Posted Sep 12, 2008, 12:19 pm
hugs and monkey kisses,
Bally
Posted Sep 13, 2008, 1:41 am
sara.ringham@gmail.com
Posted Sep 22, 2008, 9:58 am
...from left to right let me introduce you to Bellatrix, Jonas, Lollipop, Luv Leon and of course myself. :-)
...one last thing... since it's Spring, we seem to get a lot of little creepy crawlies in the houses, there's nothing really you can do about it as much as you try to stop it... Sara found a little spider on her shampoo bottle... it wasn't a surprise then she released the thing outside...
...she wasn't sure at first but she looked closely at him and realised he was actually a poisonous spider, a male (the females are a lot bigger). It was actually a red back spider... they're common in this area, and kind of nasty... glad it's not inside anymore!
Write again soon mum, we've not been doing much lately but we will do something way more exciting soon... :-)
sara.ringham@gmail.com
Posted Sep 27, 2008, 2:56 pm
First let me introduce you to the birds, Sara has a large aviary in her kitchen it includes star finches, gouldian finches, spice finches, zebra finches, society finches, diamond doves, and a couple button quails at the bottom. They're very friendly but a bit scared of me...
Next stop is the fish, she's got a few fish, most of them are live bearing fish... there are barbs, one guppy, some platties and swordtails. She also has a large suckerfish that's sitting on the driftwood in the middle... can you see him? he's pretty camouflaged but you can see him if you look closely. :-) There's also a smaller suckerfish that's called a bristlenose... the big one in the tank Sara says is the most common ones found in America, they're new to Australian fish tanks as of a few years ago at $25. for a small one... but Sara loved them and got one on a whim... :-)
Sara's also got some mice that are living in something called a mouse mansion... there are six of them in there... if you look closely you can see a white and black spotted one in the tube on the right side... see her? That's choc chip... :-) They're all very friendly, and they're all female..
Last but not least is the dog... Sara's got a 6 month old beagle they call Anni. She's a bit of a handful but she's friendly and sometimes naughty...
See what I mean? She just wants to sniff me, don't worry I'm okay. :-) She does like to jump though which Sara is trying to teach her better manners than that... she's still young though...
Well I'll write again soon mom, I hope you enjoyed the updates so far even though you haven't seen much yet... it's been quite hot here... :-P
sara.ringham@gmail.com
Posted Oct 2, 2008, 3:48 pm
Anyways, it was time to get going... Sara had heaps to do today and didn't want to be out all day... so here's what Sara's main street looks like... at the bottom you can see what looks like a huge parking lot... that is indeed what it is... it's the parking lot to a huge company called Electrolux which makes fridges, vacuums and everything... they only make fridges and freezers at this one though... kinda cool anyways...
...and here's a street near where Sara lives... as you can see it looks very lush with a lot of trees... sadly, it's not this way just outside of Orange with mostly farmlands and it's very dry...
...going now out to the main part of Orange this isn't the main street but there are a lot of shops. You can't tell very much but the shops are very old, most of them anyways...
...now first stop Daniel and Sara had to drop off their 2 year old son, Andrew at daycare... *sigh* it's quite hot already and it's only 9am... geez, and it's only still the beginning half of Spring... oh it's so hot!...
...time to get going again, this is near the main street, this is Anson Street it connects with Summer Street and the back road to get to one of the malls... which are quite small to other malls, especially in America...
Almost there now... just through this roundabout and we'll be there... on the right hand side you can see a big blue/green type building and a big white one next to it is one of the original buildings in Orange... I can't remember what it is now, the white one next to is is the Ex Services Club where all the bands come to play and comedy acts are held and everything... Sara's seen a few preformers there including Jimeon and Steady Eddy two Australian comedians...
Welcome to Orange Central... this only recently opened back up after huge renovations... it's quite... different from what it used to be and seems to have a bit more upper class type stores now which are way expensive but also some nice stores like Dollars and Sense... but we're not going there for that, we're headed to Kmart to do our first mystery shop...
...well... back on the road again, we couldn't really take photos inside the mall because well... people get a bit weird about that for some reason but here we are... on Summer Street which is the main street of Orange. Now... what's strange about Orange is it has two malls, most of the bigger towns in the Central West have two malls... owned by different people. On the left is the Orange Central (where we just were) and on the right is the Orange Metroplaza which has stuff like Myer (like a big department store), Big W (Australia's Wal*Mart equivalent) and the Reject Shop... also next to Myer, which you can see on the right side, behind the trees is a huge building you can see sticking out - that's the main post office... quite big for such a little town isn't it? In reality, it's not that big...
...and as we go down main street a bit more you start to notice the trend of the buildings and how old they all seem to be... some more modernized than others but none the less... lots of the buildings actually have apartments on the top floor... and people still live in them to this day...
...down another street on our way to the metroplaza (the other mall) we went down Lords Place... Sara took a photo so show you their cinemas here... they're kind of funny, she's used to the box office being outside but it's not... instead you buy your tickets at the snack bar, I guess it's a way to get you to just buy some snacks at the same time instead of avoiding it... but another interesting thing... you notice how there is no parking really? Yeah, Sara thinks that's interesting too - especially since there's no parking unless you want to walk ages that's longer than 2 hours... which isn't good unless you see a movie under 2 hours long... oh well!
Well... that was my little tour of Orange... we're also going to do a tour of Millthorpe (hopefully), Blayney, and very soon we'll be going to Canowindra a small town 50 minutes drive of Orange... Sara's never been there before so it's going to be new to all of us! Write again soon mom!
sara.ringham@gmail.com
Posted Oct 5, 2008, 3:27 pm
...only a short way through the drive we found a very small town called Cargo, it has a population of 200 and is between Orange and Canowindra... it was so small Sara didn't even realise we were passing through the main street until we were through it... most of it was farmland and there was a pub and a small grocery store but not much else... although we did see some native birds...
Not sure if you can see it but there are two little ibises in the background... they're pretty common, especially around trash cans, dumps and they're kind of like "rats" or like Australian pigeons... Sara still finds them pretty cool though... here's a closer picture if you can't see them very well...
...well back on the road again we're only half way there... :-)
sara.ringham@gmail.com
Posted Oct 5, 2008, 5:16 pm
...as you can see the main street looks very old, again with the very old buildings. These are quite common for all over Australia, even in the cities like Sydney you'll find areas that look very similar to this... although usually not as small as some of the towns you find in this area...
First things first, Sara had to get one of the mystery shops done, they went to Westpac (one of the banks) and rated the service and deposited some money into an account which she will get back... now that that's done it's time to do a bit of roaming around this little town...
First thing we came to this information sign... because the writing is so small Sara will just type it out in case you want to read a bit about what Canowindra is all about....
Canowindra is in Wiradjuri country and Canowindra and Belubula are Wiradjuri words. The fertile lands of the Belubula River increasingly attracted European pastoralists after the foundation of Bathurst in 1815. To stem the tide of settlement, Nineteen Counties were proclaimed in 1829 and the Belubula River, after survey in 1834, became the boundary of the County of Bathurst with no settlement permitted north of the river.
In 1829, the first land grant, Canowindra was a 640 acre block promised to James Collits. This block later passed to Thomas Icely and a site for a village was reserved adjoining the 640 acres where traffic forded the river at the site of the present Swinging Bridge. In the expansion of settlement westward, Canowindra became the next frontier town after Bathurst and Carcoar, serving traffic to the Lower Lachlan. In 1844, a public pound was proclaimed on the village reserve and in 1846 Thomas Icely had a mud hotel, the Travellers Rest, and a store built on his land, well sited to serve traffic routes converging at the ford.
In November 1846, Governor FitzRoy crossed the flooded Belubula on his tour of the 'unsettled districts' where disputes had arisen over land occupancy. After FitzRoy's tour, land regulations were altered to allow more permanent settlement beyond the boundaries of the Nineteen Counties. In 1847, the first Canowindra Post Office opened in the store next to the inn. In 1852, William Robinson bought from Icely the 640 acres and became licensee of the inn.
Events of the 1860's changed the fortunes of Canowindra, bypassed by traffic routes to the new gold rush town of Forbes. In 1860, the village reserve was surveyed into building blocks but few sold as the township was growing on private land north of the river. In 1860, William Robinson died suddenly and his son, William II, leased the south-side inn and by 1862 had moved over the river to be licensee of the north-side Canowindra Inn, where he was mine host in the eventful year of 1863 when the hotel was held up three times by bushrangers, Benn Hall and gang. As hotels were often referred to by the name of the licensee, it is easy to understand the confusion that arose over the site of Robinson's Inn of 1863 bushranger fame, which was not the old mud Travellers Rest south of the Belubula but the Canowindra Inn on the north-side near the site of the present Royal Hotel.
The development of the Canowindra township was further interrupted by a minor gold rush, beginning in 1868, at nearby Belmore (Moorbel), when businesses moved or opened there, threatening to overshadow Canowindra as the commercial centre. The government reserved a strip of north-side land with access to the river, bounded by present Tilga and Rodd Streets, known as the 'government town'. The first bridge over the Belubula was built in 1874 on its western boundary and the Church of England and government services, school, police and court house, were granted land there.
Canowindra Goldfield, proclaimed in 1879, included a square mile reserve centered on Belmore's Blue Jacket Hill which excluded the 'private town' of Canowindra but included South Canowindra. Modest homes, built there for miners, later became the homes of Lucerne workers as lucerne became the district's 'green gold'. The elevated building sites in the old Canowindra Village Reserve are now highly sought.
Now moving on, we came upon a small museum that looked to be closed... it had a lot of older farming equipment outside but the gate was padlocked so we couldn't have a look at all... oh well maybe next time... :-)
...although right outside the museum was a lot of these plaques....
...Sara wasn't quite sure what they were, but figured they were put there to commemorate the original settlers to this area, the main families that lived here as it went over who the people were, their names, where they lived, how many kids they had... quite interesting to read some of them. One of them said this guy had 14 kids with one wife, and 7 kids with another! Wow, that's a lot of children!...
Right near the museum was another information sign, again it's going to be small so if your interested feel free to read below... Sara will type it out... it's about Canowindra's Railway History...
Need for railway: Agitation for a railway to Canowindra began in the 1880's. The district proved ideal for primary production as land was cleared for agriculture and closer settlement. Access to markets was crucial. Rail had reached Cowra via the Great Southern Line in 1885. Completion of the railway bridge over the Lachlan River and the Blayney to Cowra line in 1887 made the Great Western Line a reality. Cross country link lines were always the vision of the Railway Engineer-in-Chief of New South Wales, John Whitton, but routes proposed were controversial. The line from Orange to Forbes, completed in 1893, offered hope for a link from Cowra through Canowindra.
Canowindra Line Approved: The Cowra to Canowindra Railway Act was passed on 15 December 1908 and land resumptions began for construction which quickly followed the turning of the first sod at Cowra West on 11 January 1909. A parcel of land in Canowindra from Blatchford to Clyburn Streets was resumed for railway use and site layout plans were prepared by Assistant Engineer, John J C Bradfield, who went on to design the Sydney Harbor Bridge.
Extention to Eugowra: The long-promised 26 mile line extention to Eugowra opened on 11 December 1922. Although the Canowindra to Gregra Railway Act was passed in May 1924 to link with the Parkes-Forbes line, it was never built (Grega was a siding near Manildra).
Grand Opening and Growth of Town: On 4 July 1910, the 23 mile branch line was opened with a great ceremony. The official party arrived with 800 people on a thirteen carriage train from Cowra. Two WELCOME arches were erected with pylons of lucerne bales and bags of wheat.
The railway terminus was a tremendous boost to the town. Prior to 1900, Canowindra's population hovered around 400. By 1911, it had risen to 1,500 and continued to rise until slowed by World War 1. The railway brought businesses to the western side of town and new commercial buildings were erected in the dog-leg main street. Mill Street was surveyed for two flour mills.
In 1927 a rail motor service replaced steam-hauled passenger trains. The 'Tin Hare', as the rail motor was affectionately known, proved a return service on wee days from Cowra to Eugowra for over thirty years. Pupils from Billimari could travel daily to school in Canowindra and the driver would stop to pick them up at unscheduled stops near their homes. Families with small dairies loaded their cream cans on the motor train for delivery to the Butter Factory in Canowindra. By 1970 diesel-electric locomotives had replaced steam on goods trains.
Decline of Rail Services and Site use: Land between Blatchford Street and the stationmaster's house was early given over for a town park and the Historical Society opened a museum in the park in 1970. Rail services to Canowindra gradually dwindled as better roads and motor transport reduced demand. The passenger station was closed on 10 August 1974 but goods trains continued until 10 October 1991 when the last government train hauled wheat from the silo. The Lachlan Valley Railway Society leased the line for limited passenger and grain services until 1995.
Meanwhile, the station house was brought, restored and opened in 1988 as part of the Historical Society Museum complex. From 1993 Canowindra Lions Club leased land near the passenger builing as a park. Part of this lease was acquired in 1996 to build the Age of Fishes Museum. Floods in 2001 damaged the Cucumber Creek Bridge rendering the line impassable and future use uncertain.
Now they mentioned something at the end there which caught Sara's eye as they were driving more down the main street... the Age of Fishes Museum...
...now Sara's a bit of a sucker for fossils and ancient stuff so of course we made a stop at this museum in question and had a bit of a look around...
