Travelog for: Luke

My name is Luke, and I'm with the Special Police Division of New South Wales.
I have arranged to leave my assignments for a working trip, but I am always on duty. I carry my Special Police badge and NSW Police ID at all times, as well as my two-way radio, keys, and Toy Voyager-sized hand/pawcuffs. I also wear a police ribbon, in memory of fallen police world-wide.
I am the oldest in my litter, and I have always looked after my brothers and sisters but now they will be travelling as well!
I would like to see foreign police cars and maybe meet a fellow officer or two, but I am content to go anywhere. I'm always on the lookout for trouble, so misbehaving TVs better look out!

Sara is finally back home, so we got to visit a bit of Sydney when she arrived. Daniel (her husband) brought us with to meet up with all the other little toyvoyagers that visited with her to America and South Korea. It was a long few weeks, but it wasn't too bad, we at least got let out of the envelope so we had some breathing room, and Sara says that it was a lot cooler than normal Summer weather while she was gone, and a lot warmer than normal in America when she went, too bad we didn't get to see it - but she told me she'd make up for it... first things first, we got to visit Botany Bay, here I am in front of the bay on the side of the road... so pretty isn't it?



This is a photo just by itself, the little penninsula sticking out is actually the airport runway, so we got to watch some planes landing and taking off it was quite interesting...



What's even more interesting is... this plane was the plane Sara arrived on from South Korea, same flight, only returning back to South Korea. It was interesting to watch the plane that had only just arrived, seeing it take off back again... how cool is that?



We took a bit longer on the road and we got to one of the proper beaches, we had to go to the beaches with the shark nets, we stopped at the first one and had a bit of a dip (well I didn't, I don't like the water!) in the Kyeemagh Baths...



Here are all of us on the beach...



...and here I am out in the water, Sara was holding me because she knows I don't like the water, it wouldn't be good for my fur!



Here are some seagulls, there we're quite a lot of them really!..



We took another bit of a drive down the beach to the next bit of the shark nets, and we even got to see the Sydney skyline... as you can see, even for a Monday morning there we're a lot of people at the beach... and this is just where we were...



...another 2'ish hours later we we're on the road to Orange, which most definately is not coastal... so no more pretty beaches, but that doesn't worry me too much... but we stopped off in the Blue Mountains and got to see the famous Three Sisters...



There were lots and lots of people sightseeing there when we all visited there... but we got in and got out pretty quick, we all just were very tired and wanted to get home!

Today we went to Blayney and on the way to Blayney we all got to see an emu, what a famous Australian animal. :-)



...and when we got home we met up with another toyvoyager,

Mulalu how exciting, he came all the way from South Africa, so we had a group photo together, now I can also introduce you to all the other toyvoyagers that have been visiting with Sara..



From left to right it's Mulalu, Me, Mel, Cronus, Alpina, Leo Lion, Benni, and Charity Bear... the walrus, lobster and turtle are soon to be toyvoyagers... :-)

Pretty soon we'll be saying goodbye to Benni, Cronus and Charity Bear as they continue their travels around the world! :-) We're going back to Blayney tomorrow so we'll have a bit more of a sight see through the small little town. :-)

First things first, we had to all say goodbye to Benni and Charity Bear... it was pretty sad, but we all know they're going to have fun and going to a safe place.



We went to Blayney, we've been going everyday to feed the animals at Sara's father-in-law's house... no photos with those animals though they're too crazy. But we stopped to see the local emu, we're not sure if he's a wild one, or someone owns him... but we think he just got stuck in the paddock since he was younger, he comes and goes... he's SO big though...



Next stop, our destination... something kinda unique about this though is - it's one of four Marsden cottages they were built for the workers of the wealthy Marsden family. They're listed on the national trust and heritage as historically important. The house in front of me is the one that's most intact and in best condition of the three of them and has most of the original everything that was originally in the house. The house was built in the mid 1870's. We heard a lot of stories from Sara about some spooky stuff that's happened there, she lived there for 10 months with her father-in-law before moving to Orange in May 2006...



Animals are fed... so next stop... Church Hill...



Church hill is a large hill in the middle of town, so Sara got some photos of Blayney from a bit higher elevation... it was a nice clear and hot day so we didn't spend too much time there before moving on...

We had to also say goodbye to Cronus he's off to Costa Rica, how exciting!...



...and then we had a chance to do a mystery shop with Sara and Daniel... we "shopped" a petrol station... and had to do a report on our findings... there was a lot of information to write down... we all helped how we could...



Then we got to visit a pet store and pick out two little mice, Sara has three other mice that are a little bit bigger so we've been having trouble introducing them together, but slowly but surely they're starting to get introduced one at a time... introducing... Pancake and Waffles...



It's been a long day though, I'll have more to update with what happened on Friday, you'll just have to wait and see, it won't take too long! :-)

First things first, we had to all say goodbye to Benni and Charity Bear... it was pretty sad, but we all know they're going to have fun and going to a safe place.



