Charity Bear, Busselton, Australia

kristl Posted Jan 19, 2008, 11:07 am	Hello, today is my first day as a ToyVoyager. I'm really happy causenow I can do what I wanted for a long time - travel aroundtheworld, help children and make them happy. This is what I was made for! Tomorrow I'll start my journey to sararingham, to her father's house actually. I have a 2008-year organizer with me and would like to travel he whole 2008 year and get notes in my organizer whereand when I was. I think it's very interesting to read such notes after journey. Here I am: And here you can see me with my organizer: Though I'm new here as ToyVoyager I already have some TV-friends, look: I've already met Bertold and Luffy: And Archibald too: And here I'm with BearyLuv who collects photoswith TV-tagged bears: And here I'm with other TVs that are here now!
kristl Posted Jan 21, 2008, 3:21 pm	Today we all said Good Bye to Charity Bear who has finally started his journey to the USA. Here's his last photo from Moscow - he's at the post office with Bumba, who was leaving us too - to visit Drakie in Honiton. Have a nice journey, dear Charity Bear, we'll miss you!
sararingham sara.ringham@gmail.com Posted Feb 4, 2008, 5:51 am	Hey Mom! Just so you know I have arrived, and photos have been taken although I haven't really gone out. My host just arrived yesterday and has been very tired from jet lag, but she plans on taking us out soon just for a walk around town or something! I got to meet Leo Lion, Cronus and Benni. They're very nice! They've been with my host for a few weeks and got to see Australia a little bit already, so they we're telling me how hot it was there and everything! I can't wait to see it for myself in a few weeks when I'll travel back with my host! I'll post again tomorrow with photos! I hope you're doing well!
sararingham sara.ringham@gmail.com Posted Feb 4, 2008, 6:55 pm	Hey! I thought I'd do a bit of an update from what we did yesterday! We didn't do much as it was rainy and cold outside so Sara didn't want to get our fur all messed up, but we saw a little bit and had a bit of indoor fun! First here is a group photo of all of us, Kooka (on the far left is a kookaburra from Australia - he's not a toyvoyager but he's really fun!), then there's Cronus and Benni, then of course me... then Leo Lion who is one of Sara's TV's thats going to see the world a bit with other hosts when we get back to Australia. :-) Then we got to meet the kitties! They're very nice cats, and suprisingly although they look like brother and sister they're not they we're born a day apart! The one standing back is called Jethro, and the curious one giving us a sniff was Ellie. They're both really nice! Then we went outside to see if we could see any mountains, all the mountains are extremely cold and snowy right now and are having a lot of avalanches lately, so we won't be going up there unless it gets more safe, hopefully it will... :-) But this also shows you how rainy and cold it looked yesterday! Then we went inside and made a pavlova! It was so yummy! Then it was time for everyone to have a rest and just watch what everyone else was doing today! It may not seem like it, but it was a very big day for all of us! I hope your doing well! Talk to you later!
sararingham sara.ringham@gmail.com Posted Feb 9, 2008, 9:56 pm	Hey Mom! Sorry it's been so long since I've updated. I haven't done too much, Sara's been feeling under the weather some days and sometimes she just forgets to bring the camera. But me, and the other TV's have been attached to her hip more or less. :-) On Thursday we went to her sisters house, she's got 4 kids, Garrett, Jonathan, Alissa and Conner. Alissa LOVED to play with me, so I got a picture of all of us together, but she was careful! She loved my fur so much! But then she was off to school for the day, this is a group photo of all of us together... I also got introduced to a few dogs, two of them we're a bit rowdy so one of the cats got really scared... this cats name is 'Tank'. What a funny name! Sara said he's only 9 months old, so he's still pretty young! See how scared he got? Also I got to meet a little 9 week old "hot dog" dog, isn't he cute? He was pretty calm and loved to cuddle up with everyone, although Sara was really careful because he is still playful! It's been raining a lot the last few days, so we haven't really gone out but hopefully tomorrow we'll go out more with the camera. It's been very busy busy around here, not much sight seeing yet, but I'm having a lot of fun! Today we went to a hobby show expo thing at the show grounds and they had a lot of planes flying around, Sara wishes she brought the camera to show you but it was REALLY fun! Oh and last night, we got to eat some Salmon! It was really cheap since it is actually caught in Seattle and in Washington and lower Canada... it was really really yummy! I also got to make a lot of people VERY happy! I was so excited to do that - all four kids LOVED me so much! It was a wonderful feeling! I'll update again very soon mom! Take care!