...first thing we did after paying the admissions to enter is we watched a short little video it talked about the major fish fossils that have been found in this area, some that are extremely old dating back before the dinosaurs even, and some fish getting as big as 5 metres long in length. Canowindra is huge for this fossils of these ancient fish, the video mainly talked about a time when there must have been a huge rainfall so the river broke and made huge billabong's. Then over a few days the billabong dried up and all the fish died as they were stuck... this is where all these fish fossils are mainly found... here's a bit of information more on these ancient fish before we move onto the fossils...
What Would Canowindra Have Looked Like?
360 million years ago, the area around Canowindra would have looked very different from today. The map above shows some of the main features of the Canowindra area back then -
-a coastline that is near where the town of Muswellbrook is now.
-a large river basin, with highlands on either side
-lots of green vegetation along the river system, with the rest of the land like a desert.
Over time, the Canowindra highlands were eroded away by wind and rain, creating sediments that washed down into the river basin. When compacted together, these sediments made the fine, hard sandstone and shales which are now found in the Canowindra area.
What Was The Earth Like Back Then?
For most of the Earth's early history, it's land has been like a desert with hardly any vegetation. During the Devonian Period (410-354 million years ago), the rocks and sand were stained red by oxidised iron (rust). Early plants grew on the land, such as mosses and fersns, and some even grew up to 30m tall. But, because they needed water for their spores to germinate, plants only grew close to water. This made the rivers, lakes and billabongs rich, green places in stark contrast to the dry, desert-like land.
The main animals living on the dry land were invertebrate, such as insects, centipedes, millipedes, spiders and scorpions while they rivers, lakes and billabongs and seas were filled with fishes.
The Devonian Period is often called the "Age of the Fishes" because it was a time when the fishes spread all over the Earth and lived in every kind of aquatic environment. All the major groups of fishes were living during the Devonian Period, but the most common were the placoderms and sarcopterygians.
Was Canowindra Always On Dry Land?
500 million years ago, the area that was to become Canowindra was deep below the ocean. By 400 million years ago, it was under shallow water and by 360 million years ago, the time that the Canowindra fishes lived and died it had become dry land.
Throughout time, the coastline of eastern Australia has always been changing. Tectonic activity (movement of the rocky plates of the Earth's surface) created volcanic activity on the edge of the continent. This in turn created more rock, adding to the existing land area and making the seas off the coast of Eastern Australia shallower. The tectonic activity also lifted parts of the sea floor so high that they became dry land.
Over time, rivers flowing towards the east carried large amounts of sediment which settled in the shallow seas, filling them up and creating even more land. And so, over millions of years, the land area grew and the coastline moved further and further to the East.
How Big Was The Billabong?
The billabong in which the Canowindra fishes lived was quite big. A billabong is a semi-permanent waterhole that is linked to a river. This billabong was part of a huge river system that flowed through the Canowindra area during the Devonian Period. The site containing the fossils is about 10m across, but the original billabong would have been much bigger to support more than 3,500 fishes (the approximate number of fossil fishes found) plus other animals and plants.
Also, there are no fossils of plants or invertebrates with the fossil fishes, so this suggests that the fishes died in the central and deepest part of the billabong away from the edges where plants grew. So the original billabong may have been 100m or more in width.
...so were almost ready to move onto see the fossils, first we got to learn how the fossils were discovered and a bit of history about that...
How Were the Fossils Discovered?
First... In 1955, a slab of rock with hundreds of strange shapes on it was dug up by a bulldozer driver working on a road about 10kms away from Canowindra. Because it was unusual, the driver placed the slab at the side of the road where it was seen by a local beekeeper, Mr. Bill Simpson, in 1956 and reported to the Australian Museum in Sydney.
The slab was covered with fossils of ancient fishes from the Devonian Period (410-354 million years ago). Harold Fletcher, a palaeontologist (a scientist who discovers fossils) at the Australian Museum, was so impressed with these fossils that he arranged for the slab to be taken to the Australian Museum in 1956 to be studied and put on display.
The large scaly fish at the centre of the slab was found to be a completely new species never seen before. It was named Canowindra Grossi. Many of the other fossils were of small armored fishes which had already been found in other parts of the world, but the Canowindra fossils were some of the best fossils of these ever found.
Then... Dr Alex Ritchie, the Museum's new palaeontologist, identified some broken fossils of another species of fish called Groenlandaspis on the slab. Dr Ritchie was interested in studying more fossils of Groenlandaspis so he visited the road near Canowindra (where the slab was found) six times between 1973 and 1990 to search for more fossils of Groenlandaspis.
But without earth-moving equipment Dr Ritchie did not find any more fossils. In 1993, after hearing a talk about the fossil fishes by Dr Ritchie, the Canowindra Rotary Club arranged for Cabonne Shire Council to provide earth-moving equipment for a few days to search for more fossils under the road.
Within three hours, dozens of slabs of rock had been uncovered with hundreds of fossil fishes on them, including an example of a very large ancient fish later named Mandageria. A larger excavation was carried out in July 1993with the help of many local volunteers. More than 3,500 fossils were found.
The Future... before the excavation was due to finish in 1993 and the road put back in place, Dr Ritchie uncovered one huge slab of rock with six perfectly preserved fossils of large fishes lying side by side. Dr. Ritchie was able to make a latex peel of one of the fossils before the road had to be put back in place on top of them. The six fossils and many others are still waiting underground for the time when there are enough funds to reposition the road and reopen the excavation site.
...before we visited the fossils we had a look at some of the cool fishes they had on show, although the first two aren't alive they're still pretty cool.... the first is called a silver perch and the second is a small shark called a Port Jackson shark. :-)
...and there was two alive fish there too... one was hiding so we couldn't see it but the other was a fish that lives now that very much resembles one of the ancient fishes called the Saratoga...
Saratoga look similar to the fossil fish Gooloogongia. Saratoga live in tropical rivers in Australia and have thin, needle-like teeth and a strongly upturned jaw. They feed on insects that fall onto water's surface and hunt for small fishes and invertebrates underwater. The fossil fish Gooloogongia also have thin, needle-like teeth and a strongly upturned jaw, so perhaps they caught food in similar ways to saratoga.
Not all sarcopterygians had needle-like teeth. Others, like Cabonnichthys and Mandageria, had strong, cone-shaped sharp teeth like modern salt-water crocodiles. They could have used their strong teeth and jaws to attack other large fishes and perhaps to crush the armored plates of placoderms.
Now that we know all about why Canowindra was put on the map so to speak, it's time to visit the fossils we've read so much about...
...as you can see there are quite a few in a very small area, and this is only a section of the fossils that have been found. You can't really tell but there were some HUGE fish among those fossils...
You can read a little bit about those tiny little fish found in the fossils, they were kind of cute weren't they? They were pretty dang small as compared to some of the other fish seen in these fossils. It's amazing to think about what lived in that time so long ago... this visit was so much fun, I learned a lot about Australia's history and the history of what lived here way before the dinosaurs, who knew today would be that fascinating... I hope you found it as fascinating as me... now it's about time to move on... time to get ready and go home...
On the way home, we passed by a huge field of purple flowers... they seem quite pretty don't they?
Sadly this flower is called Pattersons Curse it's one of the big reasons that Australia has such strict laws about what is brought in and out of the country... Australia is the world's largest island (continent) and therefore when things come in, they stay in... a long time ago this lady brought in what's known today as Patterson's Curse because she wanted it in her garden. Now, every Spring it pops up, it's a weed that kills a lot of stuff and causes massive hay fever for a lot of people this time of year. It's found in a lot of paddocks and you can find it anywhere and every where. Thankfully Sara doesn't have the hay fever that most people suffer from when they're around the plant but she knows how bad it can get... pretty nasty...
...almost out of the area now, and we drove by some bright yellow flowers... instead these aren't so bad...
...these are the Australian canola fields, as you can see there's quite a bit there... it's a very pretty site actually with the mountains the background and everything... :-)
Well, that was a big BIG day... time for a rest, rain is forecast this weekend... yay! It was getting quite hot already I'm ready for a bit of a cool down... I'll write again soon!
sara.ringham@gmail.com
Posted Oct 7, 2008, 11:16 am
...it's quite a large group... but some of us will be back on the road again pretty soon and traveling a bit more of Australia before continuing on our world travels... how fun!
...oh and we also got another little visitor today... something that's not quite as common as other birds seem around here like the galah's and cockatoo's... this little colorful guy is called an eastern rosella... isn't he pretty?
We didn't want to get in the photo because well, we'd look like a blur because of how far it's zoomed in, but also because it would scare him away... oh well, he was sure pretty to look at... isn't he mom? Well I'll write again soon!
sara.ringham@gmail.com
Posted Oct 12, 2008, 3:55 pm
Anyways, Sara and Daniel dropped their car off at the mechanic to get the pink slip done (checking the car over so it can be registered for 2009) and took a long walk around town. All the toyvoyagers got to stay in Sara's backpack but sadly we couldn't come out too much besides peeking out of the bag every now and then. First stop we got to go to Sara's father in law's house for a while since it would be a while...
I got to learn a little bit about these houses... they seem kind of old by the look of them, and you can only see three in the photo, but there is four of them and they're all identical... or used to be... they're part of the Historical Heritage Trust of New South Wales. They're called the Marsden Cottages they were built at the same time in the late 1860's for the servants that worked for some rich family that lived around half a kilometre away, they were the Marsden family. The pink colored house is the one Sara used to live in and it's the most original of all of the houses... even though it had a bit built onto it, the doors are the same, so they're a bit run down but it's all original. The pink one is also the one that is the least run down, as they all have cracks in them because of being worn down but they're kind of interesting, and a lot larger than they look from the outside... with a really strange floor plan...
Well after spending a bit of time at the house we decided it was time to move on, we walked down the street a little ways and got to the Blayney High School, Sara's always found Australia strange for the fact that they have an agriculture class that they can take. So on the school grounds they have sheep, cows, and chickens... pretty crazy isn't it? Kind of cool though too I think... :-)
Moving on down the street we got to see these two churches, they're quite old as well, the first was built in 1861, and is all original, the second.... Sara's not really sure about it but it looks kind of cool...
Oh, and here's the main street of Blayney. Blayney was pretty busy for how small the town is, there were a LOT of tourists in town for the Bathurst races being held this weekend so we couldn't really come out of the bag for the fear of getting lost since there are so many of us... but I promise there will be more photos of me to come... :-)
That's literally all of Blayney, there's not much to it - it's pretty boring when you're around it at all times. Very small, and caused Sara a lot of problems from such a dramatic change from Seattle (huge city) to Blayney (tiny tiny town)... it drove her nuts lol... but everything is good now, it's nice to see some of the smaller towns within Australia isn't it? Write again soon mom!
sara.ringham@gmail.com
Posted Oct 12, 2008, 4:19 pm
...since you can't see the tv properly here's some better shots that Sara got from the TV... Sara said that during this weekend every year you never leave the house as it's always SO busy and hectic where ever you go. When the races aren't on, all the hotels and motels are booked up... for this four day weekend that the races were on there were over 20,000 people that came out of town just to see the races... pretty crazy!...
One last thing that happened today, we couldn't be in the photo with this one because well... they're not the nicest of bugs but here's something called a spitfire. Apparently they're wasp larvae, they're quite large, and when they feel threatened they can shoot a 'string' of poisonous stuff at you. For humans it only burns, but it's quite nasty... interesting though at the same time... I've never seen anything like that before...
sara.ringham@gmail.com
Posted Oct 20, 2008, 9:18 am
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,
"Who'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 pass 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 pass by that billabong,
"Who'll come a-Waltzing Matilda, with me?"
...there was lots and lots of birds around and making a bit of noise so we took notice... oh, it was just a little magpie... one of Australia's most common birds, and quite known for swooping you during the Spring months (now) to protect their babies...
Onto the way to the Templers Mill ruins, we stopped to have a photo with the landscapes of the area... this is what it looks like around here... but... usually more brown because of the drought, recently we got a lot of rain so it's a bit more green around here. Quite a lot more beautiful than normal. :-)
After we all got our photos taken at the statue we moved onto the Templer's Mill, which was right near where Banjo Patterson was born. His house is no longer there, so this is what stands (or not so much anymore) to mark his birthplace. Here we are on the wreckage of the old mill...
...can you see us now that were farther away? It shows you how big the ruins are of the old mill... crazy how big it is isn't it?
...then we got to learn a little bit about the old Templers Mill...
You can now see a photo of what the Templers Mill used to look like... now if you can't read what the sign says this is what it reads:
In 1828, the land between Orange and Suma Park was granted to emancipist Simeon Lord as part compensation for land he had surrendered to Governor Macquarie in 1911 in Sydney. It was probably Lord's son, Thomas, who built and supervised the district's first flour mill on the property, which retained the Aboriginal name Narrambla.
It is possible that the grinding stone was first operated by convicts but, in 1840, when the mill was acquired by John Arthur Templer these were replaced by horseworks. In 1948, Templer installed a 12 horsepower steam engine and boiler, and the mill's chimney probably dated from this time. Farmers brought grain for grinding at one shilling a bushel.
It was in Templer's homestead among the trees by the creek that his great nefew, Andrew Barton Paterson, was born on 17 February 1864. Banjo Paterson as he became known, is one of Australia's best known and most popular poets.
Templer's Mill operated until about 1870. The boiler was later used for many years at Heap's Brewery in Moulder Street, Orange. The remains of the mill, considered dangerous and beyond repair, were demolished in 1971.
Walking a bit farther up the hill (more walking, just keep walking) we got to the memorial on the side of the road for Banjo... here we are in front of it:
Since it's not easy to read here's what it says:
The Australian Poet, Andrew Barton Paterson (Banjo)
Was born 17th of February 1864 at the Narrambla Homestead which stood 8 chains north east of this memorial.
