SKYWALKER, Upper Orara, Australia

susana susana.julio@gmail.com Posted Dec 8, 2008, 9:33 pm	Hello. I´m very happy to start soon my travel. I think i`ll go to Australia to visit BunnyLove Mom`s. What a lovely girl! But we are destiny to be appart...travelling all around the world. Maybe someday we can stay together!  I would love to travel all over the world and take some nice photos to my diary.
susana susana.julio@gmail.com Posted Dec 8, 2008, 9:38 pm	She is such a beautifull girl!!  But soon she will go away too...so i`m ready to travel. AUSTRALIA HERE I COME!!!
sararingham sara.ringham@gmail.com Posted Jan 28, 2009, 5:07 am	Hi mom! I've arrived in Australia - just this morning... it's been VERY hot here today - a very dry heat and it's around 35'c with no wind at all... ugh. It's hard with all this hair.... you know, Sara has a dog that looks very similar to me. I'll have to get a picture of her and me together (safely of course since she's still a puppy) she's called Anni though. :-) Well, I'm going to lay down and get some rest. I'm quite tired and the heat is really getting me down at the moment... write again soon! :-)
sararingham sara.ringham@gmail.com Posted Jan 31, 2009, 12:26 pm	Sorry I've been away for a while... it's been VERY hot here in Australia. We've been hitting some record temperatures almost every day the last few weeks. Kind of crazy... it even got up to 47'C in some areas (around 114'F in South Australia) there have been lots of black outs and the air conditioners don't seem to make much difference. Were kind of hoping for some rain soon... but Sara got a notice that she's got a house inspection coming up... so she's been cleaning the house - one room each day for the last few days. She spent around 3 hours on the kitchen last night, and today she worked on her room... it was a bit crazy.. We all decided we could help a little bit... although not much because some of the chemicals are pretty nasty and she was up on a ladder much of the time... but once it was done we decided to help her put her room back together... ...that's just after the cleaning when she's ready to start putting everything back together. The only things in the room were the wardrobe and the bed frame. Everything else was scattered through the hall and living room. It looked pretty packed... haha Now we've started to put it all back together... the picture above the bed, the bed and the slats under the bed are together now... sadly we couldn't help much more than being on the side lines. That stuff was pretty heavy actually... ...and now everything is complete... how does it look? ...I'll be updating much more soon, more so if it cools down where we can go outside without feeling like we are in an oven... but hopefully we'll see some sights soon. Maybe even a trip to Molong but there will be a Sydney trip coming up soon... maybe even two... :-) We'll see how that goes! :-) Write again soon!
sararingham sara.ringham@gmail.com Posted Feb 1, 2009, 8:45 am	Today we found out that we now have a resident spider visiting in Sara's house. Sara is a bit used to it - they're harmless I can assure you. They are good to have around because they kill all the nasty other bugs (like red backs and white tip spiders)... they usually keep to themselves. Sara is always very wary of where they are, as she doesn't really like spiders. But there is always one each Summer, sometimes more... well here I am with the spider... it's pretty big isn't it? It's a Huntsman Spider. ;-) Welcome to Australia right? :-P Here's a close up of him, its hard to tell by the pictures but he's bigger than me... :-) I'm kind of glad he's keeping to himself... we also have a resident mouse in the house too since Sara's husband Daniel left the door open one day. He's found his way into the mouse mansion (where she has five mice in it)... so it's been interesting this Summer lol. Write again soon!