sararingham sara.ringham@gmail.com Posted Feb 11, 2008, 5:22 am	Hey! Straight after I updated yesterday Sara took me, Cronus, Benni and Leo Lion for a little walk. We went down the street and visited Lake Tye since it was actually cloudy but not raining so we took some advantage of it... first stop off we made was to have a bit of fun at the park... but sadly it was all closed off, this shows you how much rain we've been having lately... isn't it shocking? ... but thankfully I was able to swing on the swings a little bit, too bad they're so big for me, but I did my best... you know, it's not the size that counts. :-) ... and then we finally got to Lake Tye... there actually were a few people there, but we did our best we still had a lot of fun but there sure was a big chilly wind that seemed to go straight through you... ... this is obviously straight facing the lake, now I turn around... and this is what I see... ... although it's cloudy isn't it just SO pretty? Who would know I would get much closer to them today!... I'll update that a little bit later though!... These were some of the ducks at the lake, they were all really close to each other while they were swimming no matter what... maybe they were family, Sara told me it looks like there are three males, but maybe one female? So probably a family of ducks! How cute! We went on a hike to Wallace Falls today although sadly didn't quite make it up, but I'll post those pictures very soon!
sararingham sara.ringham@gmail.com Posted Feb 11, 2008, 7:15 am	Hey again! So today we took a hike up to Wallace Falls, in Gold Bar, Washington which is just a neighboring town to Monroe, Washington... maybe a 15 minute drive up to the Wallace Falls State Park. It was very pretty and pretty cold initially but it quickly warmed up once we started walking... This is a view from the very beginning of the trail, isn't it beautiful? It's so cloudy and gross looking but it's still gorgeous, it's got a lot of snow and had a very cold wind coming down from the mountains... but it wasn't too bad after a bit of uphill walking. :-) Here's the river that comes off of the many falls that are around where we were walking. We walked the wrong direction for a while, but we finally found our way... it was pretty crazy! Here I am next to the water, isn't it nice looking? Oh but it also looks SO cold! ... and here I am next to another set of falls, much smaller but it sure was nice to look at all the surroundings! Now this is the direction we went the wrong way for a while - this hill got extremely steep and very hard to climb. Only at the top was when everyone realised we were going the wrong direction... Oops. :-) Here are the rest of the photos from the trip up and back down. We didn't fully make it, because of a past injury Sara had we had to turn back early, didn't help she sprained her ankle and bruised the bottom of her feet pretty good... but saying that, we have plans to do it again - and make it to the top this time. It's a 2.7 mile walk up to the top of the falls. We'll be doing it again hopefully before we go back to Australia! :-) So you'll see this all again hopefully soon!... On the way home we stopped and got some dinner at a BBQ Bus in a Reptile Zoo car park. It was really yummy, and pretty unique! :-) There was another bus that was right next to it that had tables to actually eat your food in... very cool! I really enjoyed it and the food was awesome! ... Almost home again, we stopped at a river right near where we live for the time being in Monroe, it was very cold and getting dark... the water looks like it was freezing, and again, a cold breeze, but even colder than earlier!... The last photo is of a railroad track that used to be there a few years ago but they tore it down because people were getting injured on it... cool photos though, we didn't stay long because it was freezing we finally went back home and rested our feet! No plans as of yet for more, but a bit of rest this week and back off to Kirkland. Expect another post soon! I hope you're doing well! Talk soon!
sararingham sara.ringham@gmail.com Posted Feb 14, 2008, 6:54 pm	Hey! Went went again to Kirkland yesterday, although sadly didn't get many photos. We just bought up for Valentines Day, Sara says while she isn't with Daniel she's making light of the situation and got a few presents for him for when she goes back to Australia. How cute! :-) So all of us ran errands with her around town, here's a picture of me next to the little area where all the shops are in an area of Kirkland called Kingsgate. Sara says she knows this area very well, because if you look behind all the stores and you could see through the trees she lived in apartments behind there for a few years before moving to Australia. She told a bit about living in this area, and how it's extremely expensive to live there! Thankfully I don't have to pay bills or rent, that doesn't sound like fun at all! We went and had teriyaki for lunch and it was REALLY yummy! No photos as Sara probably would have gotten some dirty looks taking photos when she was the only one in there with us... but later on we got back home to Monroe and got to see a very pretty sunset! ...the clouds are pink, Sara always says... "Pink sky at night, sailors delight... pink sky in the morning sailors warning" meaning if there's a pink sky at night - it'll be a nice day tomorrow, and in the morning means storms... so I guess it'll be a nice day tomorrow! It's Valentines Day tomorrow, I wonder what that will bring to us? :-) We shall see!
