Bubu, Santiago de Compostela, Spain

-María-


Posted Apr 24, 2009, 7:32 pm
Hey!,

I'm Bubu and I live in Santiago de Compostela, a small city located in Galicia (North West of Spain) which is also quite well-known for being the destination of the way of St. James (this is apparently, according to María, something that may attract some TVs to come here since the way of St. James or "Camiño de Santiago" is a historical pilgrimage route since the Middle Ages :o). Anyway, I already visited every single place here and I need some adventures! I'm looking forward to visiting you! :D. I promise I'll be a good bear.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3552/3485902749_72e289900b.jpg
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3388/3486718252_c81480e657.jpg
-María-


Posted Apr 29, 2009, 6:30 pm
I'm in my way to Austria!... I've never been so happy  :D
marcie08


Posted Apr 30, 2009, 10:58 am
Hi Mom,

I just wanted to let you know that I arrived safely here in Graz today!

I also met another toyvoyager, Germania.

And I arrived just in time for breakfast!

Bye for now,
Bubu
marcie08


Posted May 4, 2009, 9:37 am
Hi Mom!

It's me again. On the weekend we finally had a beautiful day and so we had a little icecream-feast  B) But don't worry - I haven't eaten everything on my own!

And I started sightseeing! I went to the Palais Saurau in Sporgasse, where a Turk with his dagger is looking down from an opening just below the cornice of the Palais. There are many different stories about the Turk there: One is that the Turks had taken Graz, except the fortress on the Schlossberg. When a Turkish pasha was having dinner in today's Palais Saurau, a cannon ball shot from Schlossberg and hit his plate with the delicious roast. The latter flew out of the window. What else could he do but gaze after it? In his rage, he ordered the withdrawal of the Turks from Graz.

As in fact, however, the Turks have never occupied Graz, the story must have been different. Opinions about the original function of the wooden figure with Turkish features are divided. Maybe the Counts of Saurau just followed a fashion which caught on after the great victory over the Turks in 1683, and decorated their house "alla turca".

Another story is that when the cannon ball hit the Palais, the Turk wanted to flee the place, but had eaten to many dumplings and therefore got stuck there.

Anyway, you can see me with the Turk in the background.

The next picture shows me and Germania on the Karmeliterplatz and the small fountain there!

Bye for now, or as they say in Austria: Pfiat di!
marcie08


Posted May 4, 2009, 9:43 am
Hi Mom!


Today I was invited for dinner and I enjoyed traditional Austrian food. I had Grießnockerlsuppe (it's a soup made of beef and has semolina dumplings in it) and  Tafelspitz, which is the meat from which the soup is made. You serve it traditionally with potatoes and apple-horseraddish.

I really liked it! And I also enjoyed a glass of Styrian wine! But don't worry- just a small one  ;)

Baba (Bye) for now!

Bubu
marcie08


Posted May 4, 2009, 9:53 am
Hi Mom,

I wrote you a postcard today! It is on its way! Hope you like it!

Love, BUBU  :D
marcie08


Posted May 7, 2009, 2:45 pm
Hi Mom!

Did you know I'm an awesome gardener? It was so much fun! We first went to a garden center and we could almost not decide on what to buy!

We then bought some flowers and a lot of vegetables. We planted tomatoes, zucchini, cucumber, a lot of different herbs and some fruit like cranberry and strawberry!

It was pretty hard work, preparing the pots with the soil and then planting! We had to clean up the balcony afterwards, because we TV's spilled the flower soil everywhere  :rolleyes:

So, what do you think? We did a pretty good job, didn't we?
marcie08


Posted May 7, 2009, 2:51 pm
Hallo Mama (I'm practising my German  :D ),

today we wanted to bake something! So Germania and I looked for a recipe which looked pretty easy to make...

....well, we must have gotten something wrong.... maybe we opened the oven to often? The cupcakes came out a little to dark, a bit to squishy in the middle and they had a crater in the middle  B) Oooops...

But we will try again!