sararingham sara.ringham@gmail.com Posted Feb 6, 2009, 12:36 pm	It was very very hot today. We found out that on Sunday it's supposed to get up to 47'c (116.6'f)... it's supposed to be the hottest place on Earth that day... beating out the African deserts and the Middle-East. So we're trying to prepare for the massive heat wave that's already brought us down to nothing since it's been so hot for a while... although, not that hot... we're not really looking forward to it... so today to get away from the heat, Sara took us up to Mount Canobolas which is actually an extinct volcano... here I am at the top of the summit, facing Orange below me... ...right in the center of the summit it's got this map... ...the map shows you what you can see and in which direction, so Orange is that way, Mudgee is that way, and so on and so forth. You can see quite far on a clear day... it's actually the highest point West of the Blue Mountains up until a mountain in South Australia - which is very very far away (think around half the distance of the United States)... ...and here I am at the other side of the summit facing the opposite direction from Orange... you can't see much, all you can see is it's very very brown because of the lack of rain... ...because of the massive heat that was today (35'c) and going up the big hill our car needed a bit of attention so while Sara was taking photos, Daniel her husband was cooling the car down a little bit so the car didn't overheat... ...at least it's down hill to our next destination... that should give the car a bit of time to cool down... we can hope anyways... write again soon! :-)
sararingham sara.ringham@gmail.com Posted Feb 6, 2009, 12:44 pm	Next stop was only a short drive down a big long hill, through lots of bush land... we were now visiting the man made Lake Canobolas... it seemed to really heat up even coming a little bit down that mountain... we no longer had a small breeze that the summit allowed us... so it was very warm. So while we were here we stayed in the shade... here I am in the shade of a tree near the lake. :-) Doesn't it look just wonderful? ...there were lots of ducks while we were there - most of which were in the shade but there was this pair of Australian Wood Ducks which Sara always used to refer to them as the "fancy" ducks because of how pretty they were. Although they look a lot different to the wood ducks that Sara are used to, which are of course native to the United States. :-) ...they had three not so little ducklings following them in a row... it was pretty cute, they were swimming to some shade on the other side of the lake... what I would have given to be a duck today. The water looked so nice and cool... it's time to head home everyone is getting a bit of a headache, time to get lots of water into us... write again soon!
sararingham sara.ringham@gmail.com Posted Feb 6, 2009, 12:49 pm	Well, also thought I'd update on the status of when we got home... when we got home it seemed to get hotter - at least by another 2'c which doesn't seem like much but when it's so hot already it kind of kicks you again when your down... :-/ We had fans on the birds, the dog and the mice... so we found one of Sara's mice actually laying in the breeze of the fan trying to cool down... poor little girl! Her and her sister and trying to keep cool by sleeping in one of the tubes even now at almost midnight... ...her and her sister almost look identical, so she's not sure which one it is (one has a small white spot on the backside) it's either Puff or Fluff... and Charlotte is in the wheel (the white blob)... she also has two others that aren't seen or mentioned - so 5 in total, the other two are Moo, and Choc Chip. :-) They're quite fun too watch, too bad it's been too hot to have them be as active as normal... ...and as the sun was going down Sara always says to herself... "Red sky at night, sailors delight. Red sky in the morning sailors warning." Since there was such a bright red sky at night... it means we are in for another scorching day tomorrow... ...I'm kind of hoping this heat wave will end soon, it's hard to sleep and hard to move much and actually do anything... so fingers crossed! Write again soon! Miss you mom! :-D
sararingham sara.ringham@gmail.com Posted Feb 10, 2009, 11:43 pm	Yesterday and today have been BEAUTIFUL! It's not been sunny much and it's been much much cooler with overcast... it's so much nicer than it being so hot you want to shed your fur... it's been crazy. I'm sure you've heard of the Victorian fires. I can assure you us toyvoyagers and Sara and her family are okay... we just got some massively high temperatures and no fires thankfully! It's very sad to hear about it on the news though with a death toll of now 181 people and set to double. This is the biggest natural disaster ever to hit Australia... massive! Anyways because it's been cooler Sara's pets have been more active so Sara's been able to take some photos of them... we decided to get in the shot because she seems to own a zoo. She's a huge animal lover though and takes great care of her pets... lets see, here I am in front of her mice... ...they didn't really want to sit still for the photo but there are 5 of them in a huge mouse mansion as Sara calls it... they're happy since their cage just got a