December 1, 2005 - Home again

It's a sad and glad day. We left beautiful Australia, but we are glad to be home. We watched movies all the way home (for 15 hours!) (I watched Charlie and the Chocolate Factory three times on the plane!). Now we feel like these Australian Sea Lions...

November 30, 2005 - Melbourne, Australia

I can’t believe this is our last day! We spent the night at Edward’s and then drove into Melbourne to do some last-minute shopping. Frank bought a stuffed platypus that he had wanted for the whole trip.


Then we drove through a lot of Melbourne traffic out to my Mom’s favorite park near Melbourne (Sherbrooke Forest Park). We stopped at a picnic ground to eat the last of our snacks and saw a ton of birds gathered around a picnic table. There was a lady and two kids there with some bird seed. They were surrounded by sulfur-crested cockatoos, galahs, king parrots, and crimson rosellas! We sat nearby and the birds started coming around us too.
One even sat on my Dad’s shoulder and stole his cracker from his hand. One time I had a bird on each hand and one on my head! It was so cool! Those parrots were nicer than Paquita, my parrot at home!


Then we went walking through the forest. Mom says these Mountain Ash are her favorites. Frank and I climbed up some big knots at the bottom of one.

Then we drove back into Melbourne and visited the college where Mom went to school (Monash University). We walked past her dorm and picked some Eucalyptus leaves to take home.

On our way back to Edward’s (in bad Melbourne traffic again) we stopped and got gelati again at Trampoline. It was soooo good. Edward cooked us some steaks and sausage outside on the grill. Australians really like to barbecue (it was good!). Frank and I played a little more wall-ball at the school and then we all started packing for our trip home. I can’t believe we’re going home tomorrow. I’m sad about leaving, but I can’t wait to see Arby…

November 29, 2005 - northeast Victoria to Melbourne, Australia

The place where we are camping is an old gold mining site. The man at the restaurant told us to watch out for mine shafts! We decided to pan for gold in the stream. We found gold, but it was too tiny to get it out of the sand.


After that we went to see the lady with the kangaroos (Glenda). She is a wildlife rehabilitator and lives way back in the forest. She had seven little joeys at the time, and we got to go on a walk with them! It was so much fun! She was training them to live like wild kangaroos, so we had to follow kangaroo trails and run on our tippy-toes. Whenever we would stop running we would turn around and see seven little cute joeys hopping after us! She also had kookaburras, magpies, possum, parrots, and a Galah (which we got to pet).



We also took a wombat named Wanda on a walk. It was so funny! Wanda would run through the tunnel that our legs made when we would sit down and would nuzzle on our backs. It was lots of fun. Frank wanted to take a wombat home for a pet.

We had milkshakes in Yackandandah for lunch. They were good. Then we went to Beechworth, an old gold-mining town. It was also the place where Ned Kelly was in jail. I bought a Drover Hat to wear in horse shows. Then we drove to Melbourne and had a late night dessert with Clive and Kate.

November 28, 2005 - the Snowy Mountains, Australia

This morning we went into the Snowy Mountains. Even though it was early summer it was snowing! We went on a boardwalk and saw snow gums. We were high up, but it was so cloudy that we could not see Mt. Kosciusko, the highest peak in Australia.

After that we stopped on the side of the road to hike up to a snow patch. It wasn’t that bad going up until I slipped and got muddy. I didn’t really play in the snow because I was very cold. While walking down the hill we all got soaked.


Once we got dry we drove through the mountains and through Dead Horse Pass where you can see brumbies (wild horses). Then we went to Cooryong (the home of the Man from Snowy River). We went to the Man from Snowy River museum. It was soooo cool. It had tons of old timey stuff, including a baby carriage carriage on skiis and the saddle from Jack Riley, the real man from Snowy River. They had several old buildings. One of the buildings was a school. It was very cool.


Then we drove to Yackandandah. We had supper at a take-away restaurant, and the nice owner told us about a good place to camp and an interesting lady with kangaroos that we should go see tomorrow. I can’t wait, but I hope it doesn’t rain again on our last night camping...

November 27, 2005 - Sydney to the Snowy Mountains

This is a Waratah, the state flower of New South Wales.

It was raining again this morning, so we rolled up our tents and went to Hillsong, the famous Australian church. They had a very good band. It was like going to a Christian rock concert. After church we went to a very good Chinese restaurant. Frank and I shared lemon chicken, but across the room they were fixing a huge banquet for a family birthday party. That looked really good!


