Travelog for: Flummi

Hello today I walk in the deister it is a  big forest near hannover. It was so nice to see the big trees and the colorful leaf. I hope you all can help me to travel around so world and collect many nice pictures.

Today I playing on a sailing ship. I hope  soon I will see other countries and perhaps I will be able to see other boats soon.

I am so happy  tomorrow i will travel to australia. I am looking in a book to see where my first journey goes to.

...and I have finally arrived! I'm glad to have gotten out of that stuffy package - you would not believe - but we're having a heat wave here... it's humid and just plain hot! I wouldn't believe it, at home it's coming into Winter... and here, it's definitely coming into Summer!

I decided since it's so warm outside, and I haven't got accustomed to the temperature as yet, that we would just stay inside... but we got a photo out the front of Sara's house, that's the view from her sun room! I also got a picture of myself typing at the small computer, and sitting down with a nice mango smoothie... yes, it's one of those days... Aussies love their mangoes!

Since I'll be staying here for a while, Sara has promised lots of views of the Australian country lifestyle, maybe some wildlife, and definitely some beautiful beaches - she's got a lot planned for us toyvoyagers while we're here! We're even going places she's never been before - so it'll be quite the adventure!

I suppose I should rest, it's nice to finally be able to breathe properly, but I am so tired!

Write again soon! I promise!

Well, today we went on a long drive (which seems to be a very common thing with Sara and her family)... but this time we went to a town called Mudgee... it's a town about 2.5 hours drive away, and another town which is very famous for vineyards in Central New South Wales... it has a population of just over 8,000!

As it was a day for working - Sara only got photos of us all around the interesting areas that they were accessing. Unfortunately we didn't have much time to explore the town itself - but we did what we could... I got a few nice pictures... one is of us with a mossy tree and some galah's in the background if you look closely... they're related to the cockatiel and cockatoo... very beautiful (but noisy) birds!

The other photos include the Mudgee police station, two beautiful churches, a country pub and a town clock which says "Lest we forget" in the middle of it - Sara thought it was really neat looking! It was a cooler (yet humid) day today... this Summer is going to be a hot one I reckon!

Write again soon!

On the way to the next destination, we decided to pull over and get a photo of a nice landscape of the Great Dividing Range (although the more Western side of it)... it looked gorgeous today!... we also stopped nearby a kangaroo crossing sign... something unique to Australia obviously - it's very neat!

While we had a rest (it was about a 90 minute drive, on a *very* windy road) while Sara kept her eyes out for some kangaroos... unfortunately nothing was seen - although she did start seeing things out of the corner of her eyes while she was watching out... too bad... maybe next time!

Well, this is the big day for me... I've barely been staying with Sara for a week - and we are already completing one of my life missions... can you believe it? Sara has a special spot just outside of Bathurst on the highway, there's a large grassy area and there's a mob of kangaroos that live there - almost permanently... they are wild animals though... and it's been 18 months since she last came and checked on them... we were SO lucky!

We got to see some beautiful (and some very large) eastern grey kangaroos... we got a photo of one with us in the background... but then they decided to bounce off into the distance... and this is why Sara brought her good camera... mainly for the good zoom in times like these!

Although, there was one kangaroo that was quite close to us, but was very wary... there's one photo where you can see him standing on his tippy toes... this is a way to make them look bigger and scarier to people that may be harming them... obviously I'm not going to harm them - but they are very unsure as you would be in that situation... there's even a photo of him bouncing *towards* us... it was so cool to watch!

Well... that was a HUGE thing for everyone I think! What a great day this has been!

Update again soon, I'm ready for bed!

It is a very nice and sunny Saturday, and unfortunately we had to spend most of it in the car and working... :-( We went through Mudgee, Dubbo and Gilgandra... although no photos - we didn't have much time to get photos... on the way back home from Mudgee, it was a bit more relaxed... we actually had some time to do some exploring! Yay!

We saw a turn off to go see the Windamere Dam, which is a popular recreation spot for people living in the Mudgee region (since it's about 20-30 minutes out of town...

Here's some information about the Windamere Dam...

Quote:

WINDAMERE DAM Purpose: Regulation of the natural flow of the Cudgegong River to meet stock, domestic and irrigation requirements. The provision of an assured water supply for the towns of Mudgee and Gulgong. Provision for releases to ensure the reliablity of water supply in the lower Macquarie River Valley is maintained at pre-Windamere Dam levels. Technical Details: Storage Capacity            368,000 megalitres Area Submerged              2,030 hectares Max Water Depth            55 metres Catchment Area              1,070 sq kilometres Main Wall: Height                            67 metres Length of Crest              852 metres Width of Crest                8 metres Max Width of Base          225 metres Spillway: Type                      Concrete crest and unlined rock cutting Capacity                430,000 megalitres per day Outlet Works: Max Discharge Capacity          2,300 megalitres per day

Since it was so hot in the sun, we stood under the shade of a building and got some photos off of the lookout... recently we got some rain (pretty much from Tuesday until today) so the dam filled up a little bit - but as you can see - it is still very low compared to what it should be... we enjoyed the view though!