sararingham sara.ringham@gmail.com Posted Feb 15, 2008, 5:55 am	Hey! It was a pretty busy day today, didn't get too many photos, but none the less it was still fun, more fun ahead for tomorrow I've been told... :-) But we'll go into that a bit later. :-) You know I told you that we bought a heap of stuff for Daniel? Well here's what's on the list to come back home to Australia with us, not much as of yet, but I'm sure the pile will just keep growing... There's a lot more kool-aid than what's shown but we all helped pick out what we thought Daniel would like for his very delayed Valentines Day he's going to have... yummy candies! :-) ... and here's me with the candies we all got today, each of us got a little lollypop to suck on, even though it's almost as big as me, I guess that means it'll last longer. :-) Well tomorrow we're off to Redmond (Famous for being the home of Microsoft) and Bellevue maybe... :-) Maybe we can see a bit more.. then probably Saturday will be something exciting! Lots more pictures to come! :-)
sararingham sara.ringham@gmail.com Posted Feb 20, 2008, 6:15 pm	Hey! Sorry I haven't updated in a long time, this is the first chance I've gotten to sit down... we've seen A LOT in the last few days and I've been so worn out - when we all get home we all love to just relax on the bed until bedtime because it's just so tiring all the sight seeing we've been doing. Sara says it'll probably take a few days to get all the photos up from the last few days but she'll do her best... what's to come? Well, you'll just have to wait and see... Saturday, because it wasn't so sunny out we decided this would be a great day to visit Snoqualmie Falls... very famous falls in Snoqualmie, Washington here's me at the top of the falls... Next to the top of the falls is a hotel called the Salish Lodge, it looks very expensive to visit there - Sara says she's never been in there before... Straight across from where we were standing at the top of the falls on the observation deck that hangs over the edge kind of - this is the view straight across from us... it kind of puts it into perspective on how high we really are!... See that we're over the top of some of the trees?! ...and this is the view kind of straight down facing the Snoqualmie River... Sara doesn't like heights but I think she said we we're over 300' up over the edge of the falls... Then we took a trek down to the bottom of the falls it's half a mile down and half a mile back up... it was really busy at the lower observation deck so Sara didn't have a chance to get us all with photos sadly but we stayed safe where there was no chance of us getting knocked out of Sara's hands... As you can see there are tons of people on the rocks. It was a bit too slippery for our liking so we just took a few photos and headed back to the car, a bigger day was in store for us tomorrow... I'll update a bit later with those photos...
sararingham sara.ringham@gmail.com Posted Feb 20, 2008, 7:17 pm	So Sunday was the big day, we went through the Cascade Mountains and all that snow and got to see the Bavarian town called Leavenworth... First stop, Lake Wenatchee for a family picture... that was a bit broken up and sadly no real good photos turned out (Sara said anyways) but she sure had a good slip in the snow and was bleeding a lot so we didn't stay too long, here's a photo of me at Lake Wenatchee.. isn't it pretty? As you can see in this photo, 95% of the lake was actually frozen over. Sara's brother Todd was out sitting on the lake for a while before the family photos had started. Me and the other toyvoyagers just sat in the snow and waited patiently (as patiently as you could) for our photo shoot to have happen. Then we were put back in the backpack where it was SO much warmer... I think Sara told it it was 23'F outside where we were sitting... brrr! Next stop was just a little mountain on the side of the road, I think it looks pretty cool. Sara didn't stay out with us very long though since we were only half way to Leavenworth - still a ways to drive, and a lot more snow to get through before we get there! ...and finally we are in Leavenworth... most of the time we were here we just visited shops and looked at all the interesting things they had, there was so much to look at - we spent a few hours walking through the main parts of the town... here are some of the photos Sara took... By the time it we were done it was almost time to head home. We had a late lunch at a restaurant called King Lear's. Sara had a German sausage and her dad had a Bavarian Bratwurst... they were really yummy they said... the other two had just a hamburger and soup, so nothing really fancy for being in a little American German town... hehe. :-) On the way home we stopped at a little shop before we got fully into the Cascades called The Alps, and this is a view from the shops... there was SO much snow, no wonder they've been having avalanches... there were a lot of road signs fully covered by snow... that's a LOT! Well more updating later... we still one big day to go after updating Friday (when Sara gets the photos off of her dad hopefully tonight)....
