Travelog for: Kwaadapp

Hi there!

May I introduce myself? I am Kwaadapp, a frog born in the United States who is ready to travel the world. This is me!



I belong to sannah who is currently hosting Nils. Nils told me so much about the places he has seen that I want to travel on my own now.



This is where I live right now: The blue spot in the background shows the flag of Minnesota.



You will read more about me later ...

Greetings from Minnesota,
Kwaadapp

Hi there!

Spring has finally come! Well, it still is a little cold outside, but the sun was shining brightly today. Maybe the wisest thing to do to fight her little cold was to go outside, sannah thought - and therefore she took me and Nils to the local Museum and Historical Society of Olmsted County. Here we are!



Nils has already seen this building in real life - so he rushed to this Lego brick model of the Plummer Building, located in downtown Rochester. We could climb this one, but would not stand a chance to the same with the original building!



There were also some models of other historic buildings in town, but they were made of cardboard.



And since this is a museum, they also had some really, really old items. I like this desk (I hope nobody saw me sitting on it!):



Since Rochester is also called "Med City", they had some really fancy instruments from doctors in old times.



Nils dared to have a closer look at the bone saw, but I did not want to. I enjoyed this old nurse uniform more:



At the end, an old photograph showed how much of Rochester had been destroyed by an tornado about 130 years ago!



I really hope this won't happen again as long as I or sannah live here!

That's it for today! 

All the best,
Kwaadapp

Hi there!

I saw the model of the Plummer Building yesterday - so sannah took me downtown to see the real one today. Here it is:



Most of downtown is very modern, the Mayo Clinic (owning most buildings) has built a lot in the past fifteen years. But there are also some older buildings. This is the Old City Hall:



As far as sannah knows, it has been re-designed and now offers some apartments to live in - weird, isn't it?

And this street, home of a lot of bars and restaurants, is even called Historic 3rd Street. Yes, they numerize nearly all the streets in town. sannah thinks it's logical. sannah-man doesn't think so. The older buildings all have two stories, a shop on the first floor, the shop owner (of earlier times) living on the second floor. Nowadays, the second floor is more likely to offer office space.
But here is the street:



There are birds singing outside - I haven't heard this for a while! Find me on the patio!

All the best,
Kwaadapp

Hi there!

I must admit that I am highly confused! It is May, but yesterday morning this white stuff was covering sannahs balcony: Snow in late spring!

The poor little tree ... The snow is so heavy that it bends over.


It took a while until the snow plows came ... Did I mention that all schools in town where closed (and sannah didn't have to work)?


Maybe I should travel to a place without snow ... It was really cold taking the pictures!

All the best,
Kwaadapp

Hi folks!

Some of you were as confused as I was the last time, weren't you? But the snow melted nearly as suddenly as he appeared last week. See, how green it is! And I really enjoyed sitting on the balcony again ...



Nils and I had a little chat in one of sannahs chairs - very comfy!


We were mostly talking about my travel! Yes, I am leaving for a long journey to a place "down under" how sannah called it. I am so excited!

I tried to get as much sun as possible and Nils waved goodbye when I finally climbed in my envelope.



I hope I will arrive safely and report from down under soon.

All the best,
Kwaadapp

Hi Mum! Guess what? I've arrived in Australia... so excited! It was quite cool down here, and I got a bit damp in the postie bag... but thankfully their mailbox is shaded by a big bush so I wasn't out in the cold for too long before Sara got home and checked the mail - and there I was!

She told me that you were excited for me to arrive - and I'm so glad I did on a Friday - otherwise I would have been waiting at the post office all weekend! Which wouldn't have been fun!

Sara promises I'll see a lot while I'm down here - very likely kangaroos, white sand beaches and maybe even a trip to Circular Quay (where the Sydney Opera House and Harbour Bridge are)! We'll see how we go with time though - she travels a bit so I'm definitely going to be her little travel buddy for a while... in the mean time... I need to adjust to the local time... it's 1.24pm on the 24th of May - where as at home it would be 10.24pm on the 23rd of May! Crazy right?!

Write again soon!

We had a few delays this month... our car decided to break down... so that meant we had a few days of sitting at home with not much to do! We were busy with all of the work once we got the car back on Friday... and decided on Saturday (still having to get some work done) the toyvoyagers would come along so they could see some of the sights of the local region... and surrounding regions...

