Travelog for: UrselHH

We took a trip today to Wellington, which is on the Orange-side of Dubbo... around 45 minutes outside of Dubbo. Thankfully we weren't going that far... it was only 1pm and it had already been a long day... but we packed ourselves into the car and took off towards Wellington. Sadly the job in Wellington took a bit longer than expected so we didn't get any photos whilst in Wellington... fortunately there's not much to see in Wellington...

So Sara decided to take us to one of the lakes in this area... there aren't many natural lakes... this is the first one she's ever been to... it's called Lake Burrendong... sadly because it was getting so late we couldn't go down to the lake... it would have cost us $8.00 to get down there. Which normally isn't a lot, but when all you're doing is taking photos... it's quite a bit of money. So in the mean time we got a photo of us next to the lake...


Hopefully we'll get to stop there again sometime when the sun isn't setting behind us! Write again soon! :-)

Hi mom! I just got back from Lithgow it's a small town on the outskirts of the Blue Mountains... we had been on the road for a good two hours but we were finally here! This is close to Sydney as I'm going to get for now I think... since Sydney is literally just over these mountains...

First thing Sara did was took us to the Lithgow Miner's Lamp... which is pretty iconic, it's one of the first things you see as your coming into the city...


Honestly, Sara was very rushed so we couldn't see much in Lithgow, Sara had ten mystery shops to do between Bathurst and Lithgow, and be back in Orange by 3pm. It was already a feat in itself so we didn't want to push it... we saw a purple police car as we were driving through town... funny... usually they're not so brightly colored. Sara said there's one in Orange though that's a lime green color... I guess this color is quite nice...


Finally were at our first stop... Coles (a supermarket) and Liqourland (obviously a liquor store) we couldn't go in since were minors, we'll just wait in the car... Sara says she'll take us one other place before we head back in the direction of home...


Write again soon!

It had been a long day of sitting in the car for us toyvoyagers, so Sara decided to take us to the world famous Zig Zag Railway since we were on a close knit schedule we sadly couldn't take any trains but we got to see the famous train station (which is situated just outside of Lithgow)... here we are on the way to the train station... this is what it looks like through most of the Blue Mountains... lots and lots of trees!



Here I am in front of the train station...


...and here I am in front of an interesting sign, it's a station sign but it says 9 and 3/4... why? I don't know but it's kind of funny isn't it?


Lastly here I am in front of what looks like a lost little caboose... I wonder why it's here but it looks stuck... maybe for museum type memories of the railway's past... it's cool anyways...


Sara says that this railway is the steepest incline railway in the Southern hemisphere... sadly she's not had a chance to ride on it but she would like to in the near future... anyways just as we were about to go back to Bathurst we saw a whole bunch of railroad tracks... do you see me mom?


...here I am!


There were tons of them there... I wonder what they were doing with them? Oh well...

Here's a photo of a Lithgow hillside on the way back home...


Oh well, it's time to head back home it's getting late! Write again soon!

We all took another trip to Bathurst today and we were able to spot some kangaroos... sadly we couldn't see them very well... see how far away they are? You can just see one between the tree and the bush in the photo I'm in...


...and here is a close up of the kangaroo in the above photo... obviously he didn't want to face the camera for the photos... maybe he's a bit camera shy?


...what you're missing is Sara making noise to try to get him to turn around for the photos... finally she got him to look in our direction, sadly it didn't last long...


...on the way back to the car Sara spotted two others, behind a chain link fence, so not that great of photos... but here are two others. The one on the left side is very noticeable and Sara has seen many times... he's got odd eyes... but he's quite cute isn't he? The second photo is a close up of him...



Well that was that... write again soon!

We've been driving a lot lately going out of town... and what seems like going everywhere around New South Wales for job's and a bit extra money here and there... well today we took a road trip as far South as Yasswhich is just above of the Australian capital territory... Sara's only been to this area of New South Wales a couple times...

Sadly since we were on a very tight schedule we couldn't do any sight seeing today... here are some photos of us on the main street...



Finally we found what we wanted... the Westpac bank... time to go!


Write again soon... at our next stop!

Next stop was an even smaller town called Cootamundra... again we couldn't get any photos in the main bit of town, it was a very quick stop... even quicker than the stop at Yass but we had to get back on the road... here are some photos while in Cootamundra driving around...




Write again soon! :-)

Next stop we were given a bit more time to sight see... we got to see the big sign welcoming us to the town... we are now in Young! The cherry capital of Australia, hence the very large cherries you see in the photo...


...here's a better and more straight on photo of the sign...