Bye for now!
Bussi Bubu (Kiss)
marcie08


Posted May 10, 2009, 8:06 pm
Hi Mom!

Happy Mother's Day! Today, they are celebrating their moms here and we had BBQ and cake- too much of everything...

And here are some flowers for you:

Love you!
marcie08


Posted May 13, 2009, 3:30 pm
Hello Mommy,

I wanted to show you some of my activities from Mother's day!

You can see me in front of the BBQ- you have to be careful there because the grill is very hot! But it was really tasty!

Then we met my host-mom-mom's dog (the dog of my host-grandma, as you can say... :rolleyes: ) called Benni. She is really friendly, but huge! But after she had sniffed us we became friends quickly!

The weather was beautiful and it was warm. After BBQing we also had a taste of a delicious vanilla-raspberry-cake.

Bye for now!
Bubu
marcie08


Posted May 21, 2009, 11:38 am
Hi Mom!

Sorry I haven't updated my Travelog so often, but I've been quite busy as you will see now.


We did some more sightseeing! We went to the Burg (Castle complex) built by Frederick III.
In the Burg you can find the famous Gothic double staircase. You can see me sitting there on a picture.

Some monarchs chose Graz as their residence. That's why there's a big Mausoleum next to the Burg. You can see me in front of it.

Next to the Musoleum is the Cathedral, where I was resting on the stairs.
marcie08


Posted May 21, 2009, 11:47 am
Hallo Mom and "Grüß Gott" (it's a saying for good day- it's very traditional and has a Catholic origin)!

I went to the city center again and visited the number one meeting point The Weikhard-Uhr! That's a clock in front of a jeweller store and a place to meet for first dates or meeting friends!

Then we went on to the City Hall. You see me in front of it. The next picture is me looking in the atrium, where you can see the entrance of the Sacher, a café where they serve the traditional Sacher cake.

After that I had a nice coffee and a creamcheese bagle in a café.

At the end of my city trip we went to the Bärenland, a shop where they sell gummi-baers. Yummi!

That was fun!

Bye!
marcie08


Posted May 21, 2009, 11:50 am
Hello Mom!

I did another visit to the city center today! We started in the city's oldest warehouse, the Kastner and Öhler. They are building a new restaurant up there on the roof. You can see me in front of the construction site!

Then I went on to the Mehlplatz, a place in the inner city, where you find a lot of cafés and restaurants! It's so nice to sit there!

Then I went to the Glockenspielplatz, where you can find a carillon. But the figures didn't come out... Look it up here: Carillon - Glockenspiel


And then I had a very nice cake at Frankowitsch. I almost didn't know which cake to try, they all lokked soooooooo delicious!!!!


I really enjoyed the cakes!!! You have to come here and try them yoursellf!

Bye Mom, hope you don't miss me too much!
marcie08


Posted May 21, 2009, 11:54 am
Hi Mom!

I visited the opera today! Just from the outside though. You can see me on the balcony of the small opera, which was built for the blind, so that they can feel what the building lokks like.

And I also met Beethoven  ;)

Next to the oper is a piece of modern art, built during the Styrian art festival Steirischer Herbst.

Bye!
marcie08


Posted May 21, 2009, 11:58 am
Hi Mom!

I went to the Farmer's Market today. We bought some vegetables!
And then I played on the playground with Germania.

That was fun!

Bye for now!
bubu
marcie08


Posted May 21, 2009, 12:00 pm
Hi Mom,
I did something for my brain,  :rolleyes:
today I visited the University of Applied sciences and then I rested in the park!
Germania was quite a nice pillow!

Love, Bubu
marcie08


Posted May 25, 2009, 6:18 pm
Hallo Mama,

Today I helped to make cupcakes and muffins! This was great! I measured the ingridients and whisked them together.
Then I lined the muffin tins and tried if I fit in a paper liner. I almost did  :thinking: which means the muffins were quite huge compared to my small self. Then I filled the tins, put them in the oven, waited 25 minutes and controlled then with a stick, if it cames out clean when inserted into the muffin, so that I knew that they were ready. I took a oven mitt, took the muffins out of the oven and let them cool! I'm a chef! :D

And if you ask yourself how the muffins were ... delicious  B)

Bye!
marcie08


Posted May 25, 2009, 6:20 pm
Hi Mom!

