Travelog for: Mario

Mario has packed up his notebook and has put on his tag. He is ready to go see the world. Thanks to my sister Raina it looks like Mario will be leaving pretty soon.

Mario is packed up and traveling to the UK. I hope he makes it there ok. I have grown attached to him, he is almost like another little brother.

Poor Mario is missing. Where could he be? It looks like he may be stuck in a postal strike. Most likely Bowser started the whole thing to keep him from his journeys. I am sure he will make it though. The good guys always make it in the end.

Hi, I am here I arrived end of last week, but guess what, my hosts computer has broken, she is changing her server and its all gone caputted... so may take a week or two, but just to say mum I am ok, I have visited the Police €station, and sit in a police car, great eh!!!

Got a big bbq on saturday as it is a big birthday for my host so lots of food, food and more food, yipeeeeeeeee , will take lots of photo`s so as soon as connected can update you. 

Then in 2 weeks going to Nottm to see Robin Hood.... yeah

you will see me as soon as is possible, met Shirley Sheep, and Eddy Bear...

Well its been a long time, my host is having big problems with her computer... change of service provider, and she is tearing her hair out.  On top of that, lost disc with pictures of ME on them, how could she.

Well I went to a BIG BBQ she had a BIG birthday but she wont tell me her age, I met all her friends, lots of sausages and burgers and kebabs, been dreaming of sausages ever since. 

We then went to Nottingham to see Robin Hood, Nottingham Forest and Notts County Football grounds but again the pictures got lost.

We went to a duck race, which was actually sad and exciting at the same time.  There are thousand of little duckies, the plastic tiny ones not a real person like me.  Well all these little duckies have a number on their bottoms and then put into big dustbins, tickets are sold with the numbers on.  Everyone is excitedly standing at the start of the race down the river, when lots of bulky men empty the dustbins over the river and then all the plastic little duckies swim for their lives... help.... in the excitement I nearly fell in too!!!!  then you race the duckies down the river until the end, and even more big men in the river with large waders on their feet, just in case they dont turn into duckies themselves!!! ha ha ha...

The men catch the first 7 ducks through the race line to see which lucky duckie has won a prize,  yeah sad I know but it was a bit exciting.  Well since most of the duckies landed on their heads!!!

We went to Sidmouth Folk Festival which is on every year, people come from all over the world watching all different types of musicians all along the sea front.... very jovial, had a little sing song myself.....  did check no one was listening first!!

Anyway that is all for now.  Pictures to follow as and when my hosts computer works, should be this week, but she is ringing them tomorrow to tell them off yet again......  oh dear.

We went to see the Summer fair in seaton with the floats all dressed up, people were dancing and singing in the street, and i had a wonderful view.

We went to see one of my hosts friends who was poorly and not at work.  She lives in Minehead a sea side town, I decided to take a stoll along the beach, and for a change it did not rain... wonderful....  I decided I would rest in a deckchair and enjoy the sun, what a life...

On the way back we passed through Dunster, a pretty little village I got a little lost amongst the flowers, but I am on the pictures.... honest.

We had a trip to the seaside again, in the dark... strange people these English....  anyway... this is the walkway which was used in the film An Officer and a Gentleman, never heard of it myself but I think my host is showing her age, I told her I would believe anything she said.   

Well my host and hubby and his mum all went on a lovely break to see the lights at Blackpool, it was a lovely day on the Saturday.  We went to the big fair and we saw a lovely sunset.

On the Sunday we went to see an exhibition of Beatrix Potter, wow did I have fun, I sat and had a chat with Mrs Tiggy Winkle the hedgehog, spoke to Jeremy Toad, sat in the bucket of Mrs Piggy and was naughty with Peter Rabbit.  It was a great Exhibition and we saw the drawings of Beatrix Potter which she sketched for her books.

The weather was great on the Saturday but as usual with the lovely English weather it rained on the Sunday, but as we were inside it did not matter much.  We then had cream tea and made the long journey home.

Well my trip is about come to an end, I have had fun, my host is not happy with her computer so it will take take time for an update.  But next I go away, lets hope its warmer than here....

Mario has arrived safely. He's currently catching up with Mei and meeting the other TV's staying here and will update his travelog with photos soon!

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Here are the photos as promised.....
Been kicking back with Mei in the hammock and enjoying the beautiful pre-summer weather (when it's not bucketing down rain and thunder storming!)

We made a Sunday drive through the Royal National Park today. (Did you know Australian's drive on the left side of the road? I was a little concerned at first, but after a while got used to it!)


The Royal National Park was established in 1879 and is the world's second oldest national park - after Yellowstone in the USA. In July 2006, this park was added to the National Heritage List, which are places with outstanding natural, Indigenous or historic heritage value to Australia.