We went to Blayney, we've been going everyday to feed the animals at Sara's father-in-law's house... no photos with those animals though they're too crazy. But we stopped to see the local emu, we're not sure if he's a wild one, or someone owns him... but we think he just got stuck in the paddock since he was younger, he comes and goes... he's SO big though...



Next stop, our destination... something kinda unique about this though is - it's one of four Marsden cottages they were built for the workers of the wealthy Marsden family. They're listed on the national trust and heritage as historically important. The house in front of me is the one that's most intact and in best condition of the three of them and has most of the original everything that was originally in the house. The house was built in the mid 1870's. We heard a lot of stories from Sara about some spooky stuff that's happened there, she lived there for 10 months with her father-in-law before moving to Orange in May 2006...



Animals are fed... so next stop... Church Hill...



Church hill is a large hill in the middle of town, so Sara got some photos of Blayney from a bit higher elevation... it was a nice clear and hot day so we didn't spend too much time there before moving on...

We had to also say goodbye to Cronus he's off to Costa Rica, how exciting!...



...and then we had a chance to do a mystery shop with Sara and Daniel... we "shopped" a petrol station... and had to do a report on our findings... there was a lot of information to write down... we all helped how we could...



Then we got to visit a pet store and pick out two little mice, Sara has three other mice that are a little bit bigger so we've been having trouble introducing them together, but slowly but surely they're starting to get introduced one at a time... introducing... Pancake and Waffles...



It's been a long day though, I'll have more to update with what happened on Friday, you'll just have to wait and see, it won't take too long! :-)

Today we got to visit Banjo Patterson's Birth Place a bit outside of Orange... it was pretty exciting. Banjo Patterson is famous for his poetry and wrote the song "Waltzing Matilda" and "A Man From Snowy River"...

Here's a picture of me next to the statue in memory of him...



...and here's the sign from underneath the statue...



The important part of this sign says "The bricks in this plinth are from the original templer's mill that stood on this site during the time of Banjo's birth. The mill was demolished in 1971."

Here's the sign in front of the ruins of the templer's mill:



...and a close up of the sign and what the sign says...



We even then went and saw another sign in memory to Banjo Patterson...



...then last of all before we left, we actually got to sit on the ruins of the mill...



As we left, we all got to learn the words of the famous Australian song... "Waltzing Matilda"...

We had to say goodbye to a dear friend today!  He's leaving to go on his journey, first stop Victoria in Australia and then possibly India. We're not sure where he's going, it was sad to see him go, but so exciting! We hope he has a fun journey!



Have fun Leo Lion!

This week has been a pretty lazy week we haven't done much, and then we got a new visitor Bon the long haired mouse... :-) How exciting we have a new friend to hang out with now! :-)



...and Sara says Easter is coming... :-) How fun! :-)

Sorry I haven't updated in SO long! Sara's been busy cleaning and we've all tried to help however we can, but we can only do so much being only a few inches tall. :-) Sara decided last night to introduce us to all of her animals. She's a huge animal lover so we got to spend a lot of the last week with them! :-)


Here's me with the mice, you can see one of the baby mice (they're all female) on the bottom right hand side of the door, that's Waffles. :-) There's 4 others, another baby called Pancakes, and three adult females called Moo, Charlotte and Little Foot. They're all SO cute!


Here's a close-up of Waffles, I couldn't be in the picture since that would scare her away... she's a very social mouse. :-)


Next stop I got to see the fish, most of the fish are swordtails, platties, one guppy and various danios. Sara also has a huge suckerfish which you can see at the bottom of the tank, he's sucking on the drift wood. There's lots and lots of baby platties that are just big enough to be in the big tank now, it's pretty cool t see them! All the platties look the same though, hehe. :-)

...and last but not least, here is what we've been listening too since we got here... the birds...

I couldn't get photos with all the birds because they're not used to me being this close so they get scared easily... and I'll tell you why a bit later... but here's the type of birds in the cage...



There are three diamond doves, all of which are pictured here... they make sounds like "who-hooo" it's pretty cute and they usually only do it at night time. Sara says they're the smallest dove in the world. There not much bigger than any of these finches. They're names are Silver, Bluey and Gumby.


There are three pairs of Gouldian finches. Most of them are red faced and yellow faced. No black faced gouldians (which are the most common suprisingly)... this is one of the males. They're called Mr. Colors, Tweet, Twiddle, Bunyip, Puggles, Grimey (think the Simpsons).


There's a pair of spice finches, which are also called 'nutmeg' finches. The mating call is almost silent and it is a strange sound towards the end I don't know how to describe it. But they're called Pepper and Paprika.