Sara then got a photo of us on a commemoration plaque, a zoomed out photo and a zoomed in photo... sometimes the brightness really made me look like I was not even there, but I assure you I am!

I hope you enjoyed the view! I know I did!

Write again soon!

Well hello again! The last set of updates I did - we were able to grant one of Flummi's life missions... and lucky for Glubschi, we are now able to grant one of his... can you believe it? They've barely been in Australia two weeks - and they've seen so much already! This is only just the beginning is what Sara keeps telling us - I wonder what else we're going to see!

On the way back to Bathurst, on the way home... thanks to Sara's sharp eye, we saw two emu's on the side of the road... we all quickly (and quietly) jumped out of the car to get some photos - emus can be quite scared and run away very easily - these guys though, seemed pretty laid back... you can't see it in the photo - but Sara even spotted a few baby emus in the tall grass!

So, we got a few photos and quickly jumped back in the car... you wouldn't imagine that there were about twenty million flies around us while we were getting photos. Just jumping back in the car, we apparently invited about 20 of them in... not good!

I'm so happy that we were able to do a second life mission! In no time they'll have all their life missions ticked off I reckon!

Write again soon!

...today we went on another adventure! We went to the Blue Mountains... a good way is to think of the blue mountains as the border between Sydney and country New South Wales... it's got a lot of famous hiking and a lot of beautiful lookouts... we were going to do a few short hikes to get some nice views - but unfortunately the heat, and mostly the pollen stopped us from taking the hike.. Sara promised that we would see those sights before I left.. they're some of the very famous sights that are "must-see" for tourists when they visit New South Wales...

On the way around, we found a nice lookout - and decided to stop and get a few pictures... the actual lookout I found didn't look as nice as a bit farther up the track, so Sara got some photos of us from both sides of it... this lookout is called the Landslide Lookout, I'm guessing it is because of the steep cliffs that surround it! It is a beautiful view though isn't it?

Lastly today, we visited a very large gorge called Evans Lookout, it's a massive gorge which kinda appears out of nowhere, if you didn't know it was here - you wouldn't have any idea it even existed! We walked down a short track, and then you look out, and it went ahead of you for kilometers, it seemed to go forever!

Sara held onto us tight because over the fence it was a straight drop down... it was so deep! There are some famous walking tracks around the gorge called the Grand Canyon walk... which Sara found quite amusing!

I hope you enjoyed the photos! It's just about bed time again!

Write again soon!

Yesterday we headed down to Sydney, but unfortunately for us toyvoyagers - there was no sightseeing to be done... we came down mainly for one reason... to see the Foo Fighters concert, thought to be the biggest concert of the Summer... it was just that! It was AMAZING! Not only did we see the Foo Fighters, we saw Tenacious D (also known as Jack Black and *two* supporting bands... Stonestreet and F*cked Up... it was a MASSIVE night, which started at 4pm, entering the stadium, and the main show started at 7.50pm... as you can imagine - Sara's feet were hurting a little bit - haha...

Unfortunately we weren't allowed in, not only did we have tickets, but because they were in the mosh pit, they were afraid of loosing us since it can get pretty intense in the middle. So instead, we got a bit of a run down when they came back out - and then spent an hour to get out of the car park since Sara, her husband Daniel and us were around 45,000+ people also ready to head home... and in very central Sydney...

So here's how it all went down... The Foo Fighters came out and they played a massive set list, a lot of old and a lot of new ones... so it was a really awesome concert all together... the set list consisted of:

All My Life, Rope, The Pretender, My Hero, Learn to Fly, White Limo, Arlandria, Breakout, Cold Day in the Sun, Long Road to Ruin, Stacked Actors, Walk, Let It Die, Monkey Wrench, These Days, This is a Call, In the Flesh? (Pink Floyd cover), Best of You

...and the encore consisted of:
Wheels (Acoustic), Times Like These (Semi Acoustic), Generator, Tie Your Mother Down (Queen cover) (with Tenacious D) and Everlong

It was a very long concert, and very awesome... Sara was up against the runway, against the gate, so no people pushing and shoving as much... and it rained a bit through the concert so she was able to stay cool - she tells us that mosh pits tend to get very very hot... especially in the Summer... so she was very happy with her location... she was lucky enough to have Dave Grohl run by a few times, and even stopped in front of her... she got a few photos - although very blurry since it was getting dark and clearly he was moving a lot... as you would expect... it was very neat to be so close to a big musician though!

One really neat thing though... during the song Monkey Wrench, he stopped in the middle and said he wanted to do something... all the lights in the stadium went dark and everything went quiet. We waited, and people started raising their phones and lighters to make the entire stadium light up... after about 5 minutes of this, while it was still dark he came on the microphone and stated "that is so f**king beautiful"... from where Sara was, she said it was probably one of the most beautiful things she had ever seen...