-Erected 1947
"And he sees the vision splendid of the sunlit plains extended, and at night the wonderous glory of the everlasting stars."
(Clancy Of The Overflow)
Banjo is even on the Australian $10. note, it was quite fun to get to know a bit more about the history of Australia. :-) Write again soon! There's a heap more interesting stuff to come!
sara.ringham@gmail.com
Posted Oct 23, 2008, 5:53 am
It's a bit of a drive (45 minutes) with nothing but farmland in the middle of it... there's a small little town called Lucknow... some of us have had the pleasure of learning a bit more about the little gold mining town. The rest of us, will learn a little bit later about it... it's quite small anyways... literally a one road town with a few shops... here's some pictures while we were driving through...
...if you look, in the second photo you can see some huge things on the sides of the road... those a huge levers of sorts to help with the gold mines that were located right below them... but more on that later...
...oh, and almost there and we were driving behind this weird looking car... how strange is that? It must have been really windy, even though a warm day, I couldn't imagine having the top down on the car while going 100kph (60mph)...
...coming into Bathurst... Sara says she's never seen Canola fields this bright... she's never really come into Bathurst too much this time of year... but there was tons and TONS of yellow just outside of the town...
...well now were entering Bathurst... I'll update the rest of the trip a little bit later... stay tuned! :-)
sara.ringham@gmail.com
Posted Oct 23, 2008, 6:33 am
You can't see it that well, but in the background you can see the huge sign on the mountain that says "Mount Panorama"... :-)
...and here we are entering the track... a lot of people ride on the track... they come from all over Australia... but there's a very strict speed limit of 60kph (around 40mph) on the track so people don't hurt themselves... you'll find the drivers that race on this track though during the races will top about 300kph... crazy!
...and here's the famous starting gate... on the left are the stands where the announcers are and the pits... and on the right is the huge grand stand full of people... here we go...
So that's the whole race track... you can see from the very top of the mountain how high you actually are... you have quite the view of the city... then you come down a very curvy road, which honestly would be very scary at 300kph... if you look closely in the Falkin sign near the end of the track (it's a blue sign on the side of the road) right in front of the toyvoyagers are some huge scrapes and some dents... on the qualifying races for the big race on Sunday one of the cars got t-boned by another car coming around that corner. He was taken to the hospital and put into critcal care... but now he's out of the hospital and just fine thankfully. He says he regrets not being able to race... but I'm sure he's more happy just to be alive. It was a pretty nasty crash. There was more scrapes and dents all over the track from other minor crashes. But no real big crashes happened this year... although something funny happened, a kangaroo jumped out onto the race track... apparently this happens a lot since kangaroos are all over Bathurst. This time the kangaroo was fine and they slowed the cars down and got the kangaroo off of the track... this was from 2007 when a kangaroo was on the track. That kangaroo had a very lucky escape from the cars and was unharmed... check it out... :-) and another lucky kangaroo that should be buying a lotto ticket I think... crazy!
...well next it was time to go and see the now famous statue that they unveiled during the races a week or so ago... a Peter Brock statue... he was the biggest winner at Mount Panorama with 9 wins under his belt. He died in a racing accident in 2006, so they made a statue to commemorate him at the track... here I am in front of it...
...and then walking back to the car I see that they had a little playground for the kids, I thought it was kind of cute with the Ford and Holden rocking cars with a little safety car in the middle... :-)
...and now it was time for the most exciting part of the day (well, one of the most exciting I thought driving on a famous race track was pretty exciting in itself)... but we got to go searching for kangaroos... Sara was pretty hopeful we'd see them since the last time they came in there were none to be found... and if it wasn't for Sara's husband's watchful eye she wouldn't have seen them... they were lying down in the grass until we came around... then they all stood up and had a look... a few of them were pretty close too but Sara didn't notice until they were bouncing away into the distance... here I am in front of them...
...can you see them?... well here are some closer photos since they were a bit of a distance away...
...well that was a really exciting day for me... but it's time to head home...
...I'm off to my next host now (gingermuggins) I'll update again when I get there... I had so much fun with Sara... who would know you could have so much fun outside of the cities and beaches of Australia... miss you mom!
Posted Oct 28, 2008, 5:22 am
Will start exploring soon and update you with photos
Hugs
Bally
Posted Oct 30, 2008, 12:34 am
Gosh there are other toyvoyagers here! I met Chester who is the cute little puppy and Paula the sheep. I already know Bellatrix and Jonas. They travelled with me from NSW and the both know Paula. There was lots of chatting as we all talked about our last adventures
Posted Oct 30, 2008, 12:48 am
Today we had a party! A small Halloween party. We had to have it today as Paula is leaving but didn't want to miss out on the fun.
Sam found some costumes for us and decorated the table for us.
Here we are in costume.
Bellatrix the mermaid. Jonas the jester. Me the wizard. Paula the princess. Chester the superhero. Don't we look great?!?!
And here we are eating donuts. We danced to spooky music and had alot of fun.
I'm sleepy now, i will write more soon.
Hugs, Bally.
Posted Jan 7, 2009, 6:33 pm
Posted Jan 23, 2009, 8:40 pm
Its a very small zoo, but they do have some fun animals. Our first stop was to see the monkeys!
They also had an anteater
The hippos were out of the water and pacing because it was almost feeding time.
All the trees here are labeled and Jayme says this one makes her smile a bit
They had already put the food out for the giraffes
The alligator was chilling
Inside the zoo is the best part, what's called the Children's Wonder Museum. Its also rather small, but it has some fun things to do inside. Check out this giant chair!
They also had different size eggs you could climb into
They had lots of hands on things for the kids. This part is a ball rolling game.
Write more soon,
Bally
Posted Jan 24, 2009, 9:59 pm
It is one of the castles on island left from the Ryukyu Kingdom. Its just ruins now, but after the Battle of Okinawa during WWII there isn't much left, even in some of the ruins. This castle was a bit further to the north of the island which is part of the reason its still relatively well preserved.
First we had to walk up a pathway
And here's the first gate to the castle
We kept walking in to the very top. From the top you could see water in every direction! Okinawa is a very small island, and all the castles are situated in high areas for protection. Zakimi like many others offers a wonderful view.
And here I am looking down into the courtyard area from the top wall
They had a small area here were you leave coins for good luck.
On our way home we stopped to do something fun for the kids. Isn't this slide HUGE?
Here I am at the very top! You can see its a roller slide. The adults usually sit on a piece of cardboard to go down otherwise they really start to burn on the way down since it goes so fast! The younger kids ride on their laps and the older kids go down in a crouched position on their feet so their shoes protect. I got to ride with Jayme and her son.
That's all for now! Hopefully we'll get to go somewhere else cool soon! Jayme also promised to show me more of her home, we've been out and about so much that I haven't had much rest time.
More soon,
Bally
Posted Jan 29, 2009, 12:58 am
This past weekend we tried very hard to go see some cherry blossoms! We heard they were blooming on the North end of the island and very much wanted to see them! So we went to Shurijo Castle. Shurijo Castle was the main castle of the Ryukyan Dynasty on the Ryukyan Island Chain. Okinawa is the main island in this chain. It was only recently (in the late 1800's) aquired as part of Japan, and so they still hold many of their own traditions.
Here is the Shurie-mon Gate, the main entrance. It is a ceremonial gate.
This is the gate through the first of the castle walls. Do you see that lion-dog to the right? It is called a Shisa. You will see them in lots of photos out here, they're all over! They're actually originally a bit of a Chinese tradition. Now, they're considered guardian dogs of Okinawa and can be found on almost all homes, businesses, etc. They are usually found in pairs, one male one female. The female her mouth open to allow the good spirits in and the male has his mouth closed to capture the bad spirits.
We found some flowers!
And here are the cherry trees. Those are pretty pitiful blossoms.
We walked a little further up through another gate. This one leads into the castle proper.
Here's a view looking down.
But oh no! They were restoring and painting the castle so we couldn't get any good pictures! Silly them doing it during cherry blossom season! Here's a picture of what the castle looks like when its not covered in scaffolding and plastic and such.
We walked some more around the grounds, this is one of the shrines on site. isn't it pretty set out on the pond? On the other side of it is a walkway to get down to it.
Jayme said we were going to try to go back to Shurijo Castle this weekend. We'll have to cross our fingers that there's more cherry blossoms and less scaffolding!
More soon,
Bally
Posted Jan 29, 2009, 4:53 am
Today we went on a nice long walk. Jayme says she hasn't been exercising enough and wanted to get out of the house while the weather was cooperating. Here's the view from our walk.
When we got closer I could see the sea wall a little better. There's lots of graffiti on it. Jayme says all the sea walls here are like that. Many are in Japanese, but english people also write messages on them and some of it is very pretty.
We kept walking and found this neat dolphin statue along the way
I also got to get a closer look at the sea wall. Most of Okinawa is surrounded by seawall to protect against erosion
Look how big these pieces are!
We kept walking and found a sign along the way.
It was near this beach, Jayme said its called sunset beach and is very popular during the summer.
There was a neat seahorse there as well.
Also along this walk was Araha Beach, another very popular place during the summer. Do you see those nets? They're to keep out jelly fish. Most of the swimming beaches have them.
We stopped at Araha beach to let the kids play on the ship playground, but found out it was roped off. Apparently they're fixing it up during the winter.
But there was another, smaller boat nearby to play on.
I played with the kids for a little while, then decided to sit down and rest. It was a long walk!
More soon!
Bally
Posted Feb 1, 2009, 5:43 am
Resi, Chipper, and Argoyle arrived from Australia today! They had some fun stories.
Jayme told us first off we needed to do some work in the children's room while they were asleep. We were going to rearrange some shelves and put up a toy net for the stuffed animals. Look at these poor pitiful stuffed animals, they need a better home!
First we moved one of the beds and the shelves over next to it. Jayme moved the furniture, but we took care of the cars.
Then Jayme put up the toy net. We got to rest and relax in it for awhile.
Then we tried to hurry the toys into the net.
Wait a second! The little ones are going to get squished. Big ones first!
Okay now little ones! Whoa, we almost ran out of room.
Hiding in the toys we found a toyvoyager! She explained her name was ChiChi and she was supposed to be released into the wild ages ago, but Jayme's son had hid her in the other toys and she'd been patiently waiting. Hopefully we can help her get released.
After setting up the toy net we were very hungry so we went to make dinner. First we got the meet cooking with onions, garlic, and teriyaki sauce.
In the mean time we got some beans, brocolli and lettuce chopped up in and in a bowl.
Then we combined it all and let it cook.
Served with brown rice it was very yummy!
Jayme said we'd need the energy, hope we have some more updates soon!
More soon,
Bally
Posted Feb 1, 2009, 10:49 am
I know I'm in Japan, but today we visited a Chinese garden. It was quite pretty. First we had to stop for just a quick lunch since we were all hungry.
They had this very pretty building where we walked in.
And aren't these dragons neat?
There were LOTS of little ponds.
Of course we had to stop and feed the fish, Jayme's children wouldn't calm down until we did!
Isn't this view pretty?
They had lots of little statues around as well.
Here's another pond...
They had this statue here, we're not sure of who it is though.
We stopped to take a break for awhile...
And they even had a waterfall!
More soon,
Bally
Posted Feb 1, 2009, 8:44 pm
Today we went back to Shurijo Castle to try to see the cherry blossoms, but they didn't look much different from the week before. Apparently the wind and rain has been knocking them all off
Since we were here we decided to look at more of the castle. Here's the back entrance marker.
We walked up a small hill and found the back gate
The picture I showed you the other day was from the inner courtyard, this is how the outside of the castle looks when not under scaffolding! Unfortunately the inside was still covered in plastic.
They did have a neat emperor and emperess out here though.
And here's a view of Naha from Shuri Castle
We had to stop to use the bathroom, and look at the faucets!
And here you can see more shisa from the guest services area.
Write more soon,
Bally
Posted Feb 5, 2009, 5:19 am
We got to watch the superbowl! It's a bit different when you watch it overseas. First off, it starts at 8am so we had cinnamon rolls instead of 'normal' snacks.
There was also no commercials out here. Because it's carried on AFN, they can't show commercials. Jayme had some small jerseys she got from burger king that fit Resi and Chipper. Aren't they cute?
Then we settled in to watch the opening ceremonies.
The coin toss
And onto the game!
And the Steelers won! And we got to have some more appropriate food for lunch...
Chipper was a bit disappointed, so we decided to go on a walk to cheer him up. We went to one of the local parks. We found a funny bear along the way.
While the kids were at the playground I hung around up in a tree to relax.
This park has many stadiums and buildings for sporting events.
We took a little break on this bench
We were trying to figure out what this statue meant. There wasn't a sign in english, but Jayme thinks its a Phoenix.
More soon,
Bally
Posted Feb 13, 2009, 6:05 am
Jayme's been quite busy studying (school has started for her) so we decided to pitch in and help a bit. She gave us instructions on how to make what she called Jayme-version-Enchiladas and we got to work.
We browned the meat on the stovetop with onions and garlic and then added some enchilada sauce and a little cheese.
Then we put it into tortilla shells
We rolled them up
And put more sauce and some cheese on top
Then we put them in the oven to cook. While they were cooking we made some cheese quesadillas for the children. We put some cheese in tortilla shells
And put them in a little oil on the stove top to cook
Yum! All done.
And the enchiladas are done too!
Jayme says we have a special trip planned tomorrow, I hope its fun! Write more soon,
Bally
Posted Feb 13, 2009, 7:14 am
We went in to find the largest coral tank in the world that is lit by sunlight. Wow! Here it is.