We spent a lot of time driving along the road as we were headed to Bundeena, which is 23km in from the highway. We saw lots of native plants and trees.



We crossed the Audley Weir (which has a tendency to flood after heavy rains, but the sky was clear, so we knew we'd be ok getting back out!)


At times it felt like we were never going to get there! The road just kept going on and on and on!




But then we came over a bend and I could see water. My hosts and travel guides had told me I could play on the beach at Bundeena, so I knew we must be getting close!

Bundeena is a tiny beach side village in the Royal National Park. It is quite isolated even though it is right on the edge of the city. You can only access it by the long, winding drive we took or by a ferry service from Cronulla. Sometimes it is cut off by flooding at Audley, bushfires in the National Park or bad weather that makes it impossible for the ferry to run. The beach is very beautiful and a nice place to spend a Sunday afternoon relaxing.

Berlin Bear, PampleMoose and I had a lot of fun on the beach before having a late lunch and heading back 'home'


We all thought we'd enjoy living in one of these houses!


Look at the view you would have!


Before we could go home, we just had to experience life in a gum tree in honour of one of our hosts, Kalli

Today is the first Tuesday in November, which means that it is Melbourne Cup Day!
Melbourne Cup Day is Australia's most famous Tuesday. At 3.00 pm AEST, on the first Tuesday in November, Australians everywhere stop for one of the world's most famous horse races - the Melbourne Cup.

It is called "The Race That Stops a Nation" and even those who don't usually bet try their luck with a small wager or entry into a 'sweep' - a lottery in which each ticket-holder is matched with a randomly drawn horse. (Our host had a small win in the $1 sweep at work, but doesn't know how much she's won yet!)

Us ToyVoyagers decided to get in on the action - one problem though, we had no money  so we just had to pick a horse to barrack for. I chose Scenic Shot (#15).



Then it was time for the race to start. It was so exciting!




And, guess what! 
My horse my horse didn't win or place. I was a little disappointed , but still it was a fun afternoon.

Today I visited Nan Tien Temple at Wollongong with my host, her mum and cousins.
It was about a 1 hour drive down the coast but I enjoyed taking in the scenery. A lot of it is the same Royal National Park we visited last weekend. I also enjoyed the nice sunny day after a week of heavy rain! The boys made sure that I didn’t miss any of the view while travelling in the back seat.



Our first stop was Sublime Point to take it the view of where we'd be going from the lookout.


Our eventual destination (for lunch) is on the 3rd peninsula you can see in this photo. On a clearer day you get a much better view of the lighthouse on the point, but today was still a little hazy from the poor weather!


Look at the view - you can see why they call it "Sublime"


And just get a look at how steep the Illawarra Escarpment is! Can you believe they used to use ox carts to transport wood and coal up the mountain and back to Sydney?


The lookout had these really cool Morton Bay fig trees. The boys we were travelling with had the idea to climb them. I decided to join them. I really like this tree climbing thing!


Look at this pretty flower. It is an Australian native called a Grevillia. They don't have much of a fragrance, but birds enjoy eating the nectar the grevillia's produce.


Here I am at Nan Tien Temple near Wollongong. "Nan Tien" in Chinese, literally means "Paradise of the South". This is the biggest Buddhist temple in the southern hemisphere. It also has the largest terracotta tile roof of any building in the southern hemisphere. This is the "Great Hero Hall" which is the largest of the two shrines. We went inside and enjoyed the sense of peace that you can’t help but feel here.


I found this poster of a Buddhist teaching outside the great hall. It says
“Everyday is a good day.
Everywhere is a good place.
Everyone is a good friend.
Every family is a good relative.”
A good thought for ToyVoyagers too, don’t you think?


Look at the great view from the Temple.


There are a lot of Buddhist statues around the beautiful gardens.


It is such a nice place to just sit and relax and take in the natural surroundings (if you can ignore the sounds of the cars whizzing by on the highway!!)

It was getting late in the day and we were all hungry so we went into Wollongong to get fish and chips for lunch and watch the water.


Luckily, being so late in the afternoon (almost 3:30!) the fish and chip shop was not as busy as normal and we could get seats right out front (not a normal occurrence on such a nice day!)


Look at those seagulls. Would you believe that one of them had the audacity to steal a piece of fish directly out the hands of Bec's mum right when we all weren't looking!?!


That building at the end of the pier used to be a fish and chip co-op but is now an expensive seafood restaurant. Behind it is the lighthouse Cassiopeia visited when she came to Wollongong with Bec & Kalli


Following lunch it was time to head home. We chose to take the older, more scenic route rather than the same expressway we'd travelled down on. The old highway follows the coast and winds through the old coal mining villages.