Today was a holiday here and my hosts had friends invited for a huge breakfast. You can see me on the table as I checked if everything was ready! We also tried the muffins we had baked yesterday.
The breakfast was really great but I ate so much so that I had to recover on the couch!

Bussi (Kiss) Bubu
marcie08


Posted May 27, 2009, 1:01 pm
Hi Mom!

A new toyvoyager has arrived: MrCoolHH. He likes everything red!
He was lucky to have just arrived in time for the Linzertorte.

I have to go back to my cake now- I don't want the others to eat my slice  ;)

Bye, BUBU
marcie08


Posted May 28, 2009, 6:58 pm
Hi Mom!

I had so much fun today! We TVs helped our host-mom to make a present. We made placemats for the birthday of a friend of our host. We put a template on the placemet and then dabbed it with a special fabric paint. I think we did a pretty good job! Then the mats needed to dry and we had to wait for several hours. Then we had to iron it, so that the paint would stay on the mat even when it would be washed in the washing machine.

Liebe Grüße, Bubu
marcie08


Posted Jun 3, 2009, 11:27 am
Hi Mom!

This weekend we went up on the Schlossberg. First we had lunch in a nice little restaurant up there. You can see me with a Vulkanlandplatte, which is a plate of assorted Vulkanland-Ham. The Vulkanland is a part of Southern Styria, where we once had vulcanoes- a long time ago...

We then went on to the Clocktower (Uhrturm in German). There is something going on with the hands of this clock... First, the clock just had a long hand for the hours, so that those could be seen from far away. Later they added the small hand, for minutes. Normally it's the other way around...

We also looked down on the Kunsthaus, the museum of Art and photography. You can see it in the background- it looks like a blue bubble and is also called the friendly alien!

On the last picture you can see me looking down at the Townhall.

I really enjoyed this day so far because it was a beautiful and sunny day!
marcie08


Posted Jun 3, 2009, 11:43 am
Hi Mom!

There is a bank holiday today in Austria, so we decided to continue our sightseeing tour.

We went to the Mur Island. It was built for the Cultural Capital of Europe in 2003 and now houses a café.

Then we went to Herrengasse, the main street in the pedestrian area and looked at the Painted House. The facade has about 220 suare meters of frescos on it.

We went further on to the Landhaus. You see me in the courtyard, looking at the arcades. On the second picture of the Landhaus you can see the Styrian crest in the background, a white panther on green background.

After my sightseeing tour I was a bit tired but I got an icecream cone. Sorry, no pics of that one  B).

Love you,
Bubu
marcie08


Posted Jun 5, 2009, 3:32 pm
Hi Mom!

Today was my big day! I'm off to my new host in Australia now!

Yesterday we had a Goodbye-Party! We had some champagne and a lot of fun! Snuttig also starts his journey!
It was a bit sad to say goodbye to my new friends, but I'm pretty excited to travel that far!

Maybe I'll see some of my fellow TVs again!

Let's go to the post office now!

Auf Wiedersehen in Australien!
Bubu
sararingham
sara.ringham@gmail.com

Posted Jun 10, 2009, 8:57 am
Hi mom! I arrived in Australia... after only 5 days! Wow I wonder if that's record time... Sara things it was quite fast actually... I'm already going to be going on a short road trip... tomorrow were going to Bathurst. Maybe I can see some kangaroos? That would be a great way to start my Australian journey wouldn't it? Write again soon! Miss you mom! :-)
sararingham
sara.ringham@gmail.com

Posted Jun 13, 2009, 2:42 pm
In case you were wondering, here's a picture of me on the street I'm living on for the time being... Kokoda Street... I'm pictured with the new toyvoyager that Sara is hosting Eeyore Cutie...
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y289/saragoescrazy3/toyvoyagers2/eeyore_bubu_orangemain3.jpg

We had to do a very quick stop off at home before we left to Bathurst... Sara got bored in the car so she took a few photos... little known and little annoying fact about living on Kokoda Street? There are people that park on either side of the street so it makes it nearly impossible to drive down the street sometimes... hah! How annoying... I'm sure glad I don't drive! It's too crazy down here...