And here's some more.
These are clown fish, but they must be just babies because they weren't longer than half a pinky.
Finally we got to the main show piece, the whale shark tank. It was the largest in the world until the one in Atlanta was completed, now its the second largest. However, it still has the largest viewing glass in the world. We were sitting way up high in the seats available, do you see the whale shark?
Here's a better picture, and you can see the people below looking at it. They're right up next to the glass.
While we were there there were diver's in the tank cleaning, you can see how big they are compared to the mantas in the tank.
After watching for awhile at the viewing area, we went into the cafe. Here they have seats right next to the tank and you can sit and eat lunch or enjoy some icecream. I know its dark (the flash would ruin the view of the tank!) but here I am having icecream.
Even after we finished the icecream we just sat and watched the fish for awhile.
After seeing the whale sharks we headed outside. They had sea turtles you could see out here!
There is a drop off behind us that is the sea turtle nesting area. Isn't it beautiful here? The water was so clear, and the sun so bright!
Then we went to the dolphin show! Here I am at it.
Jayme had to zoom in to take these pictures of the show, aren't the dolphins cool? They had a few different types, unforutnately Jayme doesn't know their names since she doesn't understand much Japanese.
We took a walk along the grounds then. Here's a pretty spot we found with a little pond.
We also found a gate into the Okinawan Village, but Jayme's sons were getting very tired then so it was time to head home.
On the way we got to see some of the flowers made up to be sea creatures! Here's a manta ray.
And a turtle.
And isn't this a cool shisa?
I'm sure we'll have more adventures soon!
Bally
Posted Feb 21, 2009, 8:36 pm
I'm sorry I didn't write you sooner! It's been very busy here. First I'll start with telling you about Valentine's Day. We were sitting around reading more about Okinawa
Then Jayme asked us for some help! She had to get valentine's ready for Jacob's class. So we went to work. What a mess..
There are six children in the class, so we split everything up into groups of six
Then we bagged them up and tied them and attached the card! Do you notice something?
The hearts didn't fit so we got a bit of a snack! Yum!
And look, isn't that cute? Chipper got Resi flowers for Valentine's Day!
We had lots more adventures, so I'll write more soon!
Bally
Posted Feb 21, 2009, 8:45 pm
Jayme and her husband said we could go out on their Valentine's Date with them! They were supposed to go snorkeling, but because the weather wasn't nice they decided to go ice skating instead. First we had to read the rules
Then we had to wait, we got there just as they were cleaning the ice.
Wow! Look at all those people! It was very busy because of the rain, but Jayme and her husband had lots of fun while we watched.
We rode with Jayme for a bit, but she got tired first so we all sat down to wait for her husband.
Then we went out for a late lunch. This is called Taco Rice. Its one of the odd foods Okinawans came up with to pull in American service members to eat. Its white rice on the bottom with taco meat, cheese, lettuce, and tomatoes. It was very yummy!
Write more soon,
Bally
Posted Feb 21, 2009, 9:00 pm
The weather has been very icky! We got a brief period of just gloom today and decided we needed to get out of the house a bit. We went to a place called Ryukyu Mura. Here I am at the entrance.
And here is a pretty building on a raft in the water, I know you can't see the water and stuff too well
The biggest part of Ryukyu Mura is the parade showcasing small bits of typical Okinawan parades. First the emperor and emperess come out to sit down to watch the show.
Then this karate dude came out. Did you know karate was invented on Okinawa?
Next came the old man and the dragon. They made the dragon do tricks catching a ball!
Then came the Eisa Dancers. Eisa is a drum dance done on Okinawa, its very pretty.
Finally some people came out and did another dance, Jayme wasn't sure who they were. And they got the crowd to join in! It was such fun.
After that we went up a path to a place where we got to learn about Habus. Unfortunately it was very dark and the pictures didn't really come out. We did get to watch a 3D show of a Habu fighting a mongoose though.
We walked back through a small version of an Okinawan village where they were selling Okinawan crafts, but we had to hurry it looked like rain!
We ducked into one building near the exit to find out it was where they made Okinawan pottery. Look at all those tables and clay!
Here are some Shisa on the outside that were made inside.
There was also a man outside pushing an water buffalo around, but we're not quite sure why.
I hope you enjoyed learning about our visit! I'll write again soon,
Bally
Posted Mar 1, 2009, 11:46 pm
Jayme has been busy so we decided to help her around the house some. We helped with the laundry.
Then we did some dusting, we found this neat Capital building. Jayme says its a puzzle she got her husband for their anniversary. They would take it apart, but now the kids use it as a parking garage for their cars.
We snuck some cookies to help out Jayme with her diet
Then we had to do the vacuuming! Jayme doesn't have a regular vacuum, she has a roomba. Have you seen one? It goes around and cleans up like a little UFO. We took a ride on it.
Jayme says we'll be headed to the park next since we got all the cleaning done!
Bally
Posted Mar 1, 2009, 11:53 pm
This walkway leads down to a rock beach, but we didn't go down that way today because we were following one of the trails. If you look, you can see the ocean though.
We kept walking and came along this little fish pond. Usually Jayme says they stop to feed the fish here, but they forgot the fish food today. Guess the fish will have to wait awhile for their next meal. It had some very pretty bridges though.
We took a break here and all sat on a chair for awhile.
While we were walking past the fish pond, there was a building with this neat gate. Jayme says its called a torii gate and they're found all over the island. Sometimes on the ancient castles, and sometimes at the entrance to homes.
We sat and took another break near some flowers. It was a very long walk!
Finally we made it back to the car! I'll write more soon,
Bally
Posted Mar 2, 2009, 12:28 am
But since they were in the free pile in Jayme's apartment (a place where people leave things when they're moving or just cleaning out) they needed a bath first. In they went!
And out they came nice and clean!
After that it was also time to say goodbye to Resi. She'll be continuing on in her travels. I hope she has fun!
More soon,
Bally
Posted Mar 2, 2009, 12:56 am
Today was my last day in Okinawa! It was very rainy, but the rain broke long enough for me to get some time in at the playground. We started out on the play area up top.
Then we went down this giant slide! It was very big, and rather scary, but Jayme made sure we were all safe.
I got to monkey around some on the rope area
And we played on the teeter totter
Then it was time for me to get into my envelope. I hope I have lots of fun with my next host!
Bally
Posted Mar 2, 2009, 11:22 pm
katjaintenerife@yahoo.co.uk
Posted Mar 19, 2009, 11:52 am
I arrived on Tuesday while my host Katja was at work. We have finally managed to take a couple of photos. It's been raining for 2 days so it's not been that nice so far, this morning it was sunny though when Katja went to work. I got some palm trees on the sunny photo
But on our way back home, it started getting cloudy again...
Now my host will have to go clean her oven and then she will go back to work and hopefully we'll get some more photos in the afternoon. Tomorrow we will be making a birthday cake for a friend
Oh, and I've also met some other ToyVoyagers here, I will introduce them to you a bit later.
katjaintenerife@yahoo.co.uk
Posted Mar 22, 2009, 3:47 pm
After Katja finished work, we went to the post office in Las Galletas to pick up a parcel she had received.
The bunny next to me is Veggies
And here were are arriving home already
katjaintenerife@yahoo.co.uk
Posted Mar 22, 2009, 4:00 pm
Another ToyVoyager arrived this afternoon Bella and of course she joined the party
katjaintenerife@yahoo.co.uk
Posted Mar 22, 2009, 4:19 pm
Here we are with Bella sitting on the desk in the reception.
This is someone's chest xray
Katja works 28h shifts so we had to sleep over at her work. Good night!!
katjaintenerife@yahoo.co.uk
Posted Mar 22, 2009, 4:28 pm
There are some bananas growing behind that wall
Almost at home
katjaintenerife@yahoo.co.uk
Posted Mar 31, 2009, 10:29 am
katjaintenerife@yahoo.co.uk
Posted Mar 31, 2009, 10:39 am
This is first just a row of shops...
Here you can see how cloudy it is..
And a bit of seaview too
katjaintenerife@yahoo.co.uk
Posted Apr 10, 2009, 3:37 pm
We had some healthy porridge for breakfast this morning.
I hope that we can update a bit more soon!
katjaintenerife@yahoo.co.uk
Posted Apr 10, 2009, 5:03 pm
We just realised that we hadn't really had muh of a nose around our host's apartment and we also thought you might want to see their two cats so we've been taking some terrace pictures today.
The black and white cat is called Felix and the grey one is Katie. They both love playing with card board boxes...yes the piece of card board Katie's on used to be a box
Here you can get a bit better picture of her
What was I just saying
Katja's boyfriend used to study horticulture and you can see that on their terrace, there are lots of different plants going there. Here are photos of some of them.
strawberry
Raspberry on the left and a curry plant on the right
Some red very hot chili peppers
Oxalis (or lucky clover as they call them in Finland)
Aloe Vera
Different herbs
some plant growing on the sauna wall
They've also got a small jacuzzi on their terrace
And a sauna as well
I've been told Dave, Katja's boyfriend built it as well as this barbeque
Just one more photo of us and Katie
And of course we had to add one of Felix then too
Write more soon!
katjaintenerife@yahoo.co.uk
Posted Apr 26, 2009, 5:05 pm
Today we've been to Los Cristianos. There was a Canarian food fair going but it wasn't quite as big as we had expected. We only got this photo from there:
The fair was at the cultural centre and there was also a display of school kids recycle art
Then we walked to the beach front near the port and sat there for a while
Then we just walked around a bit
Tomorrow we'll go to a classic car show.
katjaintenerife@yahoo.co.uk
Posted Apr 26, 2009, 6:22 pm
Today we've been to a classic car show. Unfortunately my host doesn't know much about cars so we're just going to put some photos up and I'm sure you know more about the
This is Katja's boyfriend's car, a Mazda RX7 from 1981. I'm sitting on the side mirror.
There was also some Canarian music and dancers there
See all the mini Minis in that Mini
And look! We found a Spyder too!
We went to sit down on the beach for a while as our legs were getting tired
And some more cars again, I hope you're not getting bored with these
Then we went to see the surfers and the waves
On Tuesday we'll be going up north, or if Katja's too tired after her 24h shift at work, then on Wednesday. And after that I'll be heading to Santiago de Compostela in the north of Spain. My host has told be that it's famous for pilgrims.
katjaintenerife@yahoo.co.uk
Posted Apr 29, 2009, 8:05 pm
Today we've up Teide National Park. It's one of the Unesco heritages.
Here's first a pink flower, there were loads of them on our way up and we stopped to take a photo of one
And here's some yellow flowers
Here's the view from one of the view points. It was a really cloudy day
And here are some yellow poppies
Here we are very close to the clouds
And here we are already higher than the clouds
And then we finally saw Teide
They've filmed some scenes of Planet of the Apes and Star Wars up here
And this is Teide from the north side
The white things you can see on the background are observatories
And some more clouds
And then we went through the clouds
For a bit we were above then again
And then it was clear again, and everything's a lot greener on this side!!
Tomorrow I will leave Tenerife to go to Santiago de Compostela in mainland Spain
Posted May 4, 2009, 5:45 pm
I'm in Santiago de Compostela, finally!
I arrived on a very sunny day, which is great, even though I could not really enjoy it that much (the journey was good but also quite tiring, and I'm exhausted). However, I do have a couple of pictures of my arrival (as you can see I tasted Spanish wine and, by the way, I really like it--but don't worry, we didn't drink that much
).
Hugs!
Bally.
Posted May 7, 2009, 12:25 pm
I just wanted to let you know that I'm very happy here and I'm having lots of fun
In fact, I think I can show you how happy I am with some pictures from yesterday's walk (see my big smile?). We walked through some streets in the old part of the town. These old streets are the most beautiful part of Santiago and it's really cool to walk through them... they are usually crowded with tourists and you can hear so many different languages! It's funny how María is always asked for directions (I think it's probably because she's always carrying some books in English under her arm and, then, tourists assume she would be able to answer their questions better than other people). Anyway, hope you like the pictures
Oh! I almost forgot to tell you that I'm with my new friend Roderich! He came from Portugal and we are both visiting Santiago for the first time! Isn't it great?
Hugs!
Bally.
Posted May 9, 2009, 7:53 pm
Oh, mum, we had such a nice and sunny day here in Santiago de Compostela that you'd be jealous!
We went for a walk--you may think "going for walks" is the only thing we do, but these walks are actually the best thing you can do here, in Galicia, as you can always discover new paths and amazing things (oh, by the way, let me introduce you Maria's elder brother and her mum; I love this picture ).
As you can see, everything is very "green" even though we are in a small city (and this is great specially for those who enjoy nature as much as I do!).
By the way, don't you think this building is quite cool?
After some time, we realized we walked a small (very, very small) part of the Way of St. James!
And then we also walked home (it was such a sunny day that we didn't want to miss it by taking a bus!)
See you soon (or not so soon)
Hugs!
Bally
Posted May 13, 2009, 7:50 pm
Today is raining again
, but I do have some pictures from yesterday!. María made me go up the stairs you can see in the pictures! They are in a placed called "Fontiñas" (it's a Galician word that could be translated as little fountains or something like that) 
And I ate some cherries, ñam
As you can see I went not only with the girls but also with my good friend Roderich
Love,
Bally
Posted May 20, 2009, 12:34 pm
Today I have some pictures I took when I visited Santiago de Compostela's cathedral (unfortunately, we were not allowed to take pictures inside the building
). This cathedral is very important because it is the reputed burial-place of Saint James the Greater (one of the apostles, I'd even say that he's one of the most important/beloved ones in Spain). So this is also why Santiago de Compostela is the destination of the "Camiño de Santiago" or Way of St. James. In fact, Maria is looking forward to finishing her degree and walking it (her dad promised to do it with her then ). Wouldn't it be wonderful if I could also walk the Way of St. James one day? It's a major historical pilgrimage route since the Middle Ages!