nice clean out.. now they're organizing things to make it their own again... haha they're so cute! :-) ...and here I am in front of the birds... ...now the question is... how many if any of those birds can you name? I know they're very hard to see so Sara took some photos. It's interesting because all the birds besides one is native to Australia. Click the name to get more information if your interested about the bird(s). :-) First we have the Society Finch... The pair of society finches are the only ones not native... they're actually not native to anywhere... they were always captively bred so they're very good in aviaries and will pick up where other birds have left off sometimes in raising baby birds. :-) Aren't they nice? They're very friendly little birds. Sadly when Sara got them they couldn't fly more than 6 inches off the ground because they had been stuck in a tiny cage their whole life. They're much happier now. :-) Next bird is the Spice Finch they're also very friendly birds and they get along best with the Star finches. :-) They like to wake up every morning to chirping... they're very cute! :-) ...now were getting into the kind of stranger of the birds... the beautiful little Diamond Dove they're the worlds smallest dove and they're very peaceful birds... they are very quiet except for the occasional"hoot hoot" noise... Then we have the birds that live at the bottom... the little Button Quail these guys are two males, Milky and Red Baron (names fit well) it's hard to get photos of them sadly so Sara had to just deal with what she got here... ...then we have the beautiful Gouldian Finch they're very vocal birds and Sara swears they know they're pretty... but aren't they? The bright one is a male and right next to it is a female of the same type. :-) ...and last but not least of the birds we have the Star Finch there are two different varieties... the yellow face and the red face. You can see the red face and the yellow face in this photo. The red face are a lot more common... they're beautiful birds and the first finch she got was the yellow face male (the one with more yellow on his face) on the left hand side. His name is Peep. He's also the one in Sara's avatar with his "girlfriend" Dotty... also known as Peeps girlfriend in this house you'll find out why in a minute... ...if you want to hear what these birds sound like you can hear Peeps unique song here... you can hear the normal red face singing here who is Mr. Peep and ends with the white male zebra finch Frank. :-) Now as to why we call them that... just as we were about to go away they cuddled up together so Sara took a shot... Aren't they adorable? :-) Anyways, there's also the fish but they're happy being in the dark at the moment and Sara doesn't want to scare them for the photo... but we also have Anni... Sara's 10 month old beagle puppy... Anni had to stay in the cage while photos were being taken because Sara can't fully trust her to leave it when she responds... case in point... Anni being good and Anni being naughty... it's a new trick so I can't expect miracles... :-P But yeah, now you've been introduced to all of Sara's animals... I hope you enjoyed having a bit of a tour on the animal side of Sara's house... Write again soon mom! <3
sararingham sara.ringham@gmail.com Posted Feb 19, 2009, 4:12 am	Today we took a trip to Sydney. We had to go to Camperdown for an appointment for Sara's son, Andrew. But we decided since we had a bit of time to check out some of the local beaches... well, since Camperdown is pretty much in the CBD of Sydney we were directed to the beaches of the CBD. Which are extremely crowded, hard to get to and overall a pain in the butt. Especially driving, people don't drive in the CBD for a reason... but the GPS took us there so that's where we went... the concrete jungle was too much for the GPS though because it kept driving us in circles before finally getting us out... needless to say we gave up going to that beach and just decided to head back to Camperdown... Although I don't have any photos of me (it was too hard because we all kept slipping off of the dashboard) in the CBD but here are some of the things we saw... This is coming into the CBD around Darling Harbor. If you can see that little gold star on the left side of the picture... very pretty... and look at all those huge buildings... The next photos is the middle of the CBD on the main street of Sydney, George Street. In these photos you can see the Queen Victoria Building it's a very iconic landmark of Sydney... very beautiful isn't it?  Here's the statue right out front of it... Queen Victoria... if you look at the link connected to the Queen Victoria Building you can see what it looks like on the inside... very elegant! Next on the short tour through the lesser known CBD icons is the clock tower on Martin Place... isn't it gorgeous? Last but not least we got to see the AMP Tower people climb up on top of it and walk around the edge in what's called the Sydney Tower Skywalk part of the walk actually has a clear walkway so you can see straight down! Crazy! Well those are the lesser known parts of the CBD of Sydney. I hope you enjoyed the walk through so to speak. We hope to be taking another trip to Sydney in the coming days *fingers crossed* Write again soon mom!