Just outside of Nowra is quite a bit of farmland... and strangely enough... three cows that sit near the highway in the paddock. Sara says how she thought it was amusing... each time we drive past the cows are painted something different - they were white with flowers and hats for Mothers Day, they were green for St Patrick's Day, etc. This time they were maroon and blue. In Australia this time of year there is a football match called the State of Origin, where it's New South Wales (blues) vs Queensland (maroon), hence why they're painted as such... for this iconic Aussie sporting match...

They're a bit famous for the people on the South Coast and people enjoy seeing them on their drive to work or whenever... so each time they change their paint I'll get a new photo as they're becoming more and more iconic for the South Coast each year...

Just a few minutes after the cows, you get to a tiny little town that's like a literal blip on the radar. The town is called Berry... it's full of tourists and antiques... as it was the Queens Birthday on Monday, and we have a long weekend it was chock full of tourists so I was unable to get any photos as we were driving through - but we'll be sure to get something so you can see this little town... I've got a few more posts to make - I've been a busy little bee this weekend!

Just before you hit Kiama, you go through all these twisty areas of road which overlook the ocean quite nicely... but there's a lookout at the end which gives you a lookout (to the South) of Werri Beach, nearby a small town called Gerringong...

If you look to the right you can see the highway that you have to drive on to get up here. Then there's a big construction site next to the highway which is making another road that will bypass a small town called Berry... the Berry Bypass...

We took the road to Gerringong home and was going to visit the Seven Mile Beach National Park and a nice view over Seven Mile Beach at Gerroa, however Sara's flash drive in her camera died... so we weren't able to get the photo and the view... but we'll do so next time... write again soon!

The next day - not quite as early... we had to head out to go to work again so us toyvoyagers came along for the ride... you wouldn't remember - but this last Summer (in January) we had some scorchers of days... days that easily were 45'c+, very dry heat... and on the 8th of January - a lot of wind... something Sara says she's never seen before... there was a very large bush fire near her, about 30 km South of where she lived so she was safe... but still quite unnerving... it burned a lot of bush where it used to be quite lush.

The night of the 8th, the bush fire approached the highway where they were hoping they could control it... but it jumped the highway and it lead to this iconic photo... which was on the exact same road we're going on now. Can you imagine driving through that? They closed the road for some parts - but they kept it open in patches..  can you imagine driving through that! Scary!

Deans Gap bush fire raged out of control for another month before it was under control and eventually put out. Thank God! Sara says that she drove through this area when it was still burning and you could smell burning eucalyptus trees. The trunks on the trees are very white and when driving through at night usually they're obvious on the headlights... but when driving through, there was burnt signs, and the trunks of the trees were black - quite haunting! Thankfully no one died or lost their homes... very lucky!

This is only a few months ago now... and now it's turning to Winter and it's quite cold... and the regrowth is coming back. It's amazing how much it's bounced back! Australia is a strange country... some of our eucalyptus trees actually require fire to germinate... people actually have to set fire to them to grow more trees... sounds a bit backwards doesn't it?

The top two photos are the regrowth that you can see visible in patches... and the third photo you can see what the trees used to look like - quite lush... but even then you can still see the ground how it's black from the ground burning during that intense heat...

Sara took these photos though as this is a pretty common looking drive between towns on the South Coast... and then the last photo is of a town called Ulladulla.. which is known for it's surfing. Driving through the main part of town there's not too much to see - but we go back frequently enough that I'll get some better shots one of the next times we head through... unfortunately it was a quick drive through on the way to somewhere else... write again soon!

This is the farthest South we'll be going today... the tiny town of Moruya... it's got a population of only 2,500 people... so pretty small - but there are definitely smaller around... we come to this town each month - but haven't had much chance to explore. This time we wanted to checkout the Moruya Beach, called Dolphin Beach, as it's been recently in the news... never really thought about Moruya having a beach before now.

It's unfortunate why it was in the news, but a surfer went missing and they were searching for him... I don't think they've found him. It's strange sitting on this beach, especially with how calm it is - to think that it could be like that... but the ocean is so unpredictable.

The beach was all but empty - which is kinda strange as it's Sunday afternoon... but was kinda neat! How often do you see such a long stretch of beach - completely empty?! We didn't have too long to spend so we got a few snaps and headed back... when walking back you have to go through some bush (we parked off the side of a dirt road to get here) and we came upon an Australian native plant called the Yellow Bottle Brush plant. Very unique!