Anyways, onto Bathurst...
sararingham
sara.ringham@gmail.com

Posted Jun 13, 2009, 3:42 pm
Today we visited Bathurst... this time it was a bit more rushed than normal, but we still checked out one of the biggest reasons people drive all the way out West... for the Mount Panorama race track, which holds the famous Bathurst 1000 which stops the nation every October, and makes everyone in the Central West quiver with fear as there are SO many people that come from all over just to see the races... it's a mad house in October...

I got to see the now famous Peter Brock statue that was unveiled last year at the races. He died a day or two after the famous Steve Irwin died... he's famous for winning the most races at this track... he's won 9 races at this track. Tragically he died in a qualifying a few days before a race, not at this track though thankfully... although there have been a few deaths on this track sadly... and some, not human...
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y289/saragoescrazy3/110609/bubu_statue.jpg

...Sara took us up to an over pass section just near the entrance of the track to take some photos up there... Sara's not great with heights but she did it anyways, here I am looking at the starting gate of the track... quite fancy yes?
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y289/saragoescrazy3/110609/bubu_startinggate.jpg

...and of course I can't visit Mount Panorama without seeing the famous 'Mount Panorama' sign on the side of the mountain... apparently when they were making this sign in the 70's someone messed with the rocks that used to make up the sign and made it say a bad word... which they then published in a newspaper, quickly realizing their mistake, had to gather all the newspapers which had already been delivered before the morning. Kind of a funny story none the less... haha...
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y289/saragoescrazy3/110609/bubu_mountpanorama.jpg

Sara found this a bit funny... when she got up there there was a tractor on the track...
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y289/saragoescrazy3/110609/startinggate.jpg

Finally, we got to take a ride on the track itself... if you look at the ad's on the side you can see some accidents that would have happened. Towards the end of the photos, you can see a blue sign that says "Falken" it's got a huge gash in the cement... that happened last year in a non fatal accident thankfully... and when you see the 'Holden' signs and then the drop, that's the top of the mountain that you can see from the Mount Panorama sign photo that I'm in if you look closely... :-) Anyways, here's the photos:
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y289/saragoescrazy3/110609/toyvoyagers_panorama1.jpg
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y289/saragoescrazy3/110609/toyvoyagers_panorama2.jpg
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y289/saragoescrazy3/110609/toyvoyagers_panorama3.jpg
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y289/saragoescrazy3/110609/toyvoyagers_panorama4.jpg
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y289/saragoescrazy3/110609/toyvoyagers_panorama5.jpg
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y289/saragoescrazy3/110609/toyvoyagers_panorama6.jpg
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y289/saragoescrazy3/110609/toyvoyagers_panorama7.jpg
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y289/saragoescrazy3/110609/toyvoyagers_panorama8.jpg
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y289/saragoescrazy3/110609/toyvoyagers_panorama9.jpg
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y289/saragoescrazy3/110609/toyvoyagers_panorama10.jpg
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y289/saragoescrazy3/110609/toyvoyagers_panorama11.jpg
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y289/saragoescrazy3/110609/toyvoyagers_panorama12.jpg
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y289/saragoescrazy3/110609/toyvoyagers_panorama13.jpg
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y289/saragoescrazy3/110609/toyvoyagers_panorama14.jpg
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y289/saragoescrazy3/110609/toyvoyagers_panorama15.jpg
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y289/saragoescrazy3/110609/toyvoyagers_panorama16.jpg
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y289/saragoescrazy3/110609/toyvoyagers_panorama17.jpg
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y289/saragoescrazy3/110609/toyvoyagers_panorama18.jpg
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y289/saragoescrazy3/110609/toyvoyagers_panorama19.jpg
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y289/saragoescrazy3/110609/toyvoyagers_panorama20.jpg
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y289/saragoescrazy3/110609/toyvoyagers_panorama21.jpg

So now you've seen the track up close and personal, it doesn't look like much but I can promise you at the speeds they go it would be kind of scary! Especially that drop, it's quite a tight turn after the drop as well... pretty exciting... now many V8 tracks you can drive on. Funny enough, sometimes people have to drive on part of the track to get to their houses, and there's a TAFE (community college) right next to the track as well. Not to mention quite a lot of vineyards...