sararingham sara.ringham@gmail.com Posted Feb 19, 2009, 4:15 am	Well I'm off to my next destination! Ipswich, Queensland! I wonder what I'll be able to see there!
susana susana.julio@gmail.com Posted Mar 6, 2009, 9:26 pm	I read all of this diary! Love it...lots of informations! Sky...you´re so lucky!
crizle crizle@westnet.com.au Posted Mar 28, 2009, 8:53 pm	Hello, I have been staying here in a very hot Queensland this month of March. Mainly I have been at home because my host is ill, but I have other Toy Voyagers here to chat with and some new doggy friends. Last week we went on a trip up to Toowoomba in the Darling Downs. It was alot of fun looking over the mountains there and visiting some interesting places. We went to the new Queensland 150 year memorial and had some nice long walks in Queens Park.
crizle crizle@westnet.com.au Posted Apr 27, 2009, 5:53 am	We had a nice day at Southbank sitting by the river and watching the boats. The Bouganvillia was in bloom and it was so pretty to sit in.
crizle crizle@westnet.com.au Posted Oct 26, 2009, 10:06 pm	I have been here such a long time and my host Mom hasn't been well enough to show me much more, so I have decided to hitch a ride with a visitor to this house. I have had a great time in Ipswich, Queensland. New adventures here I come.
misterteapot Posted Oct 26, 2009, 11:43 pm	Hitched a ride? Naaaaaah... misterteapot KIDNAPPED me!  He dragged me all around south-east Queensland and photographed me in some horrendous places! Now he's got me down here in rainy Coffs Harbour, on the mid-north coast of New South Wales! We left Ipswich Sunday 25 October 2009 and arrived Coffs Harbour Monday 27 October 2009.
misterteapot Posted Nov 8, 2009, 2:57 am	Saturday 24 October 2009 Today I travelled from Ipswich to Brisbane by train, to go to a Postcrossing Meetup.  Along the way from Roma Street Railway Station in Brisbane to Cafe "21" at the end of the Queen Street Mall, the teapot collected 4 more creatures to join us for morning tea... they are Karen Koala, Percy Platypus, Eustace Echidna and Wally Wombat.  This photograph shows glenasena, misterteapot and us enjoying a break from preparing postcards before the Meetup. Karen the Koala is very shy and is hiding behind teapot's latte...
misterteapot Posted Nov 8, 2009, 3:10 am	Saturday 24 October 2009 Here I am at the Postcrossing Meetup, held in "D'Amici's" Restaurant at South Bank... you can see the rest of the Meetup Fauna here with me.  The two strange looking birds are pens, a gift from Finnish postcrosser Huppu68 to crizle and glenasena...
misterteapot Posted Nov 8, 2009, 3:12 am	Saturday 24 October 2009 This next photograph shows what crizle had for her lunch... she didn't share
misterteapot Posted Nov 8, 2009, 3:17 am	Saturday 24 October 2009 This next photograph shows what the teapot had for his afternoon tea... it is called an affogato, a shot of espresso coffee poured over a scoop of vanilla ice-cream.  teapot has had this wonderful beverage in places all over the World (including several times here before at "D'Amici's"), but this is the first time he has ever seen it served in a cocktail glass
misterteapot Posted Feb 9, 2010, 11:26 pm	Here I am scanning some maps to work out a route to get from Ipswich to Coffs Harbour... (Sunday 25 October 2009) We travelled from Ipswich to Beaudesert, via Canungra to Nerang, where we stayed overnight in a Motel... Nerang is on the Nerang River, near to the famous Gold Coast of SE Queensland.