Another picture, but this time I took it in front of "La Fuente de los Caballos" (it could be translated as the Horses' Fountain, I guess...)
And finally I also visited the City Hall of Santiago, known as "Pazo de Raxoi" (pazo is a Galician word which means palace).
Love,
Bally
Posted May 21, 2009, 12:31 pm
Today is holiday here in Santiago de Compostela so we (Roderich and me
) could go out and have a nice walk with María. As you can see in some of the pictures, we had a rather raining morning (but we enjoy the walk anyway!).
Oh, and look what I've just found out! An old Spanish bill (María told me that her grandmother gave it to her when she was just 12 and It looks like new! I guess she is very careful with her things
)
Anyway, I have to leave now because a tasty Spanish omelette is waiting for me
Lots of love,
Bally
Posted May 21, 2009, 7:02 pm
Posted May 26, 2009, 7:58 pm
Today I went with María to class and I took some pictures at the building where she studies =D (we couldn't go out much because it's raining most of the time--not when María has to go to class, though!). But anyway, I had fun going to class and learning more about Shakespeare, among other things
We had to be quiet when we were in the corridors
Just after María's English Literature lecture...
And I was not the only TV there! I found all these friends in another class with María's friend, Irene
Hope you like the pictures =D I'll write again soon.
Love,
Bally
Posted Jun 1, 2009, 6:10 pm
Today I have some pictures I took when I visited Irene at her hometown Caldas de Reis, which is, by the way, near Pontevedra and is mostly famous for its thermal springs. Irene told me that Caldas de Reis is a town with Prehistoric, Roman, Medieval and also Modern history (the first known settlers were, in fact, two groups of natives discovered by the Romans when they conquered the town: the Cilena Tribe).
Anyway, I went there with María, my two TV friends TenderheartBear and Baubles, and the best tourist guide ever, Irene! and I had lots of fun
Love,
Bally
Posted Jun 7, 2009, 4:44 pm
Today's raining again so I'm at home watching some movies with my friends Baubles and TenderheartBear while María is studying (she has her first exams next week!).
I do have some pictures I took when I went for a walk the day before yesterday, though. I visited Santiago de Compostela's cathedral again since my TV friends wanted to see it, but also visited some new places
I'm not sure if you will be able to see me in the next picture but I'm there!
I took another pic with Santiago's cathedral
And with the "Pazo de Raxoi" as well...
María's highschool (well, one of them, since she went to three different highschools...)
In the next picture you can see the "Puerta Santa" (Holy Door), which gives access to the Cathedral from the "Plaza de la Quintana" and is opened on 31st December on the eve of each Holy Year, and walled up again a year later!
Lots of love from Spain!,
Bally
Posted Jun 13, 2009, 3:04 pm
We have a heat wave here in Northern Spain and María is not happy at all because she cannot take us to the beach until her exams are finished!. I feel sorry for her...we are sunbathing while she studies, poor thing
Anyway, this doesn't mean that I'm not having fun, in fact, I went for a walk with my TV friends and visited this park called "La Alameda", which is very nice. This place is very well-known by young people because it is the meeting place to do the "Botellón" --I don't think I'm visiting this place while the "Botellón" takes place though, because María stopped doing it years ago (she doesn't agree with wikipedia and thinks "Botellón" is for teenagers). Oh! And we met some "cemented people" (sorry if the expression doesn't exist but I really don't know how to express what they were
).
Love u!
Posted Jun 19, 2009, 11:38 pm
This is María writing to let you know that Bally is probably enjoying a nice flight to The Netherlands right now
. He also want me to post the last pictures he took after leaving us (we visited Portugal and I think he had a very nice last day with me =D).
We're gonna miss you Bally!
María, Irene, Baubles & TenderheartBear
Posted Jul 21, 2009, 3:31 am
Bally
Posted Jul 31, 2009, 5:56 pm
Today I finally arrived in the Netherlands. It was a long trip, but arrived safely from out of Spain.
I was really tired, but I got a nice big bed-couch to sleep on from this host-mom.
As you know, this host-mom lives close to Assen where the MOTO GP get held as well at the TT-circuit. Sadly it was over before I arrived so we don't have any pics there.
Assen is in the northern-part of the Netherlands and is not close to Amsterdam. It takes around 2 hours by train, same as for when host-mom is going to visit her parents by train.
Host-mom lives with her boyfriend and his parents in Bovensmilde, that is around 10 min away from Assen. A little history about Bovensmilde:
Bovensmilde is a town in the Dutch province of Drenthe. It is a part of the municipality of Midden-Drenthe, and lies about 6 km southwest of Assen.
In 2001, the town of Bovensmilde had 2,873 inhabitants. The built-up area of the town was 0.76 km², and contained 1,094 residences. The statistical area "Bovensmilde", which also can include the surrounding countryside, has a population of around 3,960.
On 23 May 1977 Moluccan terrorists occupied an elementary school in Bovensmilde and took 105 children and 5 teachers as hostages. (At the same time other Moluccan terrorists hijacked a nearby train.) After 5 days the children were released. On June 11 the 5 remaining teachers were freed when the school was stormed by a Dutch army tank, and the hostage takers were apprehended.
Host-mom lives there now for almost 5 years. She moved to this town, because she wanted to be closer to her boyfriend and also be closer to her Institute/University.
Her university is in the city Groningen and is 20 min away by train. So first she has to take the bus to Assen-station, then take the train to Groningen, take the bus to university. All the travelling for just a little trip.
Anyways the first few days I haven't done much, mainly resting and getting to know my new friends!
~Bally
Posted Jul 31, 2009, 6:05 pm
Here you see me with Buddha.
I do look good and happy with Buddha right
?! Hehehe ..
Well and then I met Valentino. That is host-mom's bunny pet. He came to welcome me and I thought he was a funny and happy bun!
They have a garden with a garden pond, full of fishes! They have put wire above the pond, because there is a Mr. Heron that likes to visit the pond and eat all their expensive fishes (koi carpers).
Well that was it for this day. Because host-mom had some stuff to do, so I went to play with Valentino and others.
~Bally
Posted Jul 31, 2009, 6:28 pm
As you see here we are waiting at the busstop. I am looking at the times when the bus will arrive. Host-mom keeps wishing she had a car. So she could just go when she wants to. I would like to drive a car too
.. !
Here I am sitting down, with the trainticket we had to buy for the trip to Groningen. Host-mom got a student card, so she could travel for 40% discount. During the week and outside holidays she can travel for free, but as it's summer holiday now she has to pay.
I think reading newspapers are important, to keep a bit up to date with what is happening in the world. Though I couldn't read it, host-mom told me what happened and stuff. Still a lot about the financial crisis and other horrible things.
After reading, I took a peek outside, this is what I saw at that moment:
After the meeting she had in Groningen we had to take the train back home to Assen again. This time we had another train, which is bigger and got other color interior. Their country color of royalness is ORANGE
.. maybe that's why they also did it for the interior. Hahaha!
Don't I look silly ?! *giggle*
Since she lives in such small town, she had to switch from bus, here we are waiting at the busstop, which is next to the canal, the Drentsche Hoofdvaart. The Drentsche Hoofdvaart is 41,8 km long and it was used for shipping peat and had a drainage function. Later they also use this canal for shipping construction material and for pleasure sailing.
And here you see me at her "work". She writes here her graduation thesis and sometimes do also other stuff too. It involves a weddingpage. Hehe
~Bally
Posted Jul 31, 2009, 6:39 pm
Yes, looks like we are train lovers aren't we
.. *haha* !
On this day we also went to see her best friends new home. Host-mom was impressed and so, that she forgot to make a picture of me
..
~Bally
Posted Jul 31, 2009, 6:44 pm
Cool heh ?!
Yes, host-mom was very sorry that she didn't had much time to take me all kind of places, but she said she would have holidays this week so we will go to the zoo and also to an open air museum of a legend that is well known in the province Drenthe. I am looking forward to going to the zoo and to the museum!
~Bally
Posted Jul 31, 2009, 7:08 pm
Some pictures of me in the zoo:
Earlier this year, something tragic happened. Their eldest elephant Annabel (45) died, during play time. She fell down in the pit (the hole they made to keep them on distance between them and the zoo-visitors) and landed on her back. They tried to get her out with a big heavy crane, they succeeded to get Annabel out, but she refused to stand up. They gave her infusions and tried again with air cushions of the fire-department, to give her support to stand up. She didn't.. it looked so bad that they had to put her to sleep.
While writing the report about her, it looked like she had osteoarthritis, that made her so unstable so she fell in the pit while playing. Also the reason she didn't stand up was because she fractured her neck, so she got paralyzed.
A picture of Annabel
Poor thing!
After the elephants we saw my family. Well far away family, it was fun!
I even saw some cool giraffes, nice heh ?!
And, euhm .. I forgot how this thing was called again!
We made some other pics at other animals too, but some turned out really weird + too dark, so host-mom decided not to put those online
At last we went to hang out with the penguins.
Fun!
We were there in the zoo from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m.
~Bally
Posted Jul 31, 2009, 8:18 pm
Today we went to the open air museum about a legend of 2 giants called "Ellert en Brammert".
Their website: http://www.ellertenbrammert.nl/
It's about a son and his father that needed to survive 350 years ago. But because they still didn't had any job to get food on the table they started to rob farmer fields and later also raided a path that was used by a lot of travelling farmers. They got really scared and tried to do something about these robbers, but everytime they started to talk about it, no one did anything in the end. So these men "grew" to giants if farmers came home to tell their wives that they got robbed and all.
And since they were longing for female company, they kidnapped a girl called "Marieke" who came close to the farmer field that they raided for food. As their hair got longer and longer they also had to get it cut. While Brammert was on raiding, Ellert stayed home with Marieke. Ellert got then killed by Marieke, while Ellert asked her to cut his hair. Marieke then escaped, while Brammert came home and saw what happened. He tried to pursue her, but she fleed.
What happens then, is unknown, but it seems that he moved because the road that was used by the farmers, became safe again.
Some pictures that were made:
The "giants" Ellert & Brammert
As Drenthe in 1930 had many big herd of sheeps, someone had to take care of them. Schoonoord had one shepherd, who lived in such kind of home with the sheeps.
In Drenthe there are like 50 dolmens. The one you see here is a true imitation.
A deer that was just resting there.
I saw this "hole". I asked host-mom what this was and she said that they used to store potatoes in there.
This is a limestove, where they used peat in.
With these ovens, they use to make mortar (bricks) for building houses.
Then we saw a one classroom school, it's so tiny!
When you were rich, you could afford to have a better house with bricks, instead of peat.
Here you see me at a "vennetje". Some bog bodies got found and got really well preserved by it.
Read Wikipedia.
In Drenthe they had a lot of big boulders, so they used it to make the dikes stronger here. If the boulders were too big to be transported they were blown up for smaller rocks to use for roads.
This is a forge where they made all kinds of things for craftsmen.
This small church got reconstructed.
And this is the inside:
Of course they also had a village prison for people who were drunk and misbehaved. They had to wait in this building to be transported for trial in Assen.
The prison:
And here you see me in a workshop:
We then went home, where I had to pack my bag and fly to USA. But before leaving, I made a picture with of course all my friends that I made during my stay here in Bovensmilde, The Netherlands.
I had a wonderful time here, and learned a lot! I hope one day I'll be able to come back and visit some more!
~Bally
Posted Aug 16, 2009, 1:34 am
It's been very very hot here, so we have been spending most of our time INSIDE! For a monkey like me, that's great, since it's even hotter for those of us wearing a fur coat!
Sunday we went to a big outlet mall called Potomac Mills. We didn't really buy anything, but it was nice to get out of the heat and have somewhere to walk around!
Posted Aug 16, 2009, 1:37 am
Once we were inside, I spotted a few fellow monkeys!
I shared a drink with Mara - I normally like banana flavored drinks, but our iced mocha was good too!
Posted Aug 16, 2009, 12:42 pm
Posted Aug 31, 2009, 12:06 am
I liked looking at all of the furniture - can you find me in this comfy bed?
After we looked around for a bit, we took a quick break for lunch. Mara LOVES eating lunch at Ikea - they are a Swedish company, and they have a really yummy Swedish meatball lunch special!
After lunch, we continued to shop. Here I am helping pick out our purchases in the warehouse...
One of the things that makes Ikea unique is that everything comes in flat cardboard boxes. I liked playing on all of them!
And here I am waiting with Mara to load our purchases into the car. You can see that the flags are flying at half-mast to honor Senator Kennedy who passed away this week.
Posted Aug 31, 2009, 12:16 am
Here I am at the first overlook over the falls...
Can you see the people in the kayaks below? There were actually people kayaking over the falls! (we did NOT try that!!) We climbed out on the rocks to see the falls and the river...
We walked along some of the trails as well...here I am on a part of the trail where the canal used to be:
Then we did some more climbing! (so much fun for a monkey like me!!)
What a GREAT day!
Posted Sep 5, 2009, 12:00 am
And here I am with Plaid Moose on the train!
We had lunch next to Union Station. It was really beautiful, and I liked seeing all of the flags for each state!