sararingham sara.ringham@gmail.com Posted Feb 20, 2008, 11:15 pm	Hey... Monday was another HUGE day for all of us... we woke up at 6am and were on the road to Anacortes by 630am. No stops along the way we had to make a ferry by 830am. When we got there one ferry had just left to another route so we just missed a picture opportunity, little did we know how many picture opportunities we were heading towards... This is me standing way back from a ferry dock. We docked at a dock right next to this one... but this is the one the ferry took off from when we arrived there... there wasn't too long of a wait and our ferry arrived... That's the view we had from the car waiting to drive onto the ferry, they're HUGE! Sara says there Washington States biggest attraction! It was very exciting to be on something so huge, and so nice! The moment the ferry took off from Anacortes Sara took all of us outside to the front of the ferry, it was REALLY windy, so windy when Sara took the lens cap off of her camera it blew out of her hand and onto her bag... thankfully it didn't blow into the cold ocean, that'd be no good! So we didn't get a lot of outside photos for fear of loosing us... here I am... ...and here I am in front of the front of the ferry, the captain of the ship looked at Sara a bit funny when she saw her holding us up for some photos, hehe... this ferry's name was the Kaleetan. :-) Here's some pictures Sara took from the ferry - it was around an hour ride until we arrived at the dock in Orcas Island... ...and now we have arrived at Orcas Island... how exciting! Time to go to the car as were ready to start docking on the island... First things first... time to get some breakfast, it's now 930am and we had a nice breakfast at a place called the Sunflower Cafe. It was yummy now were on our way to Mount Constitution... a very long and winding road later we were almost there... ... another 10 minutes of winding roads and we were there... besides a steep hike up a snow filled hill, it wasn't easy for Sara to get up from the fall she had had the day before, but we made it up, very slowly but none the less... and wait for it, these pictures are gorgeous! Now that we're up at the top of the hill it's time to climb up this tower... it was around 300 feet tall in itself and the mountain is around 2500 feet from sea level, so it's the highest point in the San Juan Islands so we got to see everything, this is the view of the ground from the top of the tower... ...and here I am at the top, looking out over the islands... In the first photo I'm looking out over islands and you can see Mount Baker in the background, one of the three volcanos in Washington state... and the next photo is a photo looking over part of Canada... :-) Here are the other photos that Sara took at the top of the tower... not all of them, but some of them... :-) Enjoy! It really was absolutely gorgeous... well with 40 minutes to spare after driving time we headed back to the ferry dock for our 115pm ferry... we got there, and it was full! Dang! The next ferry was 335pm. We had a long wait in the ferry line, instead we went and got some souvenirs and some postcards, and had some lunch at the ferry dock. Yummy! Finally 3pm rolls around and we're ready to board the ferry to go back home... bye bye Orcas Island... here are some more photos on the way home from Orcas Island... Well that was a BIG day for all of us... the next day was pretty lazy and slow but that wasn't a bad thing... not much planned as of yet, but on Thursday we're going to Kirkland again to see Sara's family... :-) I hope you enjoyed what you saw of my busy last few days! It was very exciting! I had lots of fun!
sararingham sara.ringham@gmail.com Posted Feb 25, 2008, 10:17 pm	Hey, finally I'm able to update about Dixie's BBQ. This is a very famous BBQ place that a lot of famous stars and athletes have come to eat and make their mark on this famous restaurant. People from around the world have come and seen and eaten at this place and tried the famous "man" sauce. I can't even describe it, but Sara described it as the hottest thing she'd had in a long time. Sadly, Sara didn't get the photos so she wasn't able to get us in the shot, but we were there and experiencing everything, but not quite man enough to try the "man" sauce. :-) Here's a picture of Sara with the owner of the BBQ. He was pretty fun and he carried around the sauce in a little pot and he asked Sara how much she wanted "a little or a lot" and he put a tiny little drop of it on her sandwich and told her to stick her fork in it to try... and even that tiny bit on the edge of a fork, her mouth was burning for probably a good 10-15 minutes easily... not really for the lighthearted. Sara even got to put a pin on the map of where she's from. Of course the yellow pin is hers it's exactly put on Orange, NSW Australia. How exciting! Now, to really show you how many people from all over the world have been there - here are the maps surrounding the walls with all of the other pins marking their place in the world... ...and the last picture is the new maps that have been put up, which is where Sara put her pin point in the Australia map. How cool is that? It's amazing how many people have visited this one little BBQ restaurant! Later that day we got to visit at Sara's old schools and met up with her first grade teacher even but no pictures - she didn't want her picture taken because she was sick so we didn't stay too long! It was a nice day out definitely!
sararingham sara.ringham@gmail.com Posted Feb 25, 2008, 11:40 pm	Hey! I've been so lazy lately, since we did so much running around and a lot of sight seeing last week, Sara, me and the rest of the toyvoyagers have just been lounging around the house not doing too much... it's not too bad though - I don't mind it so much! :-) But saying that... today we got a new visitor! How exciting! :-) Her name is Mel how exciting to meet a little koala bear, who would have known we would meet her in Washington?
