Where's Wombat?

When we came back from Adelaide, I only had one day in Melbourne! I met one of San San's friends, Farrah, who drove us to the Healesville Sanctuary in Melbourne.

Tasmanian Devil!
Kangaroo saying hi!
Little old man, aka Koala!
After seeing the sanctuary and all the animals (AND getting a boomerang!) Farrah took us to a winery. Its just beautiful!

Thanks to Farrah for taking me out there! On to Sydney and Brisbane!

Jumpin' Jumpin'

Adelaide: Day 2 out of 3

On the second day Ju Ann and Roshim took us to Victor Harbor, where we started to take some of my trademark jumping pictures! They will follow, but first ...

Gleneeg, where we stayed! One thing about Australia is that the sky here is GIGANTIC. Its beautiful.

The first of MANY jumping pictures that we took at a rest stop on the way to Victor Harbor. I just love this picture because it looks like Roshim is about to eat Ju Ann! Hahaha
Bhangra? Hahaha this is a pretty cool picture with the sun and all!
Hehehe, I'm happy we're taking jumping pictures, and Roshim is playing air guitar!
My cousin and I at Granite Island about to cross the walk way!

On Granite Island, the waves would crash up on the rocks and create mist like this!
But no water wanted to splash me when I went to go take a picture
My cousin then proceeded to hold up an avalanche!
While Ju Ann got fed up with Roshim and pushed him off the cliff!
And I posed for a rockstar shot. Hahaha.
As usual, I needed to climb on everything around me and I found this awesome egg rock!

This day was an especially important day in my life ... my cousin found the panoramic setting on my camera! Hahaha. That bridge is the walkway we crossed to get to granite island. The land you see in the distance is the mainland.

Adelaide: Day 3 of 3

Wine tasting! Red wine still makes me BLEGH, but the white wine was pretty good!

Ju Ann, San San, and me at the Wine Tasting!

Thanks to Roshim and Ju Ann for letting me crash at their place even though I was just some random kid!!! ^_^ Bye to Adelaide and back to Melbourne for a day!

Old McDonald Had a Farm ...

Adelaide: Day 1 out of 3

So continuing on with my trip, after my first three days in Melbourne, Sook San (my cousin) took me on an excursion to Adelaide for three days!! We're on a river cruise here! It was a day tour that we booked at the last minute (we called them at 7:45am and they told us to get to the stop in 30 minutes).


We stayed with one of Sook San's friends - Ju Ann. Her and her husband Roshim are both Medical doctors and they recently got married! Thanks to them for letting some random kid stay with them! ^_^


The first day, we went on this river cruise. I saw TONS of animals that day. Like this Pelican here. The Pelicans are really beautiful with their PINK beaks. Great contrast.

How cute are these two birds?


The tour we were on also took us to go see the largest rocking horse in the word ... HAHAHA.

Long way from home ... =(

KANGAROOS!

Pretty peacock! Look at those colors!

Some COCKS. hahaha. jk. Pretty colors though.

Peacocks are mad cool, huh?

Fountains in the city! Nice, huh?
Now THIS is the interesting part. Thirsty Camel is a DRIVE THRU alcohol store! You can drive thru to pick up alcohol!

Do you see the places you can drive through? WHOA right? just WHOA.
But here is the shady part. EXPIRED ALCOHOL!!! The milk CURDLED!

Hahaha, adventures in Adelaide! But Adelaide is a veryy pretty town! More to come from Adelaide!

2 Beds and a Coffee Machine

. In Australia, no where sells COFFEE. just plain darn coffee. Its always latte, cappuccino, etc. WHERE IS THE COFFEE? AND how hard is it to make my green tea iced tea with one pump chai? Seriously. Even Starbucks isn't the same.
. Everything closes at 6pm (the shops that is). SAY WHAT?!?!
. There are school kids everywhere. And they all where uniforms (that are rather cute, actually).
. Everyone here shops for groceries with totes! Save the planet. ^_^
. SO MANY HATCHBACK CARS! And no SUVs! I guess its also ... save the planet!