Posted Sep 5, 2009, 12:21 am
The West side of the Capitol is the side that faces the Mall - it's the side you usually see on television (and these are the steps where the Inauguration was held!)
The view from the steps of the Capitol is really beautiful - you can see the National Mall and the Washington Monument!
We walked around the other side of the Capitol - the lawn was so beautiful!
On the East side of the Capitol we were stopped by a Capitol police officer who wanted to know what a monkey was doing visiting Washington DC! We told him all about Toy Voyagers - he said he was going to look at my travel log - thank you for being so nice to us today!!
After we looked at the outside of the Capitol, we decided to go inside and see the new visitors center. Because it wasn't very crowded, we were able to get tickets, and go on a tour! Here I am in the entrance to the Visitors Center:
This is the Statue of Freedom - it was used to cast the bronze statue that is on the top of the Capitol dome.
The best part of the tour was going inside of the Capitol rotunda!
We also got to go to Statuary Hall - that's where President Obama had his luncheon on Inauguration Day!
Posted Sep 5, 2009, 12:34 am
Inside of the Library of Congress was amazing! This is the Jefferson Building, and it was really beautiful.
And on the way back to the metro, I also got to see the Supreme Court!
Posted Sep 23, 2009, 11:44 pm
We could also see the stadium where the Ravens play!
Posted Sep 26, 2009, 11:11 pm
Posted Sep 26, 2009, 11:21 pm
In between the two buildings is a cool fountain that I.M. Pei designed - it is a fountain above ground and on the walkway underneath!
In the West Wing I had a real treat - we saw Ginevra de' Benci - it's the only painting by Leonardo da Vinci in the Western Hemisphere!
Posted Sep 26, 2009, 11:28 pm
Then we saw the Washington Monument...
Next, we drove by the Jefferson Memorial...
And finally, I saw the Pentagon!
Posted Sep 30, 2009, 10:11 pm
Posted Oct 2, 2009, 6:37 pm
Bally
Posted Oct 12, 2009, 1:40 am
Posted Oct 30, 2009, 4:51 pm
You are right! It's Korean!
First we order some nice Korean beer.
As typical in Korean restaurants, the waitress bring us a lot of small appertizer dishes, called banchan. There are various kinds of kim chee and pickles, some tofu cake, bean sprout, salad and more.
This is an appertizer dish ddeokbokki, made with some rice cake, clear noodles, vegetables and other ingredients. It's rather spicy.
Next comes the grilled meat. This place uses authentic charcoal instead of gas stove. We put the meat on top and make sure it's grilled nicely.
With all the spicy and hot food we need some cold dessert! This is a big bowl of shaved ice, with beans, rice cakes, fruits, ice cream and whipped cream.
Posted Nov 3, 2009, 9:03 pm
We check out the brochures and tourist guides.
Here we are, at Downtown Disney!
This is Disney Quest, an indoor game center.
There are a lot of interesting stores to visit.
This is the Mary Poppins balloon ride that can take you up in the sky.
There is a Planet Hollywood restaurant in Downtown Disney.
We hear some commotion on the water. There is a dragon boat race going on!
Wow it's a big dinosaur!! Or rather, it's skeleton.
It's a T Rex restaurant. Let's go in and check it out!
You can make your own dinosaur here.
I see another dinosaur... and this one is not just bones. It's moving around. Very scary...
Hi Buzz, what's up!
Hello Mr Potato Head!
Let's go check out the toys!!
Wow true to its name, there are a lot of toys here!
You can get your own customized light sabre here.
You can also play with designing your own Mr. Potato.
We try putting on Mr. Potato's outfits too. Too bad they don't fit me.
We get to say hi to Winnie the Pooh and his friends. He shares some honey with us.
It's Halloween coming up so there are lots of Halloween stuff.
We got lost. Donald Duck is kind of grumpy but Donna has been very nice.
Baby Lican gets very excited when she sees this picture of Hong Kong made with Legos!! Mocha says that he went to Hong Kong too but there was no dragon in the water. Well, I am snapping a picture, so if I get to go there I can verify that.
We meet Blinkey, the Lego dragon.
Wow these dogs are built with Legos too!
It's amazing how they can build all these with little lego bricks!
Well, we try, but I don't think we can.
Maybe I'll go in for some Christmas shopping!
Can you find me in the picture?
In the art gallery, an artist is there to do some demostration. You can see him hiding behind the drawing board. There is a TV screen so you can see what he is drawing.
The gallery has a lot of beautiful artworks.
This is a very huge store that sells all things Disney. We spend a lot of time shopping there.
Let's get a little penny souvenir!
Posted Nov 8, 2009, 4:03 am
We arrive at the Animal Kingdom Lodge. We are having an African buffet. I have never tried African food before!
Let's go get some food.
I get some POG (Pineapple Orange Guava) juice, some quinoa, some egg with curried meat, ham, grilled tomato and other stuff. They also have an African fruit salad which is very delicious, and other more standard breakfast fare such as French toast, cereal, muffins, croissants and omelette.
Even their restroom is nicely decorated with woven baskets.
This is where the guest rooms are at the lodge.
Posted Nov 8, 2009, 4:39 am
Look! A giraffe in the airport! Oh, it's about the Miami Metro Zoo. Geez, I was wondering how a giraffe can fit into an airport.
Okay, all buckle up and ready to take off!
We arrive at the Chicago O'Hare airport.
The weather looks rainy and gloomy.
We are not staying in Chicago but decide to check out the information anyway. Maybe one day I will be really visiting for a few days.
Wow, a lot of apples!! Dipped in caramel, chocolate and more... They sure look delicious!
I wonder where we are heading to?
Posted Nov 8, 2009, 5:03 am
We ride to the hotel. Our host tells us that Kansas City is in two states. The airport is in Missouri but our hotel is in Kansas. Ebba and I are especially excited as we both want to visit many states. Unfortunately I am so tired from all the travelling and I dose off when we cross the state line.
Posted Nov 10, 2009, 5:45 pm
At the beginning of the UnConvention, we enjoy a delicious cake to celebrate.
We take a picture with Ballycumber, the BookCrossing mascot.
This morning we sit very still to listen to some speeches.
First are two speakers who are authors. They talk about the books they write and how they get them published.
Next comes a presentation of BC in DC for 2011. It will be the 10th anniversary of BookCrossing so it will be a big gathering with lots of fun. It sounds very interesting.
He is a Very Very Important Person. Bruce is the co-founder and CEO of BookCrossing and has made a surprise visit,;everybody is excited that he is here.
We get some tickets for the raffle drawing. I get to put a ticket in. Hmmm, there are so many good prizes I don't quite know which one to choose!
This is a mobile OBCZ by crrcookie. She goes around in it to give away books!!
We also have a book buffet table where there are lots of books, and people can take and leave any book they like. We have fun looking at the books.
I finds a monkey book, and Ebba find a Bunnicular book. My host is very impressed. She says that she has heard of a lot of themed released but this is the first themed catch she knows of.
Mocha try to look for a moose book too but the closest we can find is a reindeer book. I think The Pelican Brief would be perfect for Baby Lican, but all we see are four copies of The Firm. While we get busy looking for books, someone took Ebba's Bunnicular so she is not too happy in this picture.
Lunch is, of course, the famous Kansas City BBQ.
Mocha is very excited to see the Tim Tams. He says that it is a famous cookie from Australia and one of the members from Australia, Skyring, brings them to the BC conventions whenever he attends, so it becomes sort of a tradition. I try it it's quite delicious and I am told that now Pepperidge Farm imports them during the winter time.
Discoverylover is from New Zealand, and she makes sure everybody wears a pretty New Zealand tattoo. I want one too but I couldn't get it on...
We also stop by the BookCrossing store to get supplies like book labels, bags and stickies.
At night we visit a place called The Legends. One of the BookCrossers gives a book to this Indian chief.
Look, here is another T Rex restaurant. We just went to one last Saturday in Orlando, so it's hard to believe that there are only two of them in the whole country!
We release a book by Rex Stout in front of this T Rex.
Follow the yellow brick road, follow the yellow brick road...
We're off to see the Wizard, the Wonderful Wizard of Oz!
Posted Nov 11, 2009, 2:47 pm
The most important thing of course is to have the books for release. No worry we have lots of books.
We are ready to set off!!
Hmm... I think this is the unofficial Bally car?
We arrive at the Country Club Plaza.
]
Behind us is the Cheesecake Factory.
The BookCrossers are all gathered together for the game. Everybody is carrying a lot of books. We can feel the excitement in the air!
The first book we release is by the J.C. Nichols Fountain. It's called Hole in the Water.
We find a horse statue in front of PF Chang and put a book with a unicorn statue by it.
Then we drop off Nickel and Dimed at the bank.
I try to help put a book by this statue. But kyaaa! I almost get stabbed!
Next we climb into the eagle nest to release Like Water for Chocolate in front of this chocolate shop. Poor Ebba and Baby Lican are almost scared out of their wits but it's quite a thrill too.
Baby Lican insists that we are taking wild releasing too literally, so we decide to do some tamer releases to calm our nerves a bit. We find this guy by a McDonald's. Ebba is more curious in the guy's burger though, being a rabbit and always hungry.
Kansas City sure looks very different from Miami.
We leave a dog book, Why We Love The Dogs We Do, at Three Dogs Bakery. I wish I have a book to leave for a dog to read too.
It's a bit tiring so we rest a bit. We put in another book here, Three for the Chair. Hmm, they should title the book Four for the Chair.
We also leave a book at the clock tower of Fogo de Chao. It's a Brazilian restaurant. We have a matching theme book called Zero Hours. This book actually gets picked up by someone from Alabama! Isn't that cool?
We have been so busy running around the plaza we barely have time to notice the beautiful scenery.
After a very fun and exciting morning running around the Plaza, we go on to the Hallmark City Center.
Unfortunately, the Hallmark Visitor Center is closed.
But we get to shop around a bit. Here are some arts done by local children.
We also find a nice tea shop.
The shopkeeper (who came from Fujian, China) invites us to sit down for some tea. He keeps pouring cup after cup we drink so much we need the restroom!
We visit the Crayola store.
Everything is so colorful!!
Oh look! We catch a BookCrossing book! It's lying on the bench in front of the Crayola store. Amazing!!
Hallmark is headquartered in Kansas City.
We couldn't find a pay phone at the hunt (which is a bonus point), but finally here's one. We leave Superman Returns here for Superman to pick up.
Wow this is a huge cinnamon bun.
And a huge ice cream! Hey are we in Texas?
We are tired so we sit down and watch the fountain a bit as it dances along with the music.
The trees here are gorgeous in their colors indeed.
After this we have some time before dinner, so we visit a coffee shop called Latteland. There is an OBCZ (Official BookCrossing Zone) here, where bookcrossers bring free books and leave here for people to take. We leave some books and take a few.
Then at night, we go to eat... you guess it, BBQ! It is very delicious.
We also get to know Ringbear. She has traveled around a lot with Skyring, and tells us of all the great BC gatherings she has been to. We tell her she must join ToyVoyagers so we can stay in touch. It's like Facebook for toys! I hope we will see her soon on TV.
Posted Nov 11, 2009, 3:20 pm
We have a very short time to change planes so we could not find better places to pose for our very short visit to Texas...
It is very rainy here. We are lucky that it only rains in places we are just stopping for transist, and are able to enjoy nice weather in Kansas.
Wow we have taken off!
Now above the cloud we can see the sun again.
It's night time when we arrive back in Miami.
Posted Nov 26, 2009, 4:22 am
The word "Key" comes from the Spanish word Cayo meaning island. The Florida Keys are a long chain of islands south of Miami, connected by over 40 bridges like a necklace of pearls that runs 127 miles. Some of them have funny names like Duck Key, Fat Deer Key, Knockemdown Key, Fiesta Key and even a No Name Key.
We pass by this Dolphin Research Center at Marathon Key.
This is Pigeon Key. When they were building a railroad to connect Key West to the mainland between 1908 and 1912, there were at times as many as 400 workers housed on the island. Today there is a museum.
We are now on the Seven Mile Bridge.
This is part of the old bridge that used to connect the islands but was destroyed by a hurricane in 1935. In the movie True Lies by Arnold Schwarzenegger, near the end there was a scene in which a bridge was blown up. The movie was shot on this old bridge.
After almost three hours we finally arrived at Key West, the largest of the keys.
The houses are typical Old Florida style.
This is a conch trolley.
Look! I am at the southern most point of the United States!!
Nearby is the Southern Most House.
As well as the southern most hotel.
Key West is also called The Conch Republic. In 1982, when the U.S. border patrol set up road blocks south of Miami to control illegal immigrants and drugs, the citizens of the Keys complained. The mayor complained that if the U.S. government is treating them like foreigners, they may as well declare themselves an independent nation. Hence, the mayor was proclaimed Prime Minister of the Conch Republic and declared war against the U.S.
This is their city hall, ahem, Office of the Secretary General.
Unfortunately the office is closed so we cannot get a passport...
Posted Nov 26, 2009, 5:42 am
We go on to Duval Street, the main street in Key West. The street is closed off to traffic and many people are walking around in costumes, even though it's still early.
A lot of people walk around with no clothes, or very very little clothes, on. It makes me blush!! We take a lot of pictures but our host thinks that we should not post them...
Here is a man weaving baskets from palm leaves.
This Conch Republic souvenir shop looks interesting.
This church is a famous landmark.
This is another landmark, though I forget what it is...
We find people with body painting around the street.
A lot of shops are advertising body painting.
Here is another shop. The two ladies in the front just have their bodies painted. Can you tell?
This man has his suspenders painted on.