misterteapot Posted Feb 9, 2010, 11:42 pm	Next morning we travelled to Springwood National Park, in the Gold Coast Hinterland, SE Queensland... this next photo shows me having an early morning snack of Davidson's Plums (a native rain-forest tree; they are edible and contain very high amounts of vitamin C) and the berries from the Lilli Pilli tree (another native tree; these berries make wonderful jam)... then you can see me sitting on the sign leading towards the "Natural Bridge" (also known as the "Natural Arch"), one of the attractions in the park... the next photo shows me sitting on the safety rail near the Bridge (look how big the Davidson's Plums are here!)... then there is a picture of me with the sign telling people not to go into the cave under the Bridge, because it is not allowed for ToyVoyagers to go into the Glow-worm and Bat Cave... the last photograph shows me with a postcard from the "Natural Bridge".
misterteapot Posted Jun 1, 2010, 1:43 am	The next day (26'10'2010) we headed off for Coffs Harbour, down through the Numinbah Valley.  The first two photographs shows me on the signs that delineate the border between Queensland and New South Wales (I thought I had made a mistake with my route when I saw the sign "No Through Road" on the NSW border sign... but teapot told me that the sign was put there to keep the cane toads out of New South Wales... people from Queensland are called "Cane Toads" - there I am sitting on the fence post below the sign). We travelled through some beautiful countryside and visited many little towns along the way.  Unfortunately teapot's camera had "died" at the postcrossing Meetup, so there aren't many photographs of this wonderful trip.  The pictures you see here are courtesy of our travelling companion (postcrosser glenasena). One of the places we visited was Nimbin, and I went to the Nimbin Hemp Embassy to present my credentials.  Then I played the bongo in the Embassy, to see if I would qualify for the Nimbin Youth Orchestra (I always thought the bongo was part of the percussion section of the orchestra, but teapot assured me it is a wind instrument that you suck but don't blow). When it was lunchtime we went to a bakery and teapot bought me this icon of Australian cuisine... a genuine meat pie! Delicious!  Some people put a lot of tomato sauce on their pie, but teapot said I should eat it without any sauce, because I am saucy enough already!  While we were there a huge motorbike arrived and the owner (who was riding his way around Australia) told me I could have a little drive of it.  I couldn't reach the throttle, my arms are waaaaaaay too short! Later that afternoon we stopped at Kyogle for afternoon tea, and I had another delicious icon of Aussie cuisine... the truly wonderful "Cream Horn". It is made of flaky pastry in a cone shape (just like a waffle ice-cream cone) and filled with freshly whipped real cream, with a shot of strawberry jam added.  This particular bakery makes the real thing, filled with real cream, (not like most bakeries who use that dreadful confectioners cream made of who-knows-what)! We finally made it to Coffs Harbour, and I settled into the teapot's little flat out near Park Beach I hope you enjoy these pictures
misterteapot Posted Jun 3, 2010, 1:27 am	Hi hi everybody Today I went for a picnic to Karangi Dam, the storage reservoir for Coffs Harbour's water supply. http://www.coffsharbour.nsw.gov.au/www/html/508-karangi-dam.asp It was a very hot day, and we were the only visitors to the picnic area, which consists of ONE table with bench seats attached.  We had our lunch in the shade of some beautiful trees on the side of the road nearby. The first photograph shows me on the gate that gives entry to the dam wall (ToyVoyagers aren't allowed to go through the gate, but I could have slipped through easily!) The next photograph shows me on top of the box that is supposed to hold a "lifebuoy", to be used in case I fell into the water.  There was no glass to break, there was no lifebuoy!  So, I went on lifeguard duty for a while, just in case anybody fell into the water... nobody did... nobody came The next photograph shows me hanging around one of the bridge's we had to cross to get home... where I am staying is surrounded by rivers and creeks... I don't know how to pronounce this river's name!  Or the bridge name! Strange people these Aussies... they give funny names to things! The last photograph shows me sitting on the barrier put across the road to stop people from driving into the Orara River!  During the big floods that were in this area earlier this year the bridge across the river here got washed away! teapot's street address is now "South Island Loop Road" (we moved out here from the city last November)... this doesn't mean that there is a "North Island Loop Road"!  What it means is that Island Loop Road is exactly that, a Loop Road that goes around an island created by the Orara River, and teapot lives on the southern portion of the road, so, "South Island Loop Road"... simple! Because the road was cut here, we had to drive home the long way, via North Island Loop Road
