Travelog for: Tiah Tigris

Hello everyone!

My name is Tiah Tigris. My mentor Charda told me about ToyVoyagers and I am very excited to be a part of it! I would love to see all sorts of places all around the world and meet cats and people and tvs everywhere! I love making new friends and playing games.
And I know tigers don't live in the bayou, but I read about it in a book and I would love to see it for real
Please invite me if you think we could be friends

Love,

Tiah

Hey Mum!



Today I arrived at Sigrid's place. She and her family said I'm sooo cute =D And they also liked the card I had with me. It's quite nice here, although the weather is quite wet... Well, at the moment it isn't raining.
Here you can see me and the view from Sigrid's kitchen window:



I also saw the garden, roses are so great...

[MISSION COMPLETED]

But the best thing is...

I MET A CAT!! A REAL CAT!!
Her Name is Susi, it's the cat of Sigrid's grandparents and the charming old lady is 14 years old.



And her fur is almost the same color as mine... I think she likes me.

Dear Mum,
Yesterday evening I had to help Sigrid with maths because she had a test today...



But when she finally gave it up, I had time to look at her bookshelf. So many different genres... Everything from crime to fantasy, and some children's books =D



Today Sigrid took me with her to school. Because of the maths test I saw quite many people studying... Must be strange.



The schoolbag isn't really comfortable, but as parts of a baroque monastary are used as a school, there was quite a lot to see. Sigrid told me that she doesn't like baroque churches (she prefers gothic) and that the school isn't related to church in any way. Look:





On Friday we'll go to the next city with some friends... Just relaxing and (for me =D) a bit sightseeing.

Dear mum,
Yesterday we went to Graz, the capital of Styria, with some friends. Unforunately Sigrid couldn't take so many photos, we didn't have enough time... Here you can see me and some famouse sights:


The town hall


The "Schlossberg" with the famous "Uhrturm" (clocktower)


The "Kunsthaus" (house of art?)


The painted house

I'm home again! After a trip to Austria where I completed a life mission and met a real cat, I am back home for a couple of days. It's so great to be home and meet everyone here. But I'm really looking forward to my next trip!

This is us reading the Donald Duck. I had to translate for the others, since I'm the only TV who understands Dutch.

Jason passed by and asked if we wanted to play with the ball with him. Of course we wanted to!

There was a rainbow outside this evening! My mentor spotted it from inside, grabbed her camera and told us to come along. You can see it here all the way from the left side...



...through the middle...



...and this is the right side...



And here I am posing in front of it as proof that I've seen it too Isn't it cool!

Look, this is what we ate today. No, it's not very healthy indeed, but it sure tasted great. It's croquettes made of potatoes, kipnuggets, a cheese soufflé and apple/strawberry sauce. And yes, the soda is indeed green

We thought this was a very funny picture. The text says: 'The polar bears are back'. I don't think this ostrich is very happy with the situation.

And look at these small geese. They're still so small and fuzzy

Today was also the day for me to resume my journeys. I'm now on my way to Australia!

Well today was my first day in Australia. Oh well, half a day anyways. Since Tuesday's Sara and her family don't do much I just helped Sara do the laundry... and there sure was a lot of it, especially since she did it last only 5-6 days ago... pretty crazy...


We had to wait a while to have enough washing to put on the line other than that we'd be going back and forth outside quite a bit and it would be quite exhausting so we waited patiently and then we were able to help Sara put some of the clothes on the line... not much since well, we're so small... but we helped what we could... :-)


...and then we came back inside to find another pile of clothes for Sara told fold. You see Sara doesn't really like doing the laundry all that much... sometimes it gets a bit over the top when you have to put everything on the line and then take it all back off the line and fold it... pretty crazy... can you see Chiro? He's small but he's there... :-)


...and then finally we got to meet up with the other toyvoyagers that are staying with Sara at the moment. There's quite a few but some of them will be moving on pretty soon onto other hosts...

From left to right it's Bellatrix, Bally, Jonas, Luv Leon, Chiro, Manner, Fred Lion, Lollipop and of course myself.

Oh, and I also got to meet an Australian resident today as well, although he doesn't speak english he was very pretty...

...he's called an Eastern Rosella, they're not as common as Galah's and Cockatoos in the area... but you still do see them from time to time... I couldn't get too close as I didn't want to scare it away... isn't it pretty though?

I'm glad to be back on the road again, I was wondering what was going on for those few months... I'm glad to be back and updating though! Write again soon I promise! :-) Miss you mum!

Today we went to Blayney (population 3,000), it's around a 30 minute drive between Bathurst and Orange, if you think of a triangle it's the bottom right hand corner, Orange is the bottom left, and Bathurst is the top point... nothing really in the middle of it but small little towns like Millthorpe (population 600). It's a very small town, although it has 3,000 people it still is quite small... it seems a lot smaller than that...

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!

This weekend was a big weekend for Australia... it was the Bathurst 1000 races on Mount Panorama it's one of the big tourist things that Sara takes the toyvoyagers too... I haven't been there yet, but Sara plans a trip to Bathurst within a week or two so I'll get to see it up close and personal... Bellatrix and Jonas have already been on the track but won't be going with us this time... it's quite exciting... it's a huge thing for the Central West as people come from all over Australia and sometimes the world for this indurance race held every October... here's all of us sitting down and watching the races...


...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...

It was a very sunny and warm day. Sara made an impulse decision to take us down the street to Banjo Patterson's birthplace... which isn't too far of a drive from where she lives. Banjo Patterson is famous for his poem/song Waltzing Matilda which is famous all around Australia... here I am with the statue in memory of him...


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!

Today was the big day... a couple days early, but we were on our way to Bathurst to get a few things done... if you remember Bathurst just recently had the big "Bathurst 1000 Races" on Mount Panorama... well it's time to have a little visit to the track itself... but first here are some photos on the road to Bathurst...


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! :-)

Well the moment we got into Bathurst we just went straight to Mount Panorama... how exciting was this going to be? There was still road works on the track fixing up the track from the races a week or so ago... and there was still damage to the track where there was some crashes. It was interesting to see... Sara says she's never been on the track after a race so she got to see some of the damage that she saw happen on the tv... kind of cool anyways...

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 having 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!