Sadly since the kangaroo view area that we go to is close by this area, sometimes there are kangaroos that are hit on the track while the race is going on... pretty crazy, quite a few near misses as well! Poor things!

Sadly this time we didn't see any kangaroos when we went and searched for them! Ah well! Write again soon mom! Miss you!
sararingham
sara.ringham@gmail.com

Posted Jun 27, 2009, 8:17 am
Hi mom! Sorry I haven't updated in a long time! It's been crazy down here, Sara hasn't been able to take us out really at all... she said she's very sorry but has a few things planned for next fortnight. Hopefully she can do a bit more sightseeing around Orange...

Since I wrote Miily and Rob Dyrduck left us for China and Libbs a tiny tiny brown bunny came to visit us. It's been quite fun... today it's been very rainy so we weren't able to go out like Sara wanted to do today... ah well! More to do in the next few weeks then!

Today we decided to help Sara make a spaghetti dinner for her Daniel and us of course... she doesn't have spaghetti very often so she always makes so much more than she needs (not on purpose just because she forgets)... whatever she and Daniel don't eat just goes to the dog, Anni.

Here I am helping with the cooking of the onion and the spaghetti, as you can tell were only in the beginning stages of the cooking at this point... were trying to rush it though so we can sit down and watch a movie... :-)
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y289/saragoescrazy3/tv_cooking/bubu_cooking1.jpg

...and now we brown the meat...
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y289/saragoescrazy3/tv_cooking/bubu_cooking2.jpg

...and add in the tomato and tomato sauce... yummy!
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y289/saragoescrazy3/tv_cooking/bubu_cooking3.jpg

...and we drain the noodles...
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y289/saragoescrazy3/tv_cooking/bubu_cooking4.jpg

...and while Sara serves up the plate (everyone eats off of one plate when it's spaghetti - hah) we sat down and watched some of Sara's favorite show lately Masterchef Australia... there are only 5 people left now (well 4 now) with two people that beat celebrity chefs so they're going to the final week... Sara's favourite is Andre, which is who is on the TV in the first photo...
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y289/saragoescrazy3/tv_cooking/toyvoyagers_andre.jpg

...and they're in Hong Kong right now... this is Gary, one of the judges trying his dish...
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y289/saragoescrazy3/tv_cooking/toyvoyagers_gary-1.jpg

...It was a very good dish Gary told Andre... sadly he didn't win the test though so he had to go through something called the 'Hong Kong Super Challenge'... sounds pretty confusing I'm sure, but Sara's been hooked right in - haha... but Sara was taping it so we watched a bit more before they turned on American Beauty and watched that...
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y289/saragoescrazy3/tv_cooking/toyvoyagers_food.jpg

So now you have a bit of an idea of what Sara and Daniel's average night looks like... there have been a lot of movies being played, since it's the cooler months it's much easier to snuggle up in a blanket and watch movies! I promise we'll do something more fun soon! Write again soon mom! Miss you!
sararingham
sara.ringham@gmail.com

Posted Jun 29, 2009, 8:41 am
We got two new visitors today! Charlis the dog, and Moxy ugly doll the... ugly doll... wait, I see Charlis but where is Moxy?...
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y289/saragoescrazy3/290609/toyvoyagers_uglydolls.jpg

Oh there he is! He was hiding with the much larger ugly dolls that Sara has... they're kind of cute though for being "ugly" dolls aren't they?
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y289/saragoescrazy3/290609/toyvoyagers_uglydolls2.jpg