misterteapot Posted Jun 7, 2010, 2:16 am	Today I went to Christmas lunch with a some friends.  We went to a beautiful park near the Coffs Harbour Jetty and Marina.  There weren't many people there when we arrived, but by lunchtime the park was full to overflowing.  The traditional Christmas cooked lunch is not so common now in Australia, and the majority of people will have a barbecue, or a picnic, or seafood and salad (of course some people still do the roasted chicken/turkey, ham, baked potatoes, roasted pumpkin, with sauces and gravies, and all sorts of other foods). The first photograph shows me fighting off a huge dragon that came to eat all our food!  teapot said it is called a "blue-tongued lizard" but it sure looks like a dragon to me! http://australianmuseum.net.au/Eastern-Blue-tongue-Lizard The next photo shows me sitting in the (almost empty!) container that teapot brought some cinnamon rolls in that he had made for our morning tea (traditional Finnish recipe). Then there is a photo of me having a rest with another strange creature that was at the gathering... he/she is sitting awful close! You can also see me eating my Christmas pudding, with brandy custard... the cardboard box in the background has my drinking water in it :P The last photograph shows me and the Purple People Eater having a little doze in the Christmas tree... zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
misterteapot Posted Jun 9, 2010, 2:19 am	Today teapot took me for a tour by road.  We drove up towards Grafton and then diverted onto Armidale road towards Dorrigo.  We had our morning tea in the town park at Nymboida.  You can see me in the first photograph sitting among the goodies The next photograph shows me near the Jack Feeney Memorial Tallowwood tree, just outside Dorrigo.  This tree is huge! It is 57m tall! In the afternoon we went to see the beautiful Dangar Falls... On the way home we called in to see the abandoned Railway Station at Ulong, on the (now closed) Glenreagh to Dorrigo Railway line... one photograph shows me sitting in the 'bus that once met the trains to take the people up to the town of Ulong.  Another shows me sitting in the air-conditioned carriages that they used on this line... and some others around the railway yard. It was a lovely sunny day and I really enjoyed my trip
misterteapot Posted Jun 16, 2010, 12:32 am	Here I am looking after the cows while they have their lunch teapot's house is right in the middle of a HUGE dairy farm and the girls often come up to the paddocks that circle the house and yard.  These are all Jersey cows... they give lots of rich creamy milk.  Upper Orara is in a high rainfall area, caused by the mountains that surround the district (that's why the grass is so long and green)... we are actually in the Orara Valley. There are a lot more girls than this in the herd!  The others are off in another paddock somewhere else
misterteapot Posted Jun 17, 2010, 12:45 am	LIFE MISSION teapot likes to read two or three books simultaneously, and this photograph shows me with the three books being read now. The big book I am sitting on is a biography of Dennis Potter by Humphrey Carpenter... Hardback: 672 pages Publisher: faber and faber (1998) Language: English ISBN: 0 571 17685 2 The book on the left is a novel, "The Rule of Four", by Ian Caldwell and Dustin Thomason... Paperback: 527 pages Publisher: arrow books (2005) Language: English ISBN: 0 09 945195 6 The book on the right is an autobiographical series of short stories, "Footloose in Australia", by Patsy Adam-Smith... Paperback: 180 pages Publisher: Rigby (1977) Language: English ISBN: 0 7270 0272 4
misterteapot Posted Jun 20, 2010, 2:46 am	The first photograph shows Mrs Rednecked pademelon with her baby (called a "joey") having breakfast in our back yard early this morning... the second photograph is a better view of them over my head... they are looking straight at me! http://www.rootourism.com/fsheet66.htm
misterteapot Posted Jun 20, 2010, 2:54 am	Do you remember this first photograph? It was taken on 22 November last year... I was just hanging around Houlahans Bridge and enjoying the breeze... well, the second photograph, taken today (20'06'2010) shows me on the same signpost (that's ME! Sitting on the sign between RIVER and BRIDGE), but with the NEW Houlahans Bridge under construction in the background... and then a photo showing the new bridge more clearly... it is to be officially opened sometime this month.
