Miss Swiss, Goulburn, NSW, Australia

EuroMaus Posted Jan 3, 2013, 12:50 pm	Hi , i am Miss Swiss and new here. I am a small plane. I was found on a flight of Swiss air to Madrid last year. I really want to see the world Its so boring to be in the house all the time. These visitors told me a lot about there travelling....oh my gosh...i really want to start to travel.....They told me so many nice things about it.... Who wants to be my first host ?
EuroMaus Posted Jan 4, 2013, 3:27 pm	Oh i am so excited...tomorrow i will go to Australia.... I will stay there at least 6 month and i really hope i will see a kangaru also bye bye Germany and Mummy
sararingham sara.ringham@gmail.com Posted Jan 20, 2013, 7:24 am	G'day Mum! I've arrived in Australia... so happy to be here.. but man has it ever been really hot lately. Just after I arrived we had a 45'c day... ouch! Not only that but we have a very large bush fire near by our house - kind of... about 30kms away... there's a smaller one that popped up a couple of days ago that is only 12kms away... thankfully both are being controlled at the moment... it's been a very straining Summer... Sara took a photo of me in front of her computer, which is on the Rural Fire Service website, which currently shows the fire burning near her house... if you look towards the middle top of the screen you can see Nowra... and you can see two fires, the very large one and the smaller one closer by... When driving through the fire a few days back... she got some photos of the burnt trees as the fire had crossed the highway. This fire is called the "Deans Gap" fire... it's been burning since the 7th of January... thanks to the firefighters there have been no lives lost, and no houses lost... amazing! To tell you the sheer size, the Deans Gap fire has burned 9,102 hectares (91kms squared); the closer Barringella Creek has burned 22 hectares (220m squared)... crazy huh? The last photo is of what it normally looks like driving up and down the Princes Highway... you can see how intense the fire has burned through that area... I'll stay safe though mum! Write again soon!
sararingham sara.ringham@gmail.com Posted Apr 16, 2013, 3:44 am	Today we went to a new beach in the National Park, one that my temporary family don't visit in tourist season - it's called Green Patch, and it's nearby a large camping site, so it is very popular. We wanted to go snorkeling, but the weather wasn't the right type for that. This beach is famous because it has a "blood red river", which is red from all of the vegetation that is right next to the beach. We decided to all get a photo together in the sand as well to show just how white the sand was... and funny enough, it's not even the whitest sand in the world... but nearby, so it is pretty white, and so fine that it actually squeaks when you walk through it... gorgeous! More recently, my temporary mom and dad visited this beach to go snorkeling after a very wild weekend of weather (we actually had a mini cyclone start up less than a kilometer from where Sara lives - crazy)... and the red river ran into the beach... so the first few meters were also blood red... kinda yucky looking - wasn't the best weather for snorkeling - but still fun none the less... we stayed safely at home so we didn't get lost in that trip... There's another update to come
sararingham sara.ringham@gmail.com Posted Apr 16, 2013, 4:05 am	After we got battered in the waves a bit (they looked calmer than they were lol) we went to Hyams Beach, which is another beach that my temporary family won't visit during the touristy time of the year... just because it is known for what it is - and therefore VERY popular.. this is the whitest sand beach in the world... the photos don't give it justice... it's beautiful! The waves here were pretty rough as well it seemed and had a lot of pull... so when standing you had to use a lot of effort to even make any move into the water at all... and Sara's husband even broke his body board in one of the waves... crazy! But we got some photos, we had to be dug into the sand a bit so we didn't blow away as it was quite windy... but none the less - pretty neat seeing the whitest sand beach in the world! Since visiting here, Sara has started some voluntary work experience at a local travel agency - so she has been very busy and told us to say she's very sorry about not updating regularly... but will get back into it now that the cooler weather is here and she has a bit more time in between working... but I'm safe and sound and I'll write again very soon! <3
sararingham sara.ringham@gmail.com Posted May 22, 2013, 4:48 am	Today was a very special day! We decided to take a trip down the coast and see a very special beach... known for one specific thing... kangaroos! Unlike most people think, there aren't many beaches that have kangaroos that reside on them - but Pebbly Beach is one of the places where almost all of the time there are kangaroos... if you look hard enough... this time we were lucky and one was out in the open - some others were visible... but behind some bush. They're quite tame and you are allowed to get near them and give them a pat or a scratch behind the ear... and they are very inquisitive... however you do have to remember - they aren't tame, they are wild animals... so you have to respect if they don't want you near them... not to get near them... it was pretty neat though getting up close and personal... On close inspection of this little roo, he looked like he had a cattle tick on his ear... we attempted to get him off - but couldn't fully get it off. We twisted it though so hopefully it'll drop off in the next few days... pretty nasty none the less! I hope you enjoyed the photos - more updates coming very soon!
