after saying a quick but fond farewell to his newfound toyvoyager friends.
He is only travelling 400kms north but it will take a few days.
It was a pleasure to have him visit.
Safe travelling Leo!
Posted Apr 15, 2008, 8:51 am
We spent some time in the back yard. It was an overcast day, so there wasn't a lot of sun to soak up. But I enjoyed the chance to get some fresh air. There isn't a lot of that in a padded Australia Post bag!
It's been a big day and I'm very tired. So I'm going to go curl back up and have a nap with my new friend. Wednesday seems to have taken a liking to me.
Posted May 1, 2008, 2:15 am
Sorry it's been a while since I last updated. Poor Anni has been in hospital having surgery. But she's getting her stitches out today and is starting to feel much better.
We're currently staying on a country property just outside of Wodonga, which is in the North East of Victoria. There are so many animals! Anni's parents have been looking after both me and her.
If the doctor says it's alright, we're going to be travelling back to Melbourne tomorrow. I've been told we might even get to go to an AFL game on Saturday if Anni is not too sore!
I have a few photos I can't wait to show you. Anni forgot to bring her camera cord so they'll have to wait until we arrive at her home.
I miss you very much, but I'm having fun here.
Posted May 3, 2008, 1:29 am
Here are the photos from my stay in Wodonga.
The Autumn leaves really made the countryside look beautiful.
Can you find me hiding in the tree?
I even got to feed some goats. This one thought I was on the menu... eep!
Then, just as we were getting ready to leave for Melbourne, we spotted some kangaroos in the hills.
It's a shame we couldn't get any closer to them.
Posted May 4, 2008, 12:16 pm
Well I'm back in Melbourne, and what better way to spend my weekend than to go to an AFL game at the MCG.
Hawthorn vs Collingwood. It was a huge game and there were 80,000 people in the crowd. Lucky we arrived early so we could get good seats and take some photos without people blocking the view!
The end score was:
Hawthorn 24 goals, 10 points: 154
Collingwood 13 goals, 11 points: 89.
Go Hawks!
Posted May 6, 2008, 10:42 am
I'm heading to Wyong where I will continue my journey.
I had fun, but I'm looking forward to the next part of my big adventure!
Goodbye for now.
Posted May 10, 2008, 3:02 am
Posted May 13, 2008, 4:22 am
Posted May 26, 2008, 6:02 am
After dinner we played a game of trivia with a whole lot of people. We didn't win, but we did come third and we had heaps of fun.
Posted May 26, 2008, 6:07 am
The ball was a little bit big for me to be able to bowl very much.
But I did get to help with the scoring.
There was heaps of yummy food too.
It was with a group of people who home-school their children who all get together to have some fun. They're all going bowling again soon, but I will be in Florida by then! YAY!
Posted May 31, 2008, 4:01 am
Posted May 31, 2008, 4:04 am
Posted Jun 7, 2008, 10:49 pm
I hope I can see some haunted places and ghosts while I am here!
Posted Jun 12, 2008, 3:10 am
Our host thanked us for trying, but said we should go play while she mowed the lawn. So, I decided to go fishing!
And I caught a crab!
Posted Jun 15, 2008, 2:19 am
Here we are at the entrance:
Here I am with our very nice tour guide; her name is Patricia and she is from Peru:
She let me try out the recliner! Even though it is made of rock, it is very comfortable. All I need now is a pillow!
We saw some carvings of some planets and the crescent moon, but all I could get in the picture is the moon:
Here's the barbecue pit. he used car parts to cook with!
inside living quarters of Ed Leedskalnin:
the well:
Ed's bathtub:
Ed's bed:
Here we all are on top of Ed's desk with some pretty bougainvillea:
Posted Jun 22, 2008, 2:36 am
It has been raining all week! Finally, it cleared up enough so we could go out for a little while. We went to see some giant shoes in the middle of Cartagena Circle in Coral Gables. The shoe statue is a replica of a statue made by Tito Lambrano in Cartagena, Colombia.
We had lots of fun playing on the shoes!
Posted Jun 22, 2008, 10:32 pm
Posted Jul 5, 2008, 10:19 pm
After the sparklers, it started to rain, so we had to go inside. We were able to see some of the fireworks show from the window though and it was a spectacular show! I wish we could have gotten some pictures of it.
Our host also showed us a webpage that has fireworks that we can do with Lady Liberty
Posted Jul 5, 2008, 11:05 pm
I've always wanted to climb a palm tree, but it doesn't look as easy as I thought it would be! These trees are so big and there are no branches at the bottom! My host had to help me a little bit, but I climbed one of them!