sararingham sara.ringham@gmail.com Posted Feb 29, 2008, 12:18 am	I have been slow to update - since it's coming closer to the time were heading back to Australia there's much less going on... but today, we made a 7 layer cookie thing, it looks really yummy! We all helped as much as we could in the kitchen with Sara, but mostly we watched... First the one cube of butter needed to be chopped up and put in... We melted all the butter in the oven at 325'F until all the butter was melted and we then sprinkled graham cracker crumbs all over the top of it... yummy! ...and even more graham cracker crumbs!... Then it was about time to pour the sweet condensed milk over the top... All done... it's starting to look so yummy... but looks even more yummy very soon! :-) Then we sprinkled the chocolate chips, and coconut over the top... mmm! Then sprinkled walnuts over 2/3 of it, because Sara's brother doesn't like nuts, oh well, looks so yummy already though! ...22-25 minutes later... Out of the oven, still very hot but looks SO yummy! This is a desert tonight after dinner... yum yum yummy! Sara said she wanted to give everyone the recipe too incase they wanted to make it too... so here it is: SEVEN LAYER MAGIC COOKIE BARS    1/2 c. butter 1 1/2 c. graham cracker crumbs 1 can sweetened condensed milk 1 pkg. semi-sweet chocolate morsels 1 pkg. (6 oz.) butterscotch chips 1 1/3 c. flaked coconut 1 c. chopped nuts Preheat oven to 350 degrees (325 degrees for glass dish). In a 13 x 9 inch baking pan melt butter in oven. Sprinkle crumbs over it. Mix together and press into pan. Pour sweetened condensed milk evenly over crumbs. Top evenly with remaining ingredients. Press down firmly. Bake 25-30 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool before cutting. That's not all we did, because we're leaving soon we helped Sara put together her bags for leaving, she reorganizes them a lot, so we we're seeing how everything fit, we'll be on the carry on so we won't be like these other poor saps... ...not sure if you can see, but under Cronus foot kind of is a stuffed toy, a few actually, and the big eye you see is a scarecrow wind sock that Sara got, isn't it cool? This is a huge vaccum seal bag that Sara puts everything in to fit it a lot better than what she'd normally be able to fit... After all that was done we got a new sitting place for a little bit of time while we're not doing anything... aren't we all just so cute? :-) Yesterday was our last day in Kirkland, it was all sad goodbyes and everything, but we made it - next stop is Olympia to see some other parts of Sara's family before we head back to Aussie land...
sararingham sara.ringham@gmail.com Posted Mar 4, 2008, 6:04 am	Hey! Yesterday we went to Cabela's a very popular outdoor type store, it's known for its huge display of, well... it's centre piece lets say... it's huge and even has a little aquarium thing within the centre piece, it's very interesting to see all the different wild animals though... Here's a picture of me standing near one side of the huge centre piece... here are some other photos.. As you can see there we're a LOT of animals on this huge piece, most of them are very old going back as much as 90 years ago for some of them, there was even a huge polar bear and a musk ox! This is one of the fish that Sara got clearly in a photo in the little aquarium thing they had, this is called a Sun fish and Sara said she used to catch these when she was younger in Wisconsin visiting with her grandparents, kinda pretty aren't they? ... and upstairs, they even had a small African exhibit with some unique and interesting animals... ... the last picture is a White Rhino, which are the less critically endangered of the two Rhino species, it was interesting to see one, kind of sad though seeing all the animals at the same time... Last but not least we got to see a big cat that resembled Cronus there we're a few of them on the centre piece, it's amazing to think that a cousin of Cronus can be SO big, and so fierce looking! After we left, we went to a house where Sara spent time with some more of her family, there was a crazy dog so we didn't come out much besides to just be seen and that's about it - we had to stay protected in the bag, there was no time for pictures, the dog was just so crazy! But it was a very busy day! I'm glad I'm back home, more relaxing, we fly out on Saturday morning!