Here is another pair of artists at work. They do a very beautiful job.
These guys are wearing some funny pants.
The Hard Rock Cafe is all decked up for Halloween.
We see these colorful beads and want to get some, but our host says don't worry, when the floats parade begin, we will get lots of them.
I think these paintings are very beautiful.
We see this on the street. It will be one of the floats tonight!!
Look there is a huge octopus!! I think it has eaten the green parrot!
We see this sign. It's the beginning of United States Highway 1. If you take this road, it will take you all the way up north to Maine, although what was a highway is now a very slow scenic route.
We cross the street and what do we get? The end of US1!!
This restaurant is very nicely decorated too.
Sloppy Joe's is an old restaurant/bar that opened on the first day the Prohibition was lifted. The name was suggested by one of its regular customers, Ernest Hemingway. He was, I am told, a very famous writer who wrote the book Old Man and The Sea.
The old man visited here too!
We pass by the art museum.
Looks like there are many interesting shops but they are all closed because of the parade tonight.
This shop has won the award for the best Key Lime Pie. It's a dessert that is famous here, made using Key Lime, which is only the size of a golf ball and yellow in color, unlike regular lime. As Key West is so far away from mainland, in the olden days condensed milk in cans were the only milk available, and this dessert is made with adding lime juice to condensed milk.
This year's Fantasy Fest theme is vampires, so there are lots of them around.
Help!! Mommy, Help!!
Another spooky place!
We then go on to check out the floats, as it will be difficult to take pictures of them in the dark.
Hmm, looks like the vampires are really thirsty...
They all look very nice indeed.
Finally it's time for the parade!
Just as our host has promised, people on the floats throw a lot of beads at us. We get so many in different colors.
I must say it's a most awesome halloween celebration!!
Posted Nov 26, 2009, 5:56 am
Can you recognize him??
It's ex-vice president Al Gore!! He appears at the Miami Book Fair to talk about his new book on global warming. I am so excited to meet such a celebrity!!! I didn't get to shake hands with him but still I feel very proud.
Posted Jan 6, 2010, 10:02 pm
Today we go to a place that is so different from any I've seen before!! The buildings look very weird.
I am told that this is a Thai temple, and today they are celebrating a festival called Loy Kratong. It is a water lantern festival held in the 12th full moon of the Thai lunar calendar. It honours the Buddha with candle, and the act of floating away the candle raft is symbolic of letting go of all one's grudges, anger and defilements, so that one can start life afresh on a better foot.
We go inside the temple to look at the beautifully decorated alter.
There is a Tibetan monk drawing a sand mandala, to pray for world peace.
Outside, they are having a talent show. The girls are dressed up in traditional clothes.
Hmm... I wonder what this is? We think maybe it's for people to donate and say a prayer.
Here you can buy a flower lantern.
There are many varieties.
The monks say a prayer at the beginning of the ceremony.
Then everybody sets his/her lantern afloat in the pond. There is no river here so they build a little pond.
Very colorful, isn't it?
Oh no, this one is burnt! I hope that means all bad lucks are burned away!
Posted Jan 6, 2010, 10:22 pm
Slow Food is serving breakfast to celebrate. It's very delicious.
We tour around the market. There are lots of vegetables. Like this one with a variety of peppers.
A bee farmer selling local honey.
There are also many local artists.
This booth sells handbags make out of gourd.
These are products from the ceramic league.
Handmade soaps.
There is a BBQ stall, and they let us try a bit.
We also sample some kettle popcorn!
We like this booth with many varieties of blended teas. They all look very yummy!
Posted Jan 12, 2010, 8:45 pm
It's a holiday season with palm trees!
The parade starts!
First come the Little Miss Mangos.
The juggler club:
Wow they are very good!!
The first family is here to wish everybody Happy New Year!
Fidel Castro is regular to the parade, as he always manages to live on despite the rumors...
He is partying with Sarah Palin!
We have a group of Harley Krishna.
The real Hari Krishna decides to make an appearance, just so we won't be confused.
What happens when Sesame Street turns 40?
And what happens to Elmo?
Of course Tiger Woods make the headlines.
Coming up is Sierra Club.
They are a bunch of grapes but we have no idea what that means...
The "death panel" on the healthcare reform.
Wow they are so tall!!
Well, Happy New Year! I think it has been a good year to me for I travel to many places. But I am missing mommy, and I don't want to bananas or nuts under the sun, so I think it's time to go home!
Posted Jan 16, 2010, 10:36 pm
I am now back home! I have been hanging out all winter in beautiful Miami Beach, Florida with Tarapanda!! she was a fantastic host and even sent me home with a book that I found on bookcrossing!!! My mom tells me that now I am going to go visit AbbyB in Canada. I have never been to Canada before!! I see there are a few new TVs in the house that I have never met. We are going to have dinner together and talk all about each others travels.
Posted Jan 31, 2010, 7:35 pm
Posted Feb 7, 2010, 2:19 am
My tour started at Waterfront Station. It used to bejust for passenger trains, but now it is a terminus station for the West Coast Express (commuter train), SkyTrain, SeaBus and buses.
This is the inside.
There is an Olympic display set up that was playing real music out of those giant phones.
This is the convention centre that will be the media centre of the Olympics. Unfortunately we couldn't get right up close to it. Abby said the view of the water front from inside is amazing.
This is the marine building. When it was built it was the tallest building in the British Empire. It took years to complete the inside, however, because they were trying to build it during the Great Depression and they just didn't have the money to complete it. It is also said to be the best example of art deco architecture on the Pacific side of North America.
Abby says she can't remember what this building is called, but she knows some things about it. Every window in the building is exactly the same size, and so apparently the mens' washroom on the top floor gives you an amazing view of the city. Also, some people say it is haunted. Before it was finished the architect who designed the building commited suicide, and they say that he haunts the central staircase.
On the left is the war memorial at Victory Square, where they hold the Vancouver Remembrance Day ceremonies every year. On the right (the building with what looks like a spaceship on top) is Harbour Centre, one of the satellite campuses of Abby's school, Simon Fraser University. The top is a revolving restaurant.
This is W2, the new Woodwards building. Originally the Woodwards department store was on this location, but it went bankrupt in the early 1990s. They tore most of it down, though keeping part of the facade on one side, and built this. Part of it is another Simon Fraser University campus; most of the Fine Arts programs will move here, part of it is a grocery store, and most of it is affordable housing for students and low-income households. It just opened a couple weeks ago, and the smaller, independent media, who couldn't get space in the Convention Centre will be based here.
They kept the Woodwards 'W'
This is the Sun Building, where the Vancouver Sun used to operate. The printing press was up near the top of the building, and all of the offices were below. The building has seven statues on it, representing the seven muses.
If you have seen The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, you might recognize this building. It's the Vancouver Public Library City Centre Branch.
Next, it was off to Gastown, the oldest part of Vancouver.
This is the Gastown Steamclock, the first of its kind anywhere, and a huge tourist attraction.
A view up and down Gastown
This is 'Gassy' Jack, who owned a saloon here, and whom Gastown was named after. Apparently he was called 'Gassy' because he was a great talker. Unfortunately his saloon burned down in the Great Fire of 1886.
Posted Feb 7, 2010, 2:20 am
This gate marks the main entrance of Chinatown. It is not old at all, in fact it was designed and built to commemorate the new millennium. It was formally opened in 2002 and is called the Gate of Thousands' Happiness.
There are two of these lions, one on each side of the gate. They are protectors of the gate and each should have a concrete ball in its mouth to symbolize prosperity, but they have disappeared.
This is the Jack Chow building, the narrowest building in the world. It was built by a man known to Vancouverites as Sam Kee. At one point he owned more land in the area, but the city demolished his building to widen the road, leaving him with a strip of land just under five feet in width. Rather than sell what remained of his property for practically nothing, Sam had another building built, one that fit into the strip of land. For years the building belonged to a silk merchant, but now it's leased by an insurance company.
This bell, called the West Han Dynasty Bell, is in Chinatown to commemorate Chinese history in Vancouver and marks the first Chinese settlement in the area. It was a gift from Vancouver's sister city, Guangzhou in China, and it was modelled after a bell found in Guangzhou.
Next up was the Dr Sun Yat Sen Garden. When it is warm out there are lots of animals here, fish, turtles, ducks, geese and herons.
I stopped to play in some bamboo for a while.
On our way out, an elderly gentleman beckoned us over to point out a lone turtle bathing in the sunlight.
Posted Feb 7, 2010, 2:21 am
Behind me you can see the Olympic Village, where the athletes will be staying for the duration of the games.
The stadium with the white roof is BC Place, where the Opening and Closing ceremonies will be held. The smaller stadium with the grey roof to its right is where all of the hockey games will be taking place.
Along the waterfront were these globe statues. Abby tok pictures from a few different angles so that you can see some of the detail. She only took a picture of me with the first one, but I saw them all.
The first one is called 'Cool Careers'
This one is called 'Lighting the Future'
This one is called 'Unplugged Fun' and was painted by elementary school students and staff.
This one is called 'Green Architecture' and was painted by a design company and a Brownie group (the 7-8 year old branch of Girl Guides)
This last one is called 'Urban Greening'
After a very long day of sightseeing, we took the SkyTrain home.
Posted Feb 8, 2010, 11:26 pm
I do believe that it is true. This is a very beautiful place.
Posted Feb 17, 2010, 10:59 pm
We went to the Dr Sun Yat Sen Garden, where there were some young people performing.
Posted Feb 17, 2010, 11:02 pm
A woman gave Erin and Abby armbands to wear.
During the walk we passed the downtown east side community garden. It was started a few years ago, and each plot is maintained by someone who is homeless. This weekend they have turned it into a public art space.
This is the original Vancouver Public Library. It's really pretty, but nobody visits because Main and Hastings is where many homeless live.
After the march we made our way back west, stopping at the new Woodwards building.
Inside there was a display about architecture.
Everyone was very hungry by now, so we stopped at Old House for some Turkish food.
I meant to show you what I ate, but I was so hungry that I finished it before I remembered to take a picture.
Posted Feb 17, 2010, 11:05 pm
On Granville St there were many displays and pieces of art.
My favourite was the lantern trees.
Casseopeia wanted to see Deutsches Haus, but by the time we got there they were not letting anybody go inside.
Instead, we went to Northern House, where they were showcasing Yukon Territory, Northwest Territories and Nunavut Territory.
This is some of the traditional clothing of the Inuit.
They had a make-your-own-inukshuk station!
This is some Inuit artwork.
On the stage, people were playing a northern game.
Posted Feb 17, 2010, 11:08 pm
Inside their pavillion there were some giant Native statues.
We met up with Erin's roommate at the CBC, which stands for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. Miriam works for CBC Radio Canada, which is the French-language half of the CBC, both television and radio.
There were people handing out flags in front of the CBC, and Cassiopeia and I got one to share.
We made our way to Granville Island, where we were going to a concert at the Place de la Francophonie.
Abby didn't get any pictures of this, but Miriam took us all backstage to meet the band, Misteur Valaire!
Posted Feb 17, 2010, 11:11 pm
We decided to visited the Russian pavillion, which is located inside what is usually Science World.
Inside, there were huge, lit-up photos of Sochi, where the next winter Olympics will be.
Here is a model of what Sochi will look like in 2014.
Upstairs they had a lounge where you could sit and watch the Olympics on a large screen. On the right there was a bar, but it wasn't open.
On the main floor there is a small stage where there is usually science demonstrations for children. Today there were Russian clowns entertaining the kids.
After visiting the Russian pavillion, I decided that they definitely have the coolest venue.
Next, we walked toward some of the other Canadian houses. We visited Ontario House.
Inside, I enjoyed an organic lager, from the Mill St Brewery in Toronto.
Posted Feb 17, 2010, 11:14 pm
In between bands they showed Olympic coverage on giant screens on either side of the stage. Here I am watching mens' speed skating.
A band from Nova Scotia played a set, but I cannot remember what they were called.
They interrupted the band's set to play the Olympic Victory ceremony where Alexandre Bilodeau received the first gold medal Canada has ever won on home soil.
I was hungry by this point, so Cassiopeia and I enjoyed some shrimp dumplings.
Finally the band came on that we came to see, Malajube, from Montreal. It had started raining by then, so I stayed dry in Abby's bag and watched from there.
Posted Feb 25, 2010, 8:19 am
This is one of the gyms. SFU has three or four of them, along with two pools and a fitness centre.
The building on the right houses the pools, and beyond that is Terry Fox Field, named after Terry Fox because that is where he taught himself how to run after losing his leg to cancer.
This is the Maggie Benston building, whish is an administrative building that holds the Simon Fraser Student Society, registrar and bookstore.
This is the Convocation Mall, an open, but covered space where graduation ceremonies and other student gatherings are held. To the left is the seven storey library, and to the right is Maggie Benston and the theatre.
This is the Academic Quadrangle, named that because it is a giant square. What you can see are the fifth and six floors, which are mostly classrooms and offices. The rest of the building is underground and has lecture halls and places to eat and study.
On the roof now. This another lovely view.
After my tour, I sampled the hot chocolate at Renaissance Coffee. Delicious!
Posted Feb 25, 2010, 8:22 am
The most prominant feature of Robson Square is the Vancouver Art Gallery, which used to be Vancouver's courthouse. I didn't go inside because they were closed by the time I got there, but I plan to come back in a few days because they have an exhibit of Leonardo Da Vinci's anatomy sketches and it is free during the Olympics. I'll try to sneak a picture.
This skating rink (called the GE Plaza for the Olympics) has ice on it and is open to the public for the first time in years. It looked like they were setting up for something, but we did not stick around to watch.