Then we drove to Canberra, the Aussie capital. We went to the Australia National Museum where we got to create our own virtual house! Mine ws lime green with blue splotches. It was lots of fun! Then we went to the capital building. It had a pointy thing on top! It was very cool.

We stopped for the night in a town at the edge of the mountains. We stayed in a tiny cabin at a ski-lodge. When we got the there got in the hot-tub. It felt so good! Today we had lots of fun.

November 26, 2005 - Blue Mountains to Sydney

When we woke up today the rain was back...My Mom and I dashed from the tent to the car, since our tent was starting to drip. When my Dad and Frank woke up they ran from their tent to the car, and we drove down the road to a house where they served "Big Country Breakfasts." The eggs, bacon, and toast were great, and the hot tea and fire in the fireplace felt so good. The owners were nice, too (the lady told us stories about wombats), and didn't seem to mind that we were wet and maybe a little smelly...


Finally the rain stopped a little, and we rolled up our wet tents and drove to some lookout points. By the time we got there it was sunny and hot! My favorite one was the Tree Sisters (three rock pillars sticking out of the ground). They were very cool.

Then we drove to Sydney where we pitched our tent at a caravan park. At the park they had a pool and a spa! Frank and I would slike out of the spa and into the pool. I felt like a penguin sliding on my stomach into icy water!!

We then went to downtown Sydney. The traffic was horrible! Finally we got to Sydney Harbor and saw the Harbor Bridge and the Opera House. The were both SO cool!



We ate dinner at a McDonalds, sitting out by the harbor. The bridge was very cool at night. We had to hurry back to our car, however, because it started to rain again. It was quite a day!

November 25, 2005 - Dubbo to the Blue Mountains, NSW, Australia

This morning we rescued an Eastern Rosella! We found her sitting on the road and picked her up. I got to hold her most of the time while we tried to find a rescue shelter. She liked me but nobody else! Once she escaped from my hands, ran under Frank's legs (while he was screaming), went around Dad's seat, and then bit Dad when he picked her up! We decided to see if she could fly afterall. She couldn't so we had to keep looking for a shelter for her. Finally we found a ranch shop and asked them if they knew how to reach an animal rehabilitator. They did, so we gave "Rosie" to them.



We then drove for a while before we got to the Blue Mountains National Park. We went to see a very cool overlook. You could see clouds rising up over the mountains! My Dad said it was his favorite place of the whole trip. That's where we had our lunch.

After lunch we went on a four-hour hike. The hike was called the Grand Canyon and went all throughout the rainforested valley. We saw very neat flowers and plants. We did the 4-hour hike in 2 hours, 15 minutes!

We decided to camp right outside of the N.P. While Frank and I were looking for some dry wood (it had been raining in the area all week) our camping "neighbor" brought us over a ton of dry firewood! He gave me and Frank a Coke and gave us some unopened cans of soup that he had found! He even let us use his hatchet. He just kept dropping in to talk. We gave him some cherries and tea. He was a very friendly neighbor!

November 24, 2005 - the Outback, New South Wales, Australia

Today we did ALOT of driving again. There weren't many towns, but we did drive through a town that had a lot of Aborigine people in it.

We were going to go see some rock paintings, but it flooded too much and we almost got washed off the road! We are not going to tell the rental-car people about that.


Today is Thanksgiving, so we ate at a Red Rooster when we finally got to a bigger town called Dubbo. We had roasted chicken with stuffing, potatoes, green peas, and Australian tarts for dessert! It was very good. It looks like there will be a lot of rain tonight, so we are staying in a cabin in a caravan park.

November 23, 2005 - the Outback, Australia

Today we left the Flinders Ranges. On the way out we saw an Australian bustard, a tall grassland bird.


We drove into the Outback and stopped to look around for Thorny Devils, but we did not see any. The scenery was tallish shrub/trees with a red sand base. Dad liked jumping around and saying "Crikey," like he was the Crocodile Hunter.

After driving for another LONG time we got to a caravan park in Broken Hill, New South Wales. We were all very surprised that they had a heated pool! Now that is luxurious! Frank and I went swimming in it two times. Then I slept very good...

November 22, 2005 - Flinders Ranges, South Australia

Today we went on a LONG hike. We hiked all the way up a mountain! It was tiring but a lot of fun. From the top you could see down into a circular valley called Wilpena Pound. We saw a lot of lizards on the way up.








When we got back we went for a COLD swim in the pool. It was very refreshing.