sararingham sara.ringham@gmail.com Posted Mar 8, 2008, 7:41 am	We had our last visit around Washington today before we leave tomorrow morning, I'm so excited but so nervous, first stop was in Everett, not too interesting, we had to go with Sara to her step mom's appointment with the neurologist... here we all are... :-) Then we we're off to Seattle - we went inside a few shops on the Seattle waterfront, and there we're a lot of really cool wooden statue things that we're hand carved... here's one of them I particularly liked! :-) ...we took a stroll down the waterfront and we saw this sign - which is a memorial, it's straight in front of the Argosy cruises for the Lake cruises and the Locks cruises that they have in Seattle! It looked exciting, but not today! :-) ...and then after a bit more walking we got to the world famous Ye Olde Curiosity Shop... This was the entrance to the store, it was already quite interesting... so I wonder what's inside! I've heard a lot about this store from Sara... ...and meet Sylvester... the most famous well preserved mummy in the world! ...and here's some information about our famous Sylvester, we heard a lady talking about the origin of Sylvester... apparently after the cowboys found him they left him standing on the side of the road for people to see, then one day a traveling circus drove by him and covered him in arsenic which caused his preserved state even more so, and then they brought him with them around the United States on the traveling circus. Then eventually a dentist actually got a hold of him and had him in his office and had him occasionally pop out on some people (mean huh? haha). When the dentist died, the wife called the Curiosity Shop and asked if they'd like him for their museum... and of course they agreed! :-) ...and now it's time to meet Sylvia... ...she is a white, female mummy, probably a Spanish immigrant found in the highlands of Central America. Scientists say that she died in her early thirties from tuberculosis, prehaps contracted during the long sea voyage to the New World... Here's more information again about both Sylvia and Sylvester... very interesting information really... :-) Here's an interesting thing - in the middle of the closed off area on the waterfront, there was an actual working carousel that was really pretty! I wanted to ride, but I was way too small! :-P We decided to get some food at Ivars, the famous seafood shop on the Seattle waterfront, they have a lot here, but they were founded and established in Seattle from 1936. While we were waiting for our food, we saw some seagulls up close! ...in the background of a second one you see a famous and familiar sight of Washington, the ferries! Sara thought this was cute... the Clam Central Station across from Ivars! When we got home we we're so tired, but we had to pack and get everything ready, we're about right on the limit for stuff we can bring back to Australia - so how exciting will this be! :-) So before we decided to travel, we decided to get up to date with the world... :-) Here I am reading the newspapers from the countries I will be visiting... :-) How exciting! <3 ...and here I am remembering all my fun times while I've been in Washington... my favourite was Snoqualmie Falls! :-) ...and now it's time to write up my last entry for America then I'm off to Australia again tomorrow! Wish me luck!
sararingham sara.ringham@gmail.com Posted Mar 11, 2008, 11:57 am	Technically yesterday we left for South Korea, at 1240pm we flew out of Seattle... and 11 or so hours later, we are in South Korea, and it's 5pm... just after... so lets start from the beginning... Here I am at the gate where Sara will be boarding the plane... we only have a few hours to wait now since we managed to get through customs, immigration and all the screening pretty quickly... We had to check the board to make sure our flight was on time... After about an hour our plane arrived, and we got to watch it be loaded up with everything and pretty soon we were about to board and go on our 11 hour flight to South Korea, I wonder what we'll see now that Sara has a window seat... Very shortly into our flight we got to see some gorgeous mountains from the air, Sara says these are the mountains on the Washington Peninsula, they're called the Olympics... We got to take a nap, and next pictures we're in Japan... here's what we saw... As you can see we saw a lot of mountain ranges and everything, and even a volcano we flew over... we're not sure what it is called but it sure looked pretty! Even more exciting we even got to see Mt. Fuji, it's in the far distance, and if you look closely behind the lower engine you can see Mt. Fuji in the middle... We then crossed the sea between Japan and South Korea, and we started to come closer to landing, Sara got some photos of Seoul... ...and now we've landed in South Korea... When we got to Korea, it was a lot of running around, and a lot of  long lines but we stopped for a moment to see the beautiful Korean sunset that was happening right before our eyes... ...and here's our next plane to Sydney... We've got another long 10 hour flight ahead of us, and then a day in Sydney to plan, we'll see how that goes... we're off to board the plane!... see you in Australia!
sararingham sara.ringham@gmail.com Posted Mar 11, 2008, 12:13 pm	After a long and turbulent 10 hour flight we've made it to Sydney, we got through customs and immigration almost at record time (for Sara anyways)... first things first, we got to visit Botany Bay, here I am in front of the bay on the side of the road... so pretty isn't it? This is a photo just by itself, the little peninsula sticking out is actually the airport runway, so we got to watch some planes landing and taking off it was quite interesting... What's even more interesting is... this is the plane we all arrived on from South Korea, and now it's going back - not even 2 hours later! It was interesting to watch the plane that had only just arrived, seeing it take off back again... how cool is that? We took a bit longer on the road and we got to one of the proper beaches, we had to go to the beaches with the shark nets, we stopped at the first one and had a bit of a dip (well I didn't, I don't like the water!) in the Kyeemagh Baths... Here are all of us on the beach... ...and here I am out in the water, Sara was holding me because she knows I don't like the water, it wouldn't be good for my fur! Here are some seagulls, there we're quite a lot of them really!.. We took another bit of a drive down the beach to the next bit of the shark nets, and we even got to see the Sydney skyline... as you can see, even for a Monday morning there we're a lot of people at the beach... and this is just where we were... ...another 2'ish hours later we we're on the road to Orange, which most definately is not coastal... so no more pretty beaches, but that doesn't worry me too much... but we stopped off in the Blue Mountains and got to see the famous Three Sisters... There were lots and lots of people sightseeing there when we all visited there... but we got in and got out pretty quick, we all just were very tired and wanted to get home!