There's 5 pairs of star finches, this is a red faced male, there's also yellow faced star finches. Sara has a unique one that has an entirely different song than the others, that makes him the head of the whole aviary... they're called Peep, Dotty, Spots, Mr. Peep, Prickles, Goo, Stars, Comet, and two red females which are unnamed as of yet. :-)



I have pairs of zebra finches... this will come into more detail later... but their names are Mr. Zebra, Frank, Squeak, Bell Beep (which was supposed to be a female - but obviously isn't), Meep, and another unnamed female... so obviously not all paired up, but Sara can't get anymore at the moment, and this is why...


...and this is why, you can see Bell Beep (the one that was supposed to be female but obviously a male - his plumage is just coming in)... one of the female yellow stars on the top of the nest, and the unnamed female zebra in the nest... she's "warning" the other birds to get away - because she had 4 eggs she's been sitting on for the last few days... so hopefully we'll have some babies soon! :-)


...and last but not least, the newest addition to the finch family is the owl finches... they're very good birds to adapt into a mixed aviary, as with the spice finches, so they've all bonded quite well with the stars especially, which is good since they're the leading group of finches in the cage... the owl finches are called owlie and owllet. :-)

Hopefully this week we're going to Cook Park and Mount Canobolas, the extinct volcano 20 minutes from here.... :-) We'll see how this next week goes! :-)

Officer Luke returned home today to attend to some important police business, but as he is still on leave he will be travelling again soon.

My partner Eddie has convinced me to continue my travels so I will be going to the USA shortly.

This little fellow arrived last month. His name is Lucan and it is his family I will be billeted with. It is almost like a student exchange, isn't it?

I said goodbye to Eddie today. It looks like a teary farewell but I'm really telling him to keep on top of things while I'm gone. I am off to America - maybe I will see a Texas Ranger?
I am also a bit worried about my brothers Chokito and Davy - we haven't heard from them in a long time.

Don't believe him - I saw quite a few tears from Luke and Eddie both while they were saying goodbye 

Hi Mom!!

Officer Luke here!! I am now in the USA!!! I am in North Carolina and I am having a great time!  Here I am getting out of my envelope!!  I was sooo glad to finally be free! I travelled a VERY long way!



Once I got out of my envelope, I wandered over to see another Toy Voyager, only once I got in the basket I find out that it is NOT a Toy Voyager...it is my hosts Chihuahua named Sombrita!! She is a very tiny dog that weighs 3 lbs!!



I walk around my new home and get up on the couch.  I met the other dog, she is a Chinese Pug named Thumper.  Thumper likes to eat and then sleep all day long.  She is very funny and makes funny noises!



Sombrita hears me talking to Thumper so she comes out to see what is going on.  She lays down by me and starts to take a nap.



Thumper goes down on the floor and snuggles up next to me.  I have to say I like these dogs!!



I go back into the back room and meet all the other TVs that are staying in the house.  They tell me all about their adventures and it sounds like I am going to have a excellent time!!



I find out that one of my hosts is in the Marine Corps and works on a base JUST for Helicopters.  I have been told if I am quiet that I will get to sneak out on the flight line and get inside the CH53 and the V22 Osprey.  This is the only base in the world that the V22 can be seen.  I am excited about being a honorary Marine for a day!!

Well I am going to go lay back on the couch and take a cat nap. 

Hi Mom!

Last weekend we went to Carolina Motorsports Park in Kershaw, South Carolina.  It took us about four hours to drive to the track.  My host races motorcycles as a hobby and I had sooo much fun! Here I am with my suitcases already to go!!



Here we are at the main gate and registration.



We arrived at the track on Thursday night.  My host owns a *Toy Hauler* I know that sounds like a trailer for TVs but it is actually like a motorhome except a trailer! The inside has beds, fridge, microwave, kitchen, TV and a bathroom.  We had a lot of fun camping at the track!!  Here we are with my hosts race bike.  It is a Suzuki GSXR 600.



Here we are on my host's friends bike.  This is a Yamaha R6.



This is us sitting on the pit bikes.  The pit bikes are used to get around the Paddock without wearing yourself out! My host has a Yamaha Zuma Scooter and a Yamaha TTR125.



Next my host needs help getting the bike all tuned up for the big race.  We get some T wrenches and start working on the suspension.



Next we go over and check out my host's friends bike.  This is a GSXR 1000.  This bike can go really, really crazy fast!!



The area that we go watch the races is called the Hot Pit.  We pose with the sign then go to the wall so we can see better.



Here we are posing with the club poster for the track.









Here we are waiting to see my host race.  The bikes are all on the starting grid and waiting for the green flag to drop.



Here comes my host out in front!!!  we are excited and start yelling and cheering!!



We had a great weekend.  The weather was really nice and everyone had a good time.  I had a lot of fun and even got to go out for a few laps during practice!! I hope you enjoyed the photos!! I just found out in a few days that I am going to go to my host's work and I will get to fly in a V22 Osprey Helicopter!!! This is the only place in the WORLD that has them!! I will get to be a honorary Marine for the day!!