We then packed up camp. Because we weren't going very far we did not pack up as well as we usually did, and, instead of rolling up the sleeping bags, Frank and I sat on top of them all! It was very cushiony. On the way we stopped to look at some lizards, including a Blue-tongued Skink and a Gould's Goanna.


At the new campsite there were a ton of flies, so we had to do everything with our fly masks on. Frank and I found some flint and tried to make arrowheads.


Later we went on a hike looking for Yellow-footed Rock Wallabies. As it was getting dark we saw a ton of them climbing down among the rocks. They were everywhere! It was very cool.

November 21, 2005 - from Adelaide to the Flinders Ranges

This morning we left Adelaide, but first we stopped at an opal and Aborigine art shop. We saw a model of an opal mine and learned how the Aborigine drawings were actually their method of writing.


Then we drove A LOT (from Adelaide to the Flinder’s Ranges).
Near our campsite we saw wild Red Kangaroos. They were so big and could jump really far! We also saw Euros (Wallaroos) and Western Grey Kangaroos.


Around the campsite we saw a lot of different types of birds, such as Corellas, Galahs, and Ring-necked Parrots. This is a galah.


We took a short hike, but it was getting late. It is very dry here, but there are big river red gums along the creeks. Frank and I are inside a hollow part of the red gum.

November 20, 2005 - Adelaide, South Australia

Today we went to Cleland Wildlife Park. We got to pet Red Kangaroos, Eastern and Western Grey Kangaroos, and Koalas. They were all so cute!



While walking around we saw a Potoroo. We had some animal food so my brother tried to give it some food. Instead of biting the food he bit my brother’s finger!


We also got to see them feed Dingoes and Tasmanian Devils. The Tasmanian Devil was getting very impatient for his food. His ears started turning red and he made a little barking sound.


Later we went to downtown Adelaide. We went for a walkabout in the botanical gardens. While Frank and I were climbing a tree a kookaburra flew in and laughed at us. It was very funny!

November 19, 2005 - Kangaroo Island, South Australia

This morning we had to say good-bye to Wally and Beaver. We will miss them


We then went to see Australian Sea Lions. They were very tired because they spend three days at sea and then three days resting on land. One big male came in from the water, took three steps, and then flopped on the ground.

Then we went on a hike again looking for Glossy Black Cockatoos. We still did not see any, but Frank picked up a lot of sheoak seeds that looked like baby echidnas. We then went on the ferry back to the mainland. After that we camped in Adelaide in a caravan park beside some really pretty purple trees.



Good-bye Kangaroo Island!
P.S. I am writing everything in a Ford Falcon car. It's funky. You have to roll up the windows and lock the doors by hand.

November 18, 2005 - Kangaroo Island, South Australia

This morning when we woke up we saw two kangaroos outside our tent. They were really tame because Kangaroo Island doesn’t have any predators on it. We named them Wally and Beaver. I even got to touch them—they were very soft.


Later that morning we took a drive to Admiral’s Arch.
When we got there we saw New Zealand Fur Seals. They played a lot—like they didn’t have a care in the world.


After that we picnicked at Remarkable Rocks. They were remarkable! Frank and I climbed all over them.


After that we drove a LONG way, hoping to see a rare type of black cockatoo, but all we saw was a Heath Goanna and a lighthouse at the end of a long road.


We were joined by a kangaroo we named “Joey” for dinner.


That evening we went on a walk to look for duck-billed platypi at some ponds. We did not see any, but we saw roos, Tammar wallabies, and a talkative koala. He made a noise like a howler monkey: “hoo-ooh-hoo…” It was a fun day!

November 17, 2005 - Coastal South Australia

We got up and left the mosquito and fly campsite in a hurry. On the way out we stopped and looked at a mallee-fowl nest. It was a big volcano-like dirt pile. We also saw a shingle-backed skink, a lizard with big scales whose tail looks like its head.



We drove to Cape Jervis, South Australia, to catch the ferry to Kangaroo Island. While we were waiting there we saw a bearded dragon, honey-eaters, and tons of galahs. On the ferry we got a good view of the ocean.


Once we got to Kangaroo Island we had a picnic and waited for the sun to set at the Little Penguin colony. As it started to get dark the baby penguins were all coming off their burrow, waiting impatiently on the parents to return. Finally we started seeing the parent penguins come in from the ocean. It was very funny when the penguins got to the beach because the baby penguins would run out to them to beg for food.


After that we still had to drive a long way across the island to our campsite. Before we got there we saw a short-beaked echidna. It was so cute and spikey! Once we got to our campsite it was dark. While setting up our tents a brush-tailed possum came up to us. It was a cool day!