sararingham sara.ringham@gmail.com Posted May 22, 2013, 5:26 am	Following the theme of Iconic Australia... we took a trip up farther north this time... to the top of the Illawarra where there is a now famous landmark called the Sea Cliff Bridge. It's only one of 7 of these type of bridges in the world... and on a nice day with calm seas, it's absolutely beautiful... honestly the pictures don't give it justice... the sea was very blue, and near the rocks straight down it was a very light blue colour - which you can only just see if you look hard enough in the photos... Our host only visited this bridge once before and absolutely loved it - so this time she thought bringing the little TV's with would add something new to their travel logs... this bridge was actually featured in a commercial that was shown around the world which can be seen if you click here at about 40 seconds in.... on a more wet day obviously... which Wollongong is quite known for... people come to the bridge as it's a very big tourist destination in Wollongong and they walk along the length - which isn't that long actually... but it is very picturesque that's for sure!
sararingham sara.ringham@gmail.com Posted May 22, 2013, 5:44 am	Last stop for the day was the Kiama Blowhole which is another popular tourist destination for people visiting the South Coast/Illawarra region. It is really good on days where it's very stormy out as the blowhole absolutely "goes off" and will make quite the show for people that are willing to get close, or get wet... so probably better to visit on warmer Summer days... it's been cooling right down even though it's still Summer like weather with the clear blue skies and little to no rain... They had to make a platform for people to stand on with the blowhole, as many many people have died here because they get too close to the blowhole and then get either sucked into the ocean or fall into the hole and get beaten up quite badly on the sharp rocks by the ocean... or whatever reason. None the less it's quite sad - but it just goes to show the power of the ocean... if you come here at the right time you can see whales or dolphins off of the blowhole... as the humpback whales migrate right past the blowhole... it's pretty neat! Sara got two videos while at the blow hole... one of the blowhole itself which you can see if you click here and another around the side of the blowhole... where you can see a bit of Kiama the town itself... and of course the gorgeous Norfolk Island pine trees... and that you can see if you click here... the sun comes down a lot earlier now that Winter is coming... so much less of the day to enjoy yourself! Oh well! I hope you enjoyed my day out and I'll post again very soon!
sararingham sara.ringham@gmail.com Posted Jun 10, 2013, 4:24 am	Just before you hit Kiama, you go through all these twisty areas of road which overlook the ocean quite nicely... but there's a lookout at the end which gives you a lookout (to the South) of Werri Beach, nearby a small town called Gerringong... If you look to the right you can see the highway that you have to drive on to get up here. Then there's a big construction site next to the highway which is making another road that will bypass a small town called Berry... the Berry Bypass... We took the road to Gerringong home and was going to visit the Seven Mile Beach National Park and a nice view over Seven Mile Beach at Gerroa, however Sara's flash drive in her camera died... so we weren't able to get the photo and the view... but we'll do so next time... write again soon!
sararingham sara.ringham@gmail.com Posted Jun 10, 2013, 4:50 am	The next day - not quite as early... we had to head out to go to work again so us toyvoyagers came along for the ride... you wouldn't remember - but this last Summer (in January) we had some scorchers of days... days that easily were 45'c+, very dry heat... and on the 8th of January - a lot of wind... something Sara says she's never seen before... there was a very large bush fire near her, about 30 km South of where she lived so she was safe... but still quite unnerving... it burned a lot of bush where it used to be quite lush. The night of the 8th, the bush fire approached the highway where they were hoping they could control it... but it jumped the highway and it lead to this iconic photo... which was on the exact same road we're going on now. Can you imagine driving through that? They closed the road for some parts - but they kept it open in patches..  can you imagine driving through that! Scary! Deans Gap bush fire raged out of control for another month before it was under control and eventually put out. Thank God! Sara says that she drove through this area when it was still burning and you could smell burning eucalyptus trees. The trunks on the trees are very white and when driving through at night usually they're obvious on the headlights... but when driving through, there was burnt signs, and the trunks of the trees were black - quite haunting! Thankfully no one died or lost their homes... very lucky! This is only a few months ago now... and now it's turning to Winter and it's quite cold... and the regrowth is coming back. It's amazing how much it's bounced back! Australia is a strange country... some of our eucalyptus trees actually require fire to germinate... people actually have to set fire to them to grow more trees... sounds a bit backwards doesn't it? The top two photos are the regrowth that you can see visible in patches... and the third photo you can see what the trees used to look like - quite lush... but even then you can still see the ground how it's black from the ground burning during that intense heat... Sara took these photos though as this is a pretty common looking drive between towns on the South Coast... and then the last photo is of a town called Ulladulla.. which is known for it's surfing. Driving through the main part of town there's not too much to see - but we go back frequently enough that I'll get some better shots one of the next times we head through... unfortunately it was a quick drive through on the way to somewhere else... write again soon!