sararingham sara.ringham@gmail.com Posted Mar 11, 2008, 12:22 pm	Today we went to Blayney and on the way to Blayney we all got to see an emu, what a famous Australian animal. :-) ...and when we got home we met up with another toyvoyager, Mulalu how exciting, he came all the way from South Africa, so we had a group photo together, now I can also introduce you to everyone, most you've seen before, but there are a few new faces that we met up with when we flew into Sydney... From left to right it's Mulalu, Luke, Mel, Cronus, Alpina, Leo Lion, Benni, and me... the walrus, lobster and turtle are soon to be toyvoyagers... :-) Pretty soon I'll be ready to leave Sara and go to my next host, I'm getting so excited to see even more of the world! :-)
sararingham sara.ringham@gmail.com Posted Mar 14, 2008, 6:30 am	We have spent our last night in this oven called Orange. It's really unseasonably hot, so I bet it's about time to go to the beach, I heard we're going to the Central Coast. Not only that, but I'm going with Benni at least I'll know someone where I'm going, so it's not so scary! I'm getting very excited, time to get situated... ...and now time to say our goodbyes to everyone!... It was sad to say goodbye, but they all wished us well and told us  to have a good trip! We're off to the post office!
Yillup Posted Mar 18, 2008, 12:32 pm	Hello! I arrived here on the Central Coast yesterday, and was very relieved to be out of the little post bag! I was travelling with Benni. He's small, but he likes to fidget a lot! We didn't go out yesterday, and instead spent our time doing scrapbooking with Kylie. I held the paper steady while Bemmi did the cutting. Kylie said I was a big help. I have very beautiful handwriting, so Kylie got me to do a bit of writing... Today Kylie took me, Benni, her 2 year old girl and her 3 month old boy to the library. While we were there they had a singing group called "Baby Bounce". I learnt a few new nursery rhymes, and even joined in the actions! Then we bought a BBQ chicken and took it to have lunch with Kylie's "mothers group". There were lots of babies all about the same age as Kylie's son. I think they wanted to eat me... I hope I have heaps of fun here with Kylie and her family!
Yillup Posted Mar 19, 2008, 11:50 am	We went to playgroup today, where Elizabeth got to play with some of her friends and had some fun in her faourite place the sand pit! There was lots of yunny food there too... It's getting close to Easter! We had an Easter egg hunt at the playgroup today where all the little kids had to find chocolate eggs and put them in their baskets to eat later. Benni and I found a nice shiny egg to share! he doesn't eat too much because he's so little, so I got most of it... We also very kindly offered to help Elizabeth eat hers, but she only let us have a photo taken with them - she ate the rest herself!! I can't wait until Easter - there'll be even more chocolates then! YAY!
Yillup Posted Mar 26, 2008, 11:38 pm	We haven't been doing very much here in the last few days. Kylie's been busy doing things around the house so we haven't been out much! Today we did go to visit Kylie's mum's house and in the afternoon watched as a big storm rolled in from the south. I was a little bit scared, but Kylie said it was very common in Australia for big storms to happen in the evenings. Usually they happen in summer, but it's been a very hot start to autumn here, so the weather's a bit confused!
Yillup Posted Mar 31, 2008, 11:44 am	Today Benni and I went with Kylie and Elizabeth and Phillip to the shops. We went to Borders to do a bit of research on travelling the world. There were SO many places I'd love to go visit! Wonder how many of these places I'll see on my journies... We also had a look in the kid's section of the book store. Elizabeth loved the Wiggles books the most, while we hang around with the DVDs. Spending time in a family with a 2 year old, I'm getting to know all the words to the Wiggles songs off by heart! I'll be able to sing "toot toot chugga chugga, big red car" in my sleep soon!
Yillup Posted Apr 4, 2008, 3:43 am	We were the welcoming party for a few new toy voyagers today! Mulalu, Alpina and Mel came in the mail to join us! YAY! More friends to play with!