Sara decided since she has been lazy to show you her pets. I know of them know, crazy animals! But you don't so... here's a photo of Sara's beagle Anni. She's insane. To say the least... as you can tell that's her front "lawn" which more looks like a dirt pile because of the dog... fun! Anni has been quite a handful and very hard for Daniel and Sara to take care of when they have Sara's son Andrew, who is disabled... so I'm sure you can imagine... hah!
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y289/saragoescrazy3/290609/anni.jpg

Next is Sara's birds... she's got an aviary in her kitchen... quite a funny place but it's the best place for the light. Here I am in front of the birds... there are nine Star finches both the red and yellow faced, four Gouldian finches, Zebra finches, two Spice finches, two Society finches, that look more like this, and two Diamond doves. She also has two bottom dwelling birds, two Button Quail, which also look more like this for the male, and without the "bib" for the female. Can you see all the different birds?
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y289/saragoescrazy3/290609/bubu_birds.jpg

Sara decided this time to take a small video so you had some ideas of the sounds they make, since for such small birds they're very vocal... VERY vocal... hah! Here's a short video if you want to see it right here. It's not easy to tell, but the zebras are making most of the noise, where as the few chirps here and there are the society finches, the peeps at the end are the star finches. One of the male Gouldians kind of... dive bombed the star finches on the platform at the end of the video - whoops! The spice finches only make noise during the morning mainly... quite noisy birds in the morning haha! Ah well, it's always fun to watch them... they're all Australian birds except for the society finch, which isn't native to anywhere... it's a captive bred bird for mixed aviaries. :-)

Anyways, moving on... Sara's also got some mice... 3 domestic mice, and 3 wild mice (the smaller cages below since they're so small)... there's a Fawn coloured one (kind of tan/orange coloured) called Fluff, a little brown one called Bongo, that Sara believes was a domestic mouse and a wild mouse must have bred and was taken to the pet store... she's also got a long haired black mouse called Shadow... they sleep in a hamburger! How crazy is that! hehe... you can't see it though because it's in the paper at the bottom... :-)
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y289/saragoescrazy3/290609/bubu_mice.jpg

Sara's also got some fish... don't mind the 'Sara' on the side of the tank... that was all thanks to Sara's husband Daniel. They're mostly platies, but a few Chinese barb fish that have been around since 2005 when Sara moved down! There's also a bristlenose catfish, also known as a sucker fish that are common in pet stores in the US. There's also some kuhli loaches but you'd never know.. they hide so well!
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y289/saragoescrazy3/290609/bubu_fish.jpg

Sara's also got some... well, I wouldn't call them pets by any stretch of the mind... but Sara's getting her bathroom re modelled in a few days since it's old and well... falling apart. It's very common here for bugs to get into the houses, this includes slugs, snails, spiders... all those weird things... well, Sara had a few slugs and a snail in the back of her house so she "rescued" them so they weren't killed and is releasing them outside... here we are with the few slugs in the container... yucky slimy things eh?
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y289/saragoescrazy3/290609/toyvoyagers_slugs.jpg

Well, that was all of Sara's pets.. quite a story with all of them isn't there! haha! She's quite the animal lover, and her animals love her back! She even had a partial tame Gouldian finch baby! Well, I'll end this with a photo of me looking outside... been quite dark and dreary outside lately! Oh well, it's Winter time I suppose!
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y289/saragoescrazy3/290609/bubu_outside.jpg

Write again soon!
sararingham
sara.ringham@gmail.com

Posted Jul 1, 2009, 7:40 am
Well, this was day 1 of 10... we surely didn't get up early but we tried to sleep in but the loud BANG BANG BANG! Really woke us up! What was that? Well, it was a contractor in Sara's shower area tearing everything apart... ugh! She says they really needed it since when the shower was built it was not built right and tiles were falling off... so they tore all that off and jack hammered the floor... see this is all the stuff they took off the bathroom? Can you imagine? Geez that's a lot of stuff there!...
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y289/saragoescrazy3/bubu_remodel.jpg