This is the front of the Vancouver Art Gallery. Those giant fabric panels are an art piece in place as part of the Cultural Olympiad and will be there until May.
This is the Olympic Countdown Clock. On this side is is counting the time since the opening ceremonies, and on the other side it is counting down to the start of the Paralympics.
We decided to get away from the crowds after this and went for a walk along the seawall.
Posted Feb 27, 2010, 2:19 am
I also caught a glimpse of the Norwegian mens' curling team. Unfortunately Abby did not have the chance to get a picture of me with them (or herself, she's sad to say), as they were on their way to practice before their gold medal game against Canada tomorrow.
Posted Feb 27, 2010, 2:21 am
Posted Mar 26, 2010, 6:21 am
Memorizing bones...
Reading about sediments and stratigraphy...
And learning about the finer aspects of Canada's immigration policies.
I have, however, been helping to make delicious baked goods to eat while studying. Usually everyone gets a little carried away before someone realizes that nobody has been taking any pictures, but I do have photographic evidence of one baking adventure.
In this case, we were baking flourless chocolate cupcakes for a few of Abby's friends (plus a few on the side for the family and ToyVoyagers to eat, of course). A couple of Abby's friends cannot have gluten, so we made sure that we cleaned everything thoroughly first.
Then, I melted chocolate and butter together.
As they were melting, I mixed together cocoa powder, sugar and eggs.
The butter and chocolate mixture is looking good...
Time to add it to the mix.
These are all ready to go into the oven.
Et voila! Yum!
Posted Apr 4, 2010, 2:02 am
tina1_1tuna@hotmail.com
Posted Apr 14, 2010, 6:30 pm
I have arrived safe and sound. I was so glad to see the light at the end of the envelope because I was getting very lonely. When I climbed out of the envelope I found 4 TVs looking at me...YAY! New friends.
When I got out of the envelope, I showed them candy that my previous host sent along with me.
I decided to share some of candy with them and they said thank you. We then just hung around and talked about traveling, where we've been and where we want to go.
Tomorrow my host tells me that we're all going to visit Old Montreal, I can't wait! Love you Mom.
tina1_1tuna@hotmail.com
Posted Apr 19, 2010, 9:59 pm
Today we went to Old Montreal and it was a beautiful day outside. Since it was a little far from my host's place, we took the Metro there. This is City Hall from the back.
Next we visited Vauquelin Square which was right beside City Hall. The square and this statue commemorates the French naval officer Jean Vauquelin who was involved in the Seven Years' War.
Here's the front of City Hall. It's currently under construction right now.
Across the street is Place Jacques-Cartier which is a square named after Jacques Cartier, one of the major discoverers of Canada.
We then stopped off at a restaurant called Le Fripon and had some delicious steak and fries.
Then we walked down Rue St. Paul in and out different shops. While walking, we noticed this interesting statue.
We eventually walked to the Notre-Dame Basilica. Here's it is at the side. We would of gotten a picture of the front but there was too much construction around that we couldn't get a good picture.
Then we went to Starbucks to hang out for a while.
I'm really having fun here Mom, can't wait to have more. Love ya
!
Posted Jun 25, 2010, 9:11 pm
Bally
Posted Aug 1, 2010, 1:29 am
Yes, I'm finally updating again. Now I'm here in Brazil, getting to know the warm summer they have in the southerneast of the country.
The city I'm staying is Santos, the second oldest city of Brazil and I can't wait to see more of it.
Here are some pictures we've taken:
For now it's just it, but soon there will be muuuuuch more of Santos and the cities nearby
Byeeeee or better ... Tchau
Posted Aug 18, 2010, 3:24 am
We have been going out a lot lately, restaurants, museums, clubs, etc ! And here are some pictures
Posted Sep 26, 2010, 11:10 pm
I have already had my farewell party, but there are still many pictures of my adventure in Brazil.
At the beginning of the month , we went to the beach! It was really cool and fun
The other day, we had sushi at a friend's of MorgenSter. It was weird!
Aaaand, we also travelled with her to Marilia, and pictures will follow soon
Byeee
Posted Sep 27, 2010, 2:23 am
Marilia is around 6 hours away from Santos ( where Im staying) by car. It is a nice city, but very dry during a few months of the year. MorgenSter has studied there for 4 years, her university years.
Here are some pictures of the University where she studied!
As the tradition tells, her class planted a tree when they graduated.
The three had grown quite a lot for its only 2 years.
Capuccinoooo!!!( It ALWAYS has chococlate in )
The outside of a road stop when we went back to her city, Santos.
Soon my last pictures of Brazil...
Posted Oct 12, 2010, 3:52 am
So, here is my farewell party
With my host!
Bye Bye and I'll be soon back here to update for you
Posted Oct 17, 2010, 4:07 am
I am back from beautiful Brazil!! I had the best time there and now I am in search of a new host!! If you would like to help me continue my travels, please send my owner a PM!!! I will go anywhere!!! I love to travel and meet new people
Bally
Posted Jan 14, 2011, 12:25 am
I'm out of my travel case at last!
And look who's here. A horse, cat and bird and my new host, Miss Kate. They all seem really nice, but Miss Kate knows what I need after 3 days of travel ... a nap.
More soon!
~Bally
Posted Jan 15, 2011, 8:24 pm
This isn't a horse! It's a LLAMA!
I'm really enjoying my new friends. Miss Kate says we're going shopping soon to Whole Paycheck (really, Whole Foods ...
).
Love,
Bally
Posted Jan 16, 2011, 5:19 am
Miss Kate took me to Whole Paycheck, but our stop at Rite Aid was the best. (The picture of me outside Rite Aid didn't work, so I'll add that to my next update.) I met the nicest monkeys. One looks like she could be my sister. I told them about toyvoyaging and they seemed interested! And there was a really wild thing type of giant monkey. So big and so nice .... Miss Kate called him a gentle giant!
But then ... wow! ...
... all my banana dreams come true!
A big day ......... good night, all ............
Bally
P.S. Jack the cat and Zoe didn't get to go shopping with me, but they might get to go skiing or to the beach next week. Would anyone like to host one of my new friends? (They asked me to write that!
)
Posted Jan 16, 2011, 6:02 am
Posted Jan 17, 2011, 4:27 am
Miss Kate bought a cool new calendar with puppies. We all liked it, but Jack the cat had doubts.
I am so excited about going to the ocean this week, Mom. Miss Kate gave me a postcard showing where we're going.
Say hi to eveyone in North Carolina!
Love,
Bally
Posted Jan 17, 2011, 5:36 pm
Miss Kate got a cool gift from her mom for Christmas. It made me hungry, so I asked if we could peel it open. But it's a game! Jack and I tried to read the instructions, but we just all played around. Jack keeps thinking about Germany. I also made a tissue box into a cool jungly fort. If Miss Kate is feeling better, we're driving down to Lodi Monday for a visit.
Hugs!
Bally
Posted Jan 18, 2011, 3:15 am
How are you? We went south on 99 to little Lodi the "Zinfandel Capital of the World" to meet Miss Mina, Junior Bear and the two monstrously big dogs. I don't like the way those dogs were looking at me.
But Junior Bear is nice and he let us help him choose photographs for his travelog.
~Bally
Posted Jan 20, 2011, 4:34 am
We're back in Sacramento!
Jack and I gave Zoe her birthday gift to take with her. Then I said goodbye to Zoe and Jack the cat. I'll miss them, but I'm glad they're having their first real toyvoyages.
Love,
Bally
Posted Jan 21, 2011, 2:42 am
It was a quiet day, but I went to the bank with Miss Kate. And it wasn't so boring as I expected! The bank had a machine with candy fruit!
And there was a nice old car in the parking lot. Miss Kate told me it's a 1951 Morgan. I like it!
~Bally
Posted Jan 27, 2011, 4:07 am
Yes, Miss Kate is feeling better and finally we're off to the coast! It is such a beautiful sunny day. The drive will be about four hours. On our way, we see the Washoe House, which is an old tavern and a stop on a stagecoach route in the 1800s. Pretty cool.
Oh, yes, and we stop in Bodega Bay at the famous Candy and Kites. Can you see me with the monkey lawn wind thingy? I feel like I am going for a real bike ride. Miss Kate bought me some banana and tooty fruity saltwater taffy. Yum!
~B
P.S. I saw a lot of black birds, so Miss Kate told me about a movie filmed here, The Birds.
Posted Jan 27, 2011, 4:10 am
Love,
Bally
Posted Jan 27, 2011, 4:14 am
It's day 2 at the ocean, and Miss Kate took me grocery shopping and sightseeing. I like seeing where the Gualala River goes into the Pacific Ocean. The city Gualala is from an Indian word that means where the river meets the ocean. Good name! It's very nice here and warmer than Sacramento. The ocean and gulls are interesting to me.
Miss Kate sends her love to Zoe!
More pictures to come!
~Bally
Posted Jan 27, 2011, 10:30 pm
Here is the view from our room at my host's friends' house. They are so nice to invite me. There were lots of shells and fun stuff. We also went to the lodge where our hosts get their mail, and I took a little rest in a lounge chair. Can you see me?
I have some pictures of our walk on the Bluff Trail. That was just in the back yard, so that was pretty cool. I liked swinging on the tree branch!
I met Gypsy Rose, who is such a nice pretty dog. She needs to go outside to pee and poo. That still seems kind of strange to me.
Oh, and Miss Kate took me up on the ridge, and we saw wild turkeys. Can you see them up on the hill?
The giraffe travels a lot, but she likes to stay in the car. I like the company, though. I miss you and my dad and my TV buddies, Ladomar, Fifi, Marty and DraperDuck. But I'll see you all soon, and I'm bringing some taffy with me!
Hope it's not too stale!
Love,
Bally
Posted Jan 28, 2011, 12:39 am
I'm taking a long nap!
Love,
Bally
Posted Jan 29, 2011, 7:51 am
I'm in Reno tonight! We're here to see a show. The snow on the Sierra Nevada mountains was pretty on the drive.
~Bally
Posted Jan 31, 2011, 8:20 pm
I'm back in Sacramento, RESTING after so much traveling!
Here are 3 pictures from coming back from Reno, Nevada. We went over the state line and the fruit inspector found I had no bananas. Phew!
We went by Donner Pass and Donner Lake named after the 1846 Donner Party. Miss Kate has her students read a book about them. It's an interesting story about the history of California, Sacramento and the pioneers. But I'm sure you know about the terrible things that happened to them that winter in the mountains. What they did not to starve to death.
People heard about their tragedy and going to California was much less popular with emigrants for the next couple of years ... well, until 1849, when gold was found! Anyway, that story is not for me. I am glad I am not one of Miss Kate's students!
But I'm happy to be a guest! She let me take a picture especially for you and Dad on the memorial highway because I'm so proud to have a family who serves the country.
Okay, that was fun, but it's time for a bit of rest!
Love,
Bally
Posted Feb 8, 2011, 3:37 am
Hypno-dog just got here from Germany. He's so cool! He speaks Russian and taught me my first word, sabaka. That means dog.
Hugs and monkey kisses,
Bally
Posted Feb 10, 2011, 8:47 pm
Hypno-dog and I had nice walk around the neighborhood with Miss Kate. Hypno-dog was very confused because there was no snow, but it doesn't surprise me. (I'm a monkey of the world, you know.
)
Love,
Bally
Posted Feb 13, 2011, 9:12 pm
Hi mommy!
We all had such a fun time playing with a French activity book.
There were pencils on the front. Very convenient! Hypno-dog opened the little box and gave each of us a pencil.
We didn't need to know French because the pictures helped us understand.
Like I didnt need to read French to do this puzzle. It was pretty easy:
This was easy, too. Even the lion and the unicorn, who just came from the Goodwill, could do this puzzle. Which picture looks just the same as the first one?
This puzzle was easy for me, but I didn't want to give away the answers. I am an older and wiser than the average toyvoyager. Miss Kate said she will send a prize to the first person who can find the six difference between these two pictures. Just PM her, she says!
Well, Valentine's is my favorite holiday, so I am sending you, Mommy, many hugs and monkey kisses for Valentine's day!!!
Love,
Bally
Posted Feb 16, 2011, 1:40 am
Miss Kate says it'll be time for me to go home soon. I'm looking forward to seeing all of you. She wanted to be sure I got some photographs at the Capitol building. We got up early Sunday morning and shared a cookie and a sip of coffee. Yum!
Bally
Posted Feb 17, 2011, 11:54 pm
Bally
Posted Feb 18, 2011, 12:00 am
We have another visitor, HolgiHH! Isn't he cute! I could just hug him!
He told me that he knows you, Mom. He said he had a great in North Carolina, traveling around, eating Tiffany-colored cupcakes and meeting Jeff Wood.
Wow, what a small world for TVs!
~Bally
Posted Feb 22, 2011, 3:04 am
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Bally
Posted Feb 22, 2011, 6:18 pm
It's time for me to come home. I will miss everyone here SO much, Peach the Pooch, Sierra, Clyde, HolgiHH, Hypno-dog, Gwennie, Aslan and Zarafeh. Zarafeh even came in from the car to say goodbye. I will miss Miss Kate most of all! She is sending me home with some travel money, some chocolate monkey buttons, a little something for Zoe and even the banana and tooty fruity taffy from Bodega Bay. She put the taffy in the fridge, so we hope it's not too stale. We can try it when I get home. Don't worry about me, Mom, I'm comfortable in my travelope. And I'll be going to the post office with Aslan and Gwennie, too, so don't worry.
Love,
Bally