sararingham sara.ringham@gmail.com Posted Jun 10, 2013, 5:17 am	This is the farthest South we'll be going today... the tiny town of Moruya... it's got a population of only 2,500 people... so pretty small - but there are definitely smaller around... we come to this town each month - but haven't had much chance to explore. This time we wanted to checkout the Moruya Beach, called Dolphin Beach, as it's been recently in the news... never really thought about Moruya having a beach before now. It's unfortunate why it was in the news, but a surfer went missing and they were searching for him... I don't think they've found him. It's strange sitting on this beach, especially with how calm it is - to think that it could be like that... but the ocean is so unpredictable. The beach was all but empty - which is kinda strange as it's Sunday afternoon... but was kinda neat! How often do you see such a long stretch of beach - completely empty?! We didn't have too long to spend so we got a few snaps and headed back... when walking back you have to go through some bush (we parked off the side of a dirt road to get here) and we came upon an Australian native plant called the Yellow Bottle Brush plant. Very unique! Once we got back to the car you can see the dirt road we traveled on a well as some more unknown native plants. Australia has a lot of small leaved bushes and shrubs as that seems to be the only thing that can survive the droughts that Australia throws at them... we better be heading off - we've got one more stop to make before it becomes night time! Write again soon!
sararingham sara.ringham@gmail.com Posted Jun 10, 2013, 5:41 am	Last stop of the day was Batemans Bay... as it just looks like a bridge over a river and a relatively small town (12,600 people or so) we decided to go scoping for something a bit more interesting - something we've not seen before - and we ended up in Batehaven... a nearby suburb. We got to a nice observation point overlooking the Clyde River... as the sun was setting it was a very nice view... something that pictures really didn't portray as much as I would have liked... gorgeous! Once we got enough and it go too dark we went to our last job for the day and headed home... I hope you enjoyed our few days out and sightseeing... I'll be doing a bit more in the next coming days! Write again soon!
sararingham sara.ringham@gmail.com Posted Jun 12, 2013, 11:46 am	Today was a cloudy, cold and rainy day... but that didn't stop us toyvoyagers from doing a bit of sightseeing! Sara said she always wanted to go to this lookout, but hasn't been there until now. It's called the Cambewarra Mountain lookout, you can see the mountain top from most of Nowra... but we weren't sure of what we would 100% see when we were up there... but we were happily surprised! From this point you can see all of Nowra (center photo), you can see the main highway that runs down Nowra (Princes Highway)... you can see North Nowra, which looks like a whole bunch of trees followed by a tiny section of houses way to the East (from this vantage point) of the main town. Then... even though we stared at it for a while - we didn't think what we were look at was it... Jervis Bay... it's cut off a bit in the image, but it's the big circular bay out towards the ocean. We were a lot closer to Jervis Bay than we thought we were... it's about 20-30 minutes drive... crazy! If it was as the crow flies it'd be so much closer! ...and of course, you see the main river that runs through the area - the Shoalhaven River... absolutely gorgeous! Definitely a place we'll come back to on a nice day with clear skies... write again soon!
sararingham sara.ringham@gmail.com Posted Jun 12, 2013, 12:01 pm	While we were in the region we visited another tourist attraction... the Hampden Bridge.. it is a "convict" bridge and was built in 1895, opened in 1898 to replace a timber bridge that once crossed the Kangaroo River. It is the only surviving suspension bridge from the colonial period in New South Wales... As it is only one lane only one lane of cars can cross at any one time, and one truck... as it wasn't built for cars initially. It's a very unique sandstone bridge that is very well known in the local area. The pictures don't really do it justice, it's very unique and really adds a lot of the Australian convict history back to life... that's about it for now, we kinda got rained out a little bit today - but I'll be back to show you some more of what I got up to soon!
sararingham sara.ringham@gmail.com Posted Jul 18, 2013, 11:16 am	Today it rained... a lot... actually not just today... it rained yesterday too. Although this doesn't seem like much - but it's a big thing, when it's barely rained in months... and it has been an especially dry Winter, and was a very dry Summer - it was much needed. However, I didn't quite expect to see this... This is about 1 kilometre from where my host lives... although she lives up a big hill, so the whole town would have to be flooded before it touched her home fortunately... however this is a boat ramp. What you see in front of us is a parking lot, which then has a steep slop of a few feet that goes to the Shoalhaven River... the river literally broke it's banks and more... and it's still raining. They say the peak was at 3pm... but apparently that was changed to 11pm... Across the river is a place called the Nowra Sailing Club - you can see a photo of it on this link during these floods... the water actually got up to the middle of the sign on the side of the building... and for a while the river was brown... kinda yucky but I suppose it's what happens when you have so much rain coming through... it was shocking! I'll go back in a little bit and take more pictures from the same spot to show you what it should look like... the dock that our host stands on was actually completely under water... crazy! More updates coming soon!
sararingham sara.ringham@gmail.com Posted Oct 23, 2013, 6:25 am	Today we took another drive and visited Goulburn... it's a bit of a halfway stop for people in the country to drive to Canberra, which is the capital of Australia... and located about an hour to 90 minutes from Goulburn... and about 2-3 hours West of where I'm staying in Nowra. We didn't stay long in Goulburn though - just got a few photos and had to continue on as we had quite the drive ahead of us... however, Goulburn has one very interesting thing. The Big Merino, which is just a big sheep... if you were to visit it, they have a gift shop on the inside of it and to the side of it... as well as some steps, where you can walk up to the head and look out the eyes. The eyes even glow a green colour at night... which is kinda weird looking - but doesn't make for good photos when visiting at night. So here's one of Australia's big things... there's quite a few more - but this is the one that we drive past more frequently than the others! I'll update again soon!

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