misterteapot Posted Jun 20, 2010, 2:58 am	More bridge photos! The first photo was also taken on 22 November last year and shows the hole where the bridge on our road should have been... the second photo shows me admiring the NEW bridge
misterteapot Posted Jun 20, 2010, 3:09 am	Now I know where the Wombles live! The Wombles are famous! There is Great Uncle Bulgaria, Tobermory, Orinoco, Madame Cholet and Wongi (to name a few). http://www.tidybag.co.uk/people/elisabeth-beresford-biography/ Wongi is so famous he had this creek named after him!
misterteapot Posted Jun 20, 2010, 3:15 am	Look at this BIG chicken wandering through the paddock! teapot says it is an Emu... http://www.australianfauna.com/emu.php But I know a turkey when I see one!!!
misterteapot Posted Jul 4, 2010, 1:01 am	Lamington Day! Lamingtons are a traditional Australian cake, usually eaten when having a cup of tea or coffee, or sometimes as dessert.  They are named after Rt Hon Charles Wallace Alexander Napier Cochrane Baillie, Baron Lamington, GCMG, Governor of Queensland from 9 April 1896 to 19 December 1901. Ingredients for the cake... 3 eggs 1/2 a cup of castor sugar 3/4 of a cup of self-raising flour 1/4 of a cup of cornflour 15g of butter 3 tablespoons of hot water Method... Beat the eggs until they are thick and creamy. Gradually add the  sugar and continue beating until the sugar is completely dissolved. Fold in sifted SR flour and cornflour, then combined water and butter. Pour the mixture into a prepared lamington tray. Bake in a moderate (about 160-180C) oven for about 30 mins. Let the cake stand in the tray for 5 min before turning it out onto a wire rack to cool. Ingredients for the icing... 3 cups of desiccated coconut 500g of icing sugar 1/3 of a cup of cocoa or drinking chocolate 15g of butter 1/2 a cup of milk Method... Sift the icing sugar and cocoa into a heatproof bowl. Stir in the butter and milk. Stir over a saucepan of hot water until the icing is smooth and glossy. To make the lamingtons... Trim the top and sides from the cake. Cut into square-shaped even pieces. Holding each piece on a fork, dip them into the icing. Hold the cakes over the bowl to drain off excess icing. Toss each cake in a bowl of the dessicated coconut. Put the cakes onto the lamington tray to set. These cakes freeze well and keep for several days in the refrigerator... The first photograph shows me sitting in the sort of baking pan you will need to make lamingtons. The second photograph shows me getting ready to EAT the lamingtons NOTES The "cup" used for this recipe is of 250ml capacity (2.5dl) Castor sugar is finely ground ordinary white sugar Icing sugar (powdered sugar, confectioner's sugar) is ordinary white sugar that is more finely ground than castor sugar. Dessicated coconut is dried and shredded coconut meat and looks something like white sawdust.