Posted Jul 8, 2008, 5:28 pm
Posted Jul 15, 2008, 11:36 am
I've arrived. I'll be off ghost hunting very soon.
Posted Jul 31, 2008, 6:32 pm
Posted Aug 7, 2008, 7:07 am
This is me at The Avenue.
Posted Aug 10, 2008, 8:30 am
The Red Lion pub is famous for being haunted. It has appeared on TV loads of times. A ghostly lady has appeared and frightened customers in the corridor by the toilets. She has also thrown things around rooms.
There's also a famous photo showing a man with a bloody face reflected in a mirror.
I'm so glad we're not stopping.
OHH, is that a ghost in the windscreen? . . . Oh it's OK, it's only MY reflection! Phew!
Posted Aug 11, 2008, 3:56 pm
Helly drove home last night and spotted lots of cars, she glanced left and saw the circle so this evening she got her lift to drop her off and she and Steve took me up the hill to see if I could see it any better from up high.
Oh, it's not a great view from here, but you can see the white horse and Cherhill monument.
Posted Aug 11, 2008, 4:02 pm
Either way, they are usually beautifully symmetrical and very rarely are any of the ears of corn or wheat broken or bruised.
Steve took his son to visit one a couple of years ago and a man showed him how, right in the middle, his magnet would not find north but just kept spinning around.
I walked up to the right of the circle and then along a ridge, just below the monument and white horse and back down the other side.
If you look carefully at the picture you can see a line of trees about half way up. This is where I started from.
Posted Aug 19, 2008, 8:56 am
It was back down the footpath leading to the road and back to the car, except, guess what?
The best view of all was from the side of the road!!
Posted Sep 18, 2008, 5:51 pm
No ghosts this morning but people walking along the path at night have heard footsteps which come up behind them and then overtake them. As they do so there's a gust of wind as if someone has walked by in a hurry. . .
Ther's never been anyone there!
Posted Sep 18, 2008, 5:54 pm
Can you see the barns in the background? These belong to Avebury Manor which is haunted by the ghost of a cavalier soldier who sits in a window waiting for his loved one to return.
The room always smells of roses after he's been.
Posted Sep 18, 2008, 6:09 pm
As the Haunted Trail is ending I'm staying a little longer with Steve & Helly and going to France tomorrow!
Posted Oct 11, 2008, 8:01 am
I'm sitting on top of Steve's car at a 2CV rally. More of that later!
Posted Oct 11, 2008, 8:06 am
First stop today, on the way to the gite, is a 2CV rally held by the local Normandy group. It opened at 2.00 and half an hour in there are 60 cars here already.
. . . sometime later . . . Right, enough of that, I'm tired and we've still got an hour to go to get to the gite. Off through Bayeux itself. Coutances here we come . . .
Posted Oct 11, 2008, 8:12 am
La Grande Gaublotiere is about 10km from Coutances.
Today we're just going to make the most of the sun and relax.
Posted Oct 11, 2008, 8:15 am
Posted Oct 11, 2008, 8:27 am
Posted Oct 13, 2008, 5:47 pm
Today, with the sun shining, it was very beautiful, looking down the hill towards the sea.
Posted Oct 14, 2008, 6:07 pm
Posted Oct 14, 2008, 6:10 pm
Posted Oct 14, 2008, 6:16 pm
Today I went to a '2CV Expo' at the Science Museum. There was so much to see in such a small space. The 2CV is 60 years old this year and the exhibition is only running for a few more weeks. Steve & Helly met two friends - Ellie & Dave - in Paris, especially to visit the exhibition.
After looking at all the full size 2CVs, including the last 2CV which was at Beauleau Museum in England but which has been given to Citroen in France, I found a car just my size.
Where to James . . .umm, Pierre!
Posted Oct 17, 2008, 4:35 pm
It was hard work!
Helly still doesn't understand it all!
Posted Oct 17, 2008, 4:40 pm
Wow, it was SO huge.
I didn't go up as it was incredibly windy, there were massive queues and Steve & Helly's friends had been before.
Posted Oct 17, 2008, 4:48 pm
Next stop, the Arc De Triomphe.
I could see La Defense from up here and also the Eiffel Tower. Gosh, did I walk all the way from there?
I could also see the roundabout system of letting cars coming on have priority . . . it all looked very complicated!
I'm sad as I have to return to England tomorrow. I've had so much fun in France.
Posted Oct 21, 2008, 5:37 pm