So, I decided to update based on the locations I visited. So for the first few days I was in Melbourne. 3 days to be exact!

A few pointers - its actually really easy for me to get into the CBD (Central Business District - they say that instead of Downtown here). I'll explain as I go along.

So ... Flinders Street Station ... looks a little Londonish right? This is basically the central tram station.

Counter corner is the beautiful St. Paul's Cathedral!
So the first day, before I got a tram pass, I took the lovely free tourist shuttle which would drive me around the city (granted, it would take an hour to do the loop - but its FREE).
The Shrine of Remembrance. When walking into the city, I pass this monument which is dedicated to the soldiers who were sent to fight in WWI.
Lest We Forge.t ..

A view from on the balcony of the shrine.
Now, on my way into the CBD, I pass the Royal Botanical Gardens, which my cousin lives right next to. Its a BEAUTIFUL garden, and my favorite place is the Temple of the Winds/Greys Garden.
I've also been exploring the random shopping areas ... AND LOOK WHAT I FOUND! ^_^ Of course I went in.

JAY! LOOK! YUM.

St. Kilda Beach!
Even though its winter, the water wasn't FREEZING. (No I did not go in)

Proof that I'm in the southern hemisphere.
LOOK LOOK I'm touching SOUTHERN HEMISPHERE WATER! ^_^

and ...
holy sheet that was a lot for three days right? yuppp... there's more! ^_^

Allo Mate!

Currently: Brisbane

Hi ALL!!! Australia is AWESOME. I've been everywhere, but due to the fact that I currently am at an internet cafe, only have 10 minutes left ... and am not on my computer. Cannot post pictures.

However, I will tell a story about the kindness of strangers.

So, I've been traveling by myself for the past few days, and because I take overnight trains, I don't have a shower. Yesterday, I hadn't showered in ... it must have been the 3rd day without a shower. I needed one BADLY. Finally, I go to an aquatic center and I ask to pay to enter the pool (3 bucks) after saying I needed to shower BADLY. The young lady took pity on me and said "I won't charge you, just run through! Go! Go!"

It really wouldn't have hurt me to pay the three bucks, but when I was in SO much stress from not showering, it really made me happy. Its the simple things in life.

Wish me luck staying in a hostel tomorrow!

Will update more when I finally get some down time.

Seally ... POO

Day 9 . May 30, 2008

I'M IN AUSTRALIA! It is mad cold, I ended up in Sydney airport for 5 hours, but in the end, I'M STILL HERE! ^_^

Okay, back to the United States for a bit.

SAN FRANCISCO! We saw a whole bunch of stuff - Golden Gate, Chinatown, Azkaban ... hahaha jk - Alcatraz. But we've been to San Fran about a million gazillion times, so we just wandered mainly and didn't spend that much time at the tourist attractions!

First thing ... my name/blog/imsakes or whatever ... except these are FAT. They were cute though, piled up on top of each other!


The prize fatty.


Now these things were ADORABLE. They're these little carts/cars that seat two people and drive around San Fran giving the people in the car a tour! They're wearing helmets, and later in the day we saw two people pushing it around. Not only fuel efficient, but cute and funny! I felt bad trying to snap a picture from the front, so I ended up only getting this one from the back.


AND FINALLY. The best thing about San Francisco? My sister and I were walking along the Piers and I made her go into this Musee Mechanique. Basically, it was just all these old mechanical toys and pianos. BUT lo and behold, we find the spot where they filmed Princess Diaries (the scene where Julie Andrews wrestles this machine). Let me tell you, the machine is STILL just as ugly as in the movie! Afterwards, I forced my sister to go into the photobooth (which she claimed was VERY dirty). But I love photobooths so much!


(yes that is my leg)

YAHAHAHA ... will talk soon about how I'm surviving in Australia! <3