...and here's some photos of us in the main street of the city:



...and lastly we got to pay our respects at the local war memorial... can you see us?


...how about now?


...well here's an even closer photo of us... it was very very very windy... so a few of us took flight and Sara had to catch us and put us back on there to get our photo taken...


If you want to read what the plaque says here you go...


...and here are all the names... amazing isn't it?



Lastly there was this really nice plaque on the ground, it was very pretty... it says Lest We Forget...


Well that was it... we also made a stop off at Cowra which was our last stop before heading back home... sadly no photos were taken but here's a photo of us on the highway heading South towards Canberra...


That was a big day! Write again soon! :-)

Well, yesterday was my last day seeing Australia! I'm on my way to Wisconsin! I wonder what adventures I'll get up to there! :-) Write again soon mom! Miss you!

Wow! I'm in Wisconsin.

My host says that I'm in a mouse heaven since Wisconsin is considered a dairy state, so it has lots of cheese! I can't wait to taste some of it!!



I even got to meet another traveler. Smooch has seen a lot and is filling me in on what I will see around here... while keeping me in suspense! We'll head out soon!

Ursel

As soon as she said we'd go out, the weather got icky so we've just been hanging around her place... until today!

She took me out and showed me a little bit of the area she's in.
First picture is of me going up one of the typical hills that are around here.

Then I got to read what the area is called and why...
“The Coulee Region”
Coulee is a term derived from the French verb “couler” meaning to flow. The area before you and the entire coulee region of west central Wisconsin has been dissected by water erosion into a series of narrow ridges separated by steep-sided valleys called coulees. Fertile soils are farmed on the bottom and sides of coulees. The narrow ridges, often protected by woodlands, are capped by erosion resistant dolomite bedrock which commonly overlies sandstone. During formation of the coulees, erosion cut through the dolomite and removed the underlying weaker sandstone thereby creating the valleys. To the north and south of this marker you can view several coulees and intervening ridges and note that State Highway 33 is situated on one of the dolomite-capped ridges. The Wisconsin novelist Hamlin Garland, was a native of this area and wrote about pioneer life in the coulee region.


It's very pretty here.
Off to see more!

Next destination I saw the American flag flying briskly.
Then I found out where I was! Grandad's Bluff is the most visited tourist spot since it overlooks all of  the city of La Crosse and more!

Since we were high up, we had to read the signs.

Looking from the south to the north. You can see the land in Iowa, and when we face the west, you can see Minnesota also!

In the second picture, you can see a pathway, but unfortunately, she told me that we can't go down because there was a lot of erosion that happened a couple years back so it was not safe.

We took pictures coming down from the bluff area. The roads are very tree lined and shady at times! (pictures 1 and 2)

Then we got on to the main road going down the bluff. It's called "Bliss Road" but it's very twisty and we had to drive careful! It's known to have deer and also fallen rocks (mainly after rain storms).

More to come...

UrselHH

Sit back and enjoy what all I saw in one day! I am a tired mouse now!



First stop of the morning (we got up early because more rain was coming) was to see the official welcome sign for the city. It shows men playing the sport lacrosse, which is how the city got its name. She says that she doesn't know of anybody that plays it here though. The flags are the American flag, the state flag, and then the city flag. It wasn't really windy so you can't really see them.

Baseball anyone? This is the big bat, which is a big log, and ball, which is really a rock, that is right outside the baseball field. This is for the city baseball team, called the La Crosse Loggers. (La Crosse used to be a big lumber mill city back when it first was started in 1850).

Then we drove by the Oktoberfest grounds.

We then spent a good amount of time touring this park. Riverside Park is her favorite in the city because it's beautiful and peaceful.
First stop was the International Friendship Gardens. We saw a sculpted bird that was part of a display last year (there are more of those around the city now).

In the International Friendship Gardens are many things that represent the cities that La Crosse is sisters with around the world.

Here is the Russian gazebo.

Then we found something that reminded me of home. 

Peek-a-boo! Can you see me? I'm in the tree!

Then I got to see goldfish in the pond. They were bigger than me! 

We then saw some pretty flowers. She said I should pose with them. Who am I to argue?

We then went and toured the park. First thing I saw was big. This is Hiawatha. The Native American that used to reside in this area long ago.

Quack Quack! We saw some river ducks sitting and sleeping on the grass. People often bring down bread crumbs and feed them.

Then I got to see the "blue bridges" that cross the Mississippi River. They go from the Wisconsin side to Minnesota. It's beautiful for a background don't you think?

Another advantage of being on the Mississippi River, there are boats. This one is a paddlewheeler boat. It's not moving now but it does go on trips.