misterteapot Posted Jul 27, 2010, 11:52 pm	Tuesday 27'07'2010 Bath Day
misterteapot Posted Aug 21, 2010, 7:01 am	Today is Polling Day for the Australian Federal Elections! teapot took me to Karangi Public School (a tiny school with only 80 pupils) just up the road a bit from where I live The first photograph shows me checking out the Electoral Roll for the Federal seat of Cowper.  The lady with me is the Electoral Official for this Polling Place.  She couldn't find my name on the roll anywhere! The second photograph shows me checking out the Polling Booth.  These are made out of cardboard... they fold flat when not in use for easy storage.  This polling place has 3 polling booths... some of the Polling Places in big cities have hundreds of them lined up in rows.  This Polling Place was allocated 500 sets of voting papers.  We got here at 13.30 and we were given the 401st set of papers. The third photograph shows me in the Polling Booth with the two voting papers.  The small green one is for the House of Representatives and there are 5 candidates to choose from.  The big white paper folded around the back of the booth is for the Half Senate Election and there are 267 candidates!!!!! The last photograph shows me sitting on the Ballot Boxes.  These are also made out of cardboard... they can be used again and again I wasn't allowed to have a vote because there had been a mix-up in the records and my name wasn't on the roll
misterteapot Posted Sep 11, 2010, 11:55 pm	Wednesday 08'09'2010 Today teapot took me to the "Big Banana" at Coffs Harbour. Coffs Harbour is a tourist destination on the mid north coast of New South Wales... the area is known as "The Banana Coast"  The city of Coffs Harbour is surrounded by banana plantations. The "Big Banana" was built in 1964 and is the first "big" thing in the whole of Australia! Aussies love "BIG" things, they are all over the country  The first photograph shows me sitting on the camera mount in front of the "Big Banana"... look how big it is!  The second photograph shows me inside the "Big Banana"... originally there were photographs showing how bananas grow displayed in here, but now it only has photographs of the different things you can do while visiting the site... there are water slides and an ice-skating rink etc. The third photograph shows me sitting on the balcony rail of the cafe area behind the "Big Banana" and the last photo shows me sitting on a big banana being cuddled by a black monkey!
misterteapot Posted Dec 25, 2010, 10:38 pm	Saturday 25 December 2010 - Upper Orara NSW Australia Christmas Day 2010! Here are some photos of me getting ready to have my Christmas Lunch!  I was really hungry and the teapot kept me waiting forever!  The first photo shows me sitting quietly at the table, surrounded by my Christmas Cards, sent by friends from all over the World! The second picture shows the goodies!  All for me! Stand back!!!!!  The third photo shows what's left of the main course!  And the last photo shows me about to devour my Christmas pudding! With brandy custard!
misterteapot Posted Dec 31, 2010, 9:32 am	The last day of 2010... I'm going to Vesna! I'm going to Vesna!  teapot can only go to town of a Friday, and today is Friday!  We drove to Coffs Harbour so he could put me into the mail system and send me on my way to Vesna in far, far away Slovenia! When we got to the Post Office at the Plaza, it was closed!  We drove to the other Post Office in Coffs Harbour, at the Palm Centre, and it was closed!  (Today and next Monday are gazetted holidays for the Post Office staff, because of the long hours they had to work leading up to the Christmas/New Year's break... they didn't bother to tell anybody this... it was written on a piece of paper on the PO door!). Believe it or not, teapot had a brainwave!  He really did!  And because he had a brainwave, I am now on my way to Vesna!  teapot drove us all the way to Coramba, a tiny little town on the way to Grafton... it was a loooooooong way, but it was worth it!  Coramba Post Office is a franchise office, and the people who own a Post Office franchise can work any hours they want to!  So, I am on my way to stay with Vesna and her Mama and Papa  The first photograph shows me with my special travel box  The second photograph shows me trying the box for size... and I fit nicely inside, together with some bubble wrap to keep me comfortable, and some postcards for Vesna's Mama  SLOVENIA! HERE I COME!
misterteapot Posted Apr 4, 2011, 12:23 am	Today is 04 April 2011 and we have had no word about Skywalker since he was mailed to Vesna on 31'12'2011. On 21 February 2011 misterteapot sent Vesna's Mama an e-mail, enquiring as to if Skywalker had arrived... On 22 February 2011 a reply was received, which says, in part... OMG, yes!!! He arrived last week! I'll make a post to ToyVoyagers tonight... But, sadly, that didn't eventuate

Back