...when the contractor was done for the day we had a bit of a look back there... it's amazing, the difference even from yesterday. The right corner of the photo was where the shower is (you can see the piping a leading to the shower head). The window, on the left side was a sink... and in front of all this... was a really big wall. He tore down the wall though, pretty quickly mind you!... it's all a big surprise even to Sara and Daniel - they're not sure what it's going to look like in the end... but I'm sure it'll be nice... interesting to watch it step by step though! Here I am in front of the now torn apart shower area...
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y289/saragoescrazy3/bubu_remodel2.jpg

Write again soon!
sararingham
sara.ringham@gmail.com

Posted Jul 8, 2009, 9:25 am
Today we went to Bathurst... on the way to somewhere else... but on the way we stopped in Bathurst and had a look to see if we could see some wildlife... and indeed we did... can you see him?
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y289/saragoescrazy3/070709/kangaroo1.jpg

Sara had a hard time getting an actual photo of him... took a few shots and focusing again and again to get a clear one... here's a much closer shot. As you can see they're very nervous creatures... and they need to be unfortunately because a lot of kangaroos get shot by local farmers! :-(
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y289/saragoescrazy3/070709/kangaroo2.jpg

Just as Sara was looking around a bit more for anyone else, someone behind her popped up and looked quite nervous ready to jump away at any time... thankfully she stayed there... almost posed for the camera... :-)
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y289/saragoescrazy3/070709/kangaroo3.jpg

Right near the last one, was a much smaller one laying down next to her... Sara tried to get a photo of one laying down and just as she clicked he started to get up...
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y289/saragoescrazy3/070709/kangaroo4_down.jpg

...and here he is in all his glory... pretty small kangaroo though..
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y289/saragoescrazy3/070709/kangaroo5_up.jpg

Sara finally decided now that she's got some proof I've seen a kangaroo we can get in the shot... sometimes they're very nervous and bounce away before Sara can get a toyvoyager in a shot... so precautionary measures.. here I am, see them behind me?
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y289/saragoescrazy3/070709/bubu_kangaroos.jpg

After another 20 or so shots Sara decided to get a last shot of the first kangaroo we saw... she realizes it's the one she sees all the time in the photos - he's got very distinctive eyes...
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y289/saragoescrazy3/070709/kangaroo6.jpg

Sara has another scan around the area and doesn't see anymore... and then... what's this? Do you see it?
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y289/saragoescrazy3/070709/bubu_kangaroos2.jpg

It took a good trained eye to notice it... but a large kangaroo is laying there... here's a closer shot of him... he doesn't seem to mind us there - although still quite a distance I think he's more concerned about getting some shut eye than paying attention to us!
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y289/saragoescrazy3/070709/downkangaroo.jpg

After a few more shots to make sure we got a clear shot of him, Sara goes to open the car door... and then, he got up... opening the car door must have spooked him because after a few seconds Sara looked back and saw this... look at those claws! Isn't he amazing?
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y289/saragoescrazy3/070709/downkangaroo2.jpg

Now THAT is a very large male kangaroo! Sara made a few clicks and noises to get him to look at her (in the photo above) but he decided he had had enough... you can see a (not so great quality) video of him here. Sara's never caught one laying down, let alone on video... here's a few more photos of him...
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y289/saragoescrazy3/070709/downkangaroo3.jpg
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y289/saragoescrazy3/070709/downkangaroo4.jpg
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y289/saragoescrazy3/070709/downkangaroo5.jpg

...one last look to make sure were no threat to him...
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y289/saragoescrazy3/070709/downkangaroo6.jpg

...and... BOOM! He's down again...
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y289/saragoescrazy3/070709/downkangaroo7.jpg

Sara was absolutely wrapped about getting photos of this since usually they bounce off and totally ignore me, but this huge male decided to almost pose for us... how cool is that? Definitely a first for the toyvoyagers! :-) Write again soon! :-)
sararingham
sara.ringham@gmail.com

