Travelog for: Trekker

Hello! My name is trekker and I am a handsome red bull. I was born on the beanie baby farm, but now I live with an elementary school teacher in Portland, Oregon. I was in kindergarten last year, but now I am a big first grader and I'm ready to be off and see the world! I would love to go to as many different countries as possible this year and bring back a postcard from each place to share with my first grade friends. I will bring a postcard with me to give to my hosts (and maybe even a little treat, if I don't eat it during my long voyage to your country!). I am excited to start my adventures...will they begin with you?

Wow... I am so excited... I have received my first invitation and I am off to Australia!

I am off! My family took me to the post office today and bid me a fond farewell. I was tucked into a lovely padded Snoopy mailer, along with a post card of my home city and some sweets for my host, Emma. It's a bit dark in here, but I will sleep peacefully for a few days and open my eyes in the Australian sunshine!
      Love,
    Trekker

I have arrived! It was actually a bit cold and rainy here in Australia today too. I must have bought the weather with me. It is winter over here at the moment, but my new host family tell me that the sun should be back again in a few days.

I got to meet Little Miss 2yr old first. She LOVED the lollies and quickly gobbled them all up. I didn't get any! Her mum quickly hid the chocolate bar because little miss is allergic to peanuts... (the mum and dad gobbled that up after little miss and her brother had gone to bed later that night. At least they let me have the crumbs!).

I also got to meet Master 6month old. He wasn't really interested in me though, preferring to chew on the postcard I bought with me. He actually managed to chew off a corner before his mum realised. I think I'll be keeping a close eye on him. He might try to chew off one of my lovely horns!

Then I got to meet the puppy dog Oliver. He was crazy excited to see me. He got a little too excited after a few minutes though and also tried to chew on me, so we went inside to say hello to George the fish. He was pretty cool. His teeth are safely hidden behind the glass!

Lastly I got to meet my new host mum's teddy collection. She told me this is my room while I stay in Australia. I've got lots of nice friends to talk to in here. She says we'll go out and see some of the countryside as soon as the weather clear up a bit. Right now I just need to lay my head down next to this nice, soft looking teddy bear and have a nap. That was such a long way to travel!

It has been a pretty quiet month for me, just sitting there on the shelf with all the teddies. I mean... sure, I had heaps of friends to chat with. But there are only so many times I can hear the same story about the bow-tie that just didn't quite match with fluffy-ted's fur before I go a little crazy...

It hasn't been such a quiet month for my host family though. Little Miss 2 yr-old had only just gotten the cast off her arm a few days after I arrived - when two weeks ago she went and broke it again! It was the same accident too, falling off the trampoline. This time that naughty puppy dog was involved (I knew I didn't trust him!). So my poor host family have been in and out of hospital getting Miss 2's arm wired back into position and a new (purple) cast put in place. This all happened the day before we had planned to visit Australia Zoo as well. So now I miss out on meeting all the lovely Kangaroo's and Koalas. (I'm really quite mad at that puppy!)

Little Miss seems to be doing really well now though - so much so that she rescued me from the room with the teddies today and took me with them to the park.

This park is about a 5min drive from my host family's house on the east coast of Australia. It was a beautiful Spring day today, and lots of people were out and about.

We went for a walk along the jetty.

We inspected a colourful artwork at the end of the Jetty. And relaxed, taking in the view of Moreton Bay.

Then we went to the park so Little Miss  could play, while Master 7month old decided to see how I would taste. I will let you know now that I was most unhappy about being munched on. So I decided it would be safest to sit on his head. I was safely out of reach of those teeth, AND I got to soak in the views in safety!

Dear Trekker,
  Hi! We are so happy you arrived in Australia safely! We miss you but we know you are having so much fun with your host family. We have been studying about Australia while you've been gone. Did you know that Koala Bears aren't really bears? We also learned a new song to sing for you about a kookaburra so you won't miss Australia so much when you come back! We have love seeing all the pictures your host mom and dad send. We hope your little friend's arm is all better. Watch out for the baby!
Best wishes and love from your friends,
The Kindergarten class

So things have been pretty quiet here again. No more broken bones or hospital trips for a while, which has been nice.

I did get to go out and visit the host family's guinea pigs though. They had just had some new babies! (the babies were smaller than me, but a little shy).

Then, because I enjoyed meeting the guinea pigs so much, my host family took me with them to their Nonna's house because they sometimes have Koalas! Now that was exciting.

Sure enough, there was a big fat Koala having a sleep in a tree only a few metres from the balcony. I really wanted to go over and say hello, but it was too high for me. We were watching the sleepy Koala when suddenly we realised it was a mummy Koala with a baby. The baby popped his head out to say hello to us, then the mummy Koala decided that we were too distracting, so she climbed even higher with her baby.

It was lovely to get to see a Koala in the wild, and even more amazing to see a baby one too!