Very soon after, he began to play These Days, saying it was one of his favourite songs he had ever written... explained that he was approached to make a video for it - and him and the band threw around a lot of ideas... and then he decided to bring a bunch of cameras down to Australia with him... and said to us that he hoped we all signed the waiver form, just as a camera man was walking along the stage filming us... throughout the rest of the concert we had people filming us to go into the video... because of where Sara was situated... she may be in the music video! Here's hoping... none the less, that's an amazing thing to have as a memento that's for sure... Sara and Daniel believe the lights out with lighters/phones in the air is going to be part of the video... we shall see when it comes out I suppose! :-)

Well, since we obviously couldn't go to the concert, even though we wished we could have... Sara got a photo of us on the concert t-shirt she bought, with the tickets and the wrist band she had to wear to get into and stay in the mosh for the night... what an amazing experience... now I just hope that video will come out soon, I can't wait to see the professional footage!

Sara did get a video... between Best of You, during the encore, Dave Grohl came onto the video screen on night vision... it's not the best, and the sound definitely isn't much better (since it was filmed with her mobile phone)... but it shows part of the concert from where she was lucky enough to stand... she then kept the camera rolling as he ran onto the stage and ran right past her!

You can see that video if you click here!

The other photos include a photo before the concert started, Jack Black from Tenacious D, and miscellaneous photos from the Foo Fighter Concert... this is a really long post, but Sara was very very excited to tell everyone how it went...

Write again soon!

The next morning, very early (9am), well, early when you go to bed at after 2.30am.. we headed out to do some more work - we were all sore I think... after the concert, we spent literally an hour driving around central Sydney getting lost... and we even went over the harbor bridge and saw the opera house... unfortunately, Sara was just way too tired to bring us out for some photos, and it was over so quick... but trust us, we did! It was really neat!

But today, we had to drive down from a small town called Warnervale to a bit larger town called The Entrance... since Sara decided to let her husband do all the work, she took us to the waterfront and sat down for a few photos... it was very nice sunny (and quite hot) day, very very different to yesterday...

The Entrance is well known for it's pelican feeding, which you can see in this photo... funny enough, where that photo was taken is right where our photos were taken and where Sara was sitting... she hasn't ever been to the pelican feeding, but she thought this area would be the best for the photos...

Well, beautiful day or not, we enjoyed getting out and getting our first glimpse of some of Australian beaches... the water here is so shallow you can walk across it and it has a lot of birds on it... very popular spot for people to wade as Sara noticed... but once we got a few photos unfortunately we had to head back to the car to head onto the next destination... and that was it for our first trip to the coast... but Sara promises that we'll see a lot more very soon!

Oh, and in the last few photos... I could swear those seagulls wanted to eat us... :-(

We're going to some other beaches tomorrow! Now, lets just hope it doesn't rain the whole time! hehe

Well, after a very early morning and with Sara pretty much only sleeping in the car - we got to Huskisson, a very small town in the heart of Jervis Bay... and is Sara's second home... Her husband and her went to this beach quite by accident after one storm just before they were married... and stayed here for their honeymoon, and ever since has came on holiday down here for years now... and plans to eventually move to the South Coast... one day, it's just a matter of the money... :-P

This area is absolutely breath taking, and Jervis Bay even houses the whitest sand beach in the world! It's not surprising from the photos as you can see it is almost bleached out because of the sand in the photos... not that I'm complaining - it was gorgeous when we arrived! Sara got some photos of us at both the cabin they were staying in (she got a free upgrade to a sea view cabin) and then some photos on the beach itself...

...and then she put us down in the sand and she and her family went for a dip in the ocean... the temperature was beautiful, like a warm bath... unfortunately - it didn't stay like that... so we all headed inside and watched as it absolutely began to down pour! :-( We're glad we got here before it rained at least...

Didn't look like the rain was going to stop anytime soon! Boo! Fortunately, we had a bit of entertainment, Daniel put a bit of apple on the porch and we had a massive influx of lorikeets... some of the most colourful birds ever, quite noisy I must add... but they are quite beautiful aren't they?

Sara even got a video of the lorikeets on their front porch, you can see it if you click here... they were so much fun to watch... even as noisy as they were, the neighbors even came out to see what all the noise was... haha

We woke up the next morning with high hopes (although the weather report was telling us otherwise) that it would be nice and sunny... but no... it stopped raining for a brief moment so Sara brought us down to the beach to show us the difference between a nice sunny day on an Australian beach, and a cloudy yucky day... :-( Quite the difference right? Not only that, but the water felt like it was FREEZING!

Instead, Sara and Daniel decided that getting a bit of work done today would probably be the best option since it didn't look like it was clearing up anytime soon... so we all packed in the car and headed out to a new destination for the day... maybe the weather is better there? We can sure hope so!