Once we got back to the car you can see the dirt road we traveled on a well as some more unknown native plants. Australia has a lot of small leaved bushes and shrubs as that seems to be the only thing that can survive the droughts that Australia throws at them... we better be heading off - we've got one more stop to make before it becomes night time! Write again soon!

Last stop of the day was Batemans Bay... as it just looks like a bridge over a river and a relatively small town (12,600 people or so) we decided to go scoping for something a bit more interesting - something we've not seen before - and we ended up in Batehaven... a nearby suburb.

We got to a nice observation point overlooking the Clyde River... as the sun was setting it was a very nice view... something that pictures really didn't portray as much as I would have liked... gorgeous!

As I was heading back to the car, we took a detour and checked out the other side and saw a cliff face almost over looking a beach - and even better view... the Tollgate Islands that are off in the distance... we got a few nice photos and after being nearly eaten alive by mosquitoes we headed back to the car.

It soon got too dark we went to our last job for the day and headed home... I hope you enjoyed our few days out and sightseeing... I'll be doing a bit more in the next coming days! Write soon!

Today was a cloudy, cold and rainy day... but that didn't stop us toyvoyagers from doing a bit of sightseeing! Sara said she always wanted to go to this lookout, but hasn't been there until now. It's called the Cambewarra Mountain lookout, you can see the mountain top from most of Nowra... but we weren't sure of what we would 100% see when we were up there... but we were happily surprised!

From this point you can see all of Nowra (center photo), you can see the main highway that runs down Nowra (Princes Highway)... you can see North Nowra, which looks like a whole bunch of trees followed by a tiny section of houses way to the East (from this vantage point) of the main town. Then... even though we stared at it for a while - we didn't think what we were look at was it... Jervis Bay... it's cut off a bit in the image, but it's the big circular bay out towards the ocean. We were a lot closer to Jervis Bay than we thought we were... it's about 20-30 minutes drive... crazy! If it was as the crow flies it'd be so much closer!

...and of course, you see the main river that runs through the area - the Shoalhaven River... absolutely gorgeous! Definitely a place we'll come back to on a nice day with clear skies... write again soon!

While we were in the region we visited another tourist attraction... the Hampden Bridge.. it is a "convict" bridge and was built in 1895, opened in 1898 to replace a timber bridge that once crossed the Kangaroo River. It is the only surviving suspension bridge from the colonial period in New South Wales...

As it is only one lane only one lane of cars can cross at any one time, and one truck... as it wasn't built for cars initially. It's a very unique sandstone bridge that is very well known in the local area. The pictures don't really do it justice, it's very unique and really adds a lot of the Australian convict history back to life... that's about it for now, we kinda got rained out a little bit today - but I'll be back to show you some more of what I got up to soon!

Today it rained... a lot... actually not just today... it rained yesterday too. Although this doesn't seem like much - but it's a big thing, when it's barely rained in months... and it has been an especially dry Winter, and was a very dry Summer - it was much needed. However, I didn't quite expect to see this...

This is about 1 kilometre from where my host lives... although she lives up a big hill, so the whole town would have to be flooded before it touched her home fortunately... however this is a boat ramp. What you see in front of us is a parking lot, which then has a steep slop of a few feet that goes to the Shoalhaven River... the river literally broke it's banks and more... and it's still raining. They say the peak was at 3pm... but apparently that was changed to 11pm...

Across the river is a place called the Nowra Sailing Club - you can see a photo of it on this link during these floods... the water actually got up to the middle of the sign on the side of the building... and for a while the river was brown... kinda yucky but I suppose it's what happens when you have so much rain coming through... it was shocking!

I'll go back in a little bit and take more pictures from the same spot to show you what it should look like... the dock that our host stands on was actually completely under water... crazy! More updates coming soon!

Today we visited Jervis Bay - if only for a few photos... the ocean was incredibly calm and quite blue... very beautiful. This beach is in a town called Vincentia - known as the heart of Jervis Bay as it is right in the centre of the bay... this tiny town... along with Huskisson are very big tourist towns and it really helps support the tiny populations.

The wonderful part of Jervis Bay, is not only is it home to the whitest sand beach in the world... but much of the other beaches are also pure white sand that is so fine it actually squeaks when you walk through it. The water is very warm in the Summer and has a lot of beautiful marine life... if you come at the right time you can frequently see dolphins while sitting on the beach as we have at least 60 dolphins that are resident dolphins in the bay. It's a very wonderful sight to see...