Yillup Posted Apr 5, 2008, 8:54 am	I spent a beautifully sunny autumn day today at The Entrance. There is a gorgeous water fountain there that kids can play in. I watched but didn't go in as I didn't want my fur to get wet! There was a bit of a carnival thing happening while we were there, with 2 HUGE jumping castles, face painting, plaster painting, and lots of yummy food for sale like corn on the cob and fairy floss. The Entrance is famous in Australia for it's pelican feeding every day. We all went down to the water (not too close!) and had a look at these big funny looking birds! This is the information about the feeding on the website: Quote: Pelican Feeding is the Central Coast's most popular tourist attraction and operates 3.30pm daily, 365 days a year come rain, hail or shine. The pelican feeding attracts tens of thousands of families back to The Entrance where they get an entertaining and educated commentary about the pelicans, bird and marine life and general information about the area. Just over twenty years ago, the pelican feeding started by accident when staff from a local fish and chip shop would throw out scraps. It became such a ritual that whenever the staff were late in throwing their scraps out, the pelicans would cross the road and come up to the shop to be fed. One of the main objectives of the pelican feed is to keep an eye on the pelican's medical conditions as many have hooks and lines tangles up in their gullets, wings and other parts of their body. The feed is a chance for the co-ordinator to assess their well being. It's certainly an amusing show to come and see. At least 1 or 2 birds a week are removed from the water and sometimes the outcome is bad for the injured birds but most times its just a simple extraction of a hook and they are on their way. The Entrance has now been internationally recognised as 'The Pelican Capital of Australia' and we want you to be part of it. So when you visit us at The Entrance be sure to wander down to the pelican pavilion on the foreshore for an experience you will treasure. The Pelican Feed is proudly sponsored by local businesses within and around the Central Coast and if it wasn't for their support and enthusiasm it wouldn't be as successful as it is today. We all got our photo taken in front of a sign showing how far some of the nearest places overseas are! Boy Australia is a long way away from anywhere else! When we got home we found there was a bush fire on the hill near Kylie's house. Bush fires are very common in Australia Kylie tells me. Even though we've had a good season so far, the fires can still be bad!
Yillup Posted Apr 16, 2008, 1:07 pm	I'm sorry I haven't written home very much in the last week. A tummy bug has gone through the family leaving a heap of washing for Kylie to do, and not much time for outings and taking photos! Today we got to welcome a new toy voyager into our party! Flutura came for a visit! It's so nice having heaps of us all together. As you can see, there's Mulalu, Mel, Flutura, Alpina is hiding behind Phillip Grammy and then there's me, Charity Bear. Benni had just been packaged up in his parcel to be sent off, so didn't get to meet Flutura! Kylie had mother's group at her house today, so we all got to play with the toys after they left!!
Yillup Posted Apr 28, 2008, 12:25 am	It has been raining here for over 2 weeks. It's a record that hasn't been matched for 15 years! Kylie aso didn't have a car all of last week, so she had to walk whenever she went somewhere - in the rain! I haven't been allowed to go out too much as my fur would get wet... We were able to get out of the house though to go to The Entrance today. I had yummy fish and chips (although a pelican wanted to eat it first). We also fed the seagulls. They are very noisy animals! And they get very close!
Yillup Posted Jun 26, 2008, 2:12 am	Hi again! I had heaps of fun going to a railway museum for a model train show. This is me in the car going on the F3 Freeway to Richmond Vale Railway Museum. There weren't just model trains though, there were REAL steam trains! I got to have a nice close look at one. They are really big and make a lot of noise... I also got to have a trip on the train with all my friends. It was noisy and dirty but heaps of fun.
Yillup Posted Jun 26, 2008, 2:29 am	I went to a golf club today for a very very nice lunch. I got my photo taken looking out over the golf course and the housing estate that's around it. It was very pretty.
Kira1997 Posted Jul 26, 2008, 11:50 am	Arrived in Busselton Busselton is getting alot of rain at the moment as it is Winter here in Australia Will update with pictures later
Kira1997 Posted Aug 18, 2008, 1:46 pm	Playing Championship Manager 4 on the Computer. It was fun.
Kira1997 Posted Sep 30, 2008, 5:10 am	Climbing tree's like the Koala Bears
Kira1997 Posted Sep 30, 2008, 6:27 am	Helping clean the car
Kira1997 Posted Oct 1, 2008, 7:59 am	My Own Little Den
Kira1997 Posted Oct 1, 2008, 8:39 am	helping with the House work
Kira1997 Posted Oct 2, 2008, 1:38 am	Me helping cook a cake in the microwave
Kira1997 Posted Oct 2, 2008, 2:38 am	At last I can relax and watch television
Kira1997 Posted Oct 2, 2008, 3:34 am	Helping with the dishes.I did half of them
Kira1997 Posted Oct 2, 2008, 3:38 am	Helping my host update
Kira1997 Posted Oct 2, 2008, 5:20 am	Finally. I can get some sleep.
Kira1997 Posted Oct 2, 2008, 9:02 am	I have to leave my Host to go home. Cant wait to see mum again.

Back