Posted Jul 8, 2009, 9:52 am
Next stop was a small town of Lithgow which is just outside of the famous Blue Mountains which you can see in these photos. It's around 90 minutes drive from Orange and 45 minutes from Bathurst. It's around an hour from Sydney at this point... unfortunately we're not going to Sydney today... but here are some photos going into Lithgow... and the last photo on the road you can see Lithgow in the distance...
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y289/saragoescrazy3/070709/ontheroad1.jpg
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y289/saragoescrazy3/070709/ontheroad2.jpg
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y289/saragoescrazy3/070709/ontheroad3.jpg
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y289/saragoescrazy3/070709/ontheroad4.jpg

...and just as we entered Lithgow we saw the Lithgow Miner's Lamp. Also known as the tourist information centre - hah!
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y289/saragoescrazy3/070709/toyvoyagers_minerslamp.jpg

Unfortunately we didn't spend long in Lithgow, and on the news last night Sara found out where we were going to go was now unstable and dangerous. So we couldn't do that! It was a nice lookout where you can see the blue mountains in the distance and all of Lithgow and more. Gorgeous! Hopefully we can see it again if we go through Lithgow and it's safe... instead Sara took us somewhere else... write again soon! :-)
sararingham
sara.ringham@gmail.com

Posted Jul 8, 2009, 10:12 am
Last stop today was Lithgow's Lyell Lake... Sara's never been here before and since we couldn't go to a view point because it was dangerous road now Sara took us here instead...
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y289/saragoescrazy3/070709/lyell_lake_sign1.jpg
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y289/saragoescrazy3/070709/lyell_lake_sign2.jpg

...and here I am in front of what's left of Lyell Lake...
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y289/saragoescrazy3/070709/bubu_lyelllake.jpg

See how it's so much darker than in Bathurst? It's because were technically closer to the coast and Sydney and it was rainy and gloomy in Sydney today apparently... it was FREEZING! What you don't realize is how low the lake is... it's usually SO much higher than this, how do I know that when I've never been here before? Have a look at this:
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y289/saragoescrazy3/070709/lithgow_waterlevel.jpg
See the colour change on the cement thing? That's where the water level was, and is supposed to be... around 20 feet below normal... we've had a lot of dry Summer's and very dry Winter's unfortunately... Lithgow isn't as bad, but Orange's water supply is at around 11% at the moment! :-(

Apparently this lake overflowed in 2002 so they had to build a dam, which is what you see... this the backside of the dam, as you can see there's no water there... and hasn't been for quite a while...
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y289/saragoescrazy3/070709/bubu_lyelllake2.jpg

...and here's the other side of the dam... a sloping bit, so if it does overflow it goes in a controlled area rather than into the city... there's a little bit of water down there... from the recent rains we've had...
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y289/saragoescrazy3/070709/bubu_lyelllake3.jpg

We also got some photos of the signs around the dam where we were standing - you can see them here:
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y289/saragoescrazy3/070709/lyell_lake_sign3.jpg
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y289/saragoescrazy3/070709/lyell_lake_sign4.jpg
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y289/saragoescrazy3/070709/lyell_lake5.jpg

Here's a photo in the distance of the last photo of me and the back side of the dam... here is a good photo of the Blue Mountains. Unfortunately you can't tell why they're called that since it's so dark and gloomy out - but they have a blue tinge to them on nice days... really gorgeous...
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y289/saragoescrazy3/070709/bluemountains.jpg

Well that was that... time to get into the car which is SO much warmer... such a cold breeze Sara's rushing to get us all back in the car and head back to the warmer Bathurst and Orange...

As we were heading home we actually got to get some Red Rooster as well - yummy! No photos with it - it went down pretty quick! We were all so very hungry!
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y289/saragoescrazy3/070709/redrooster.jpg

Write again soon! Miss you! :-)
sararingham
sara.ringham@gmail.com

Posted Jul 8, 2009, 10:15 am
Hi mom! I'm now on my way home... it's been a fun trip but I'm ready to see you again! See you when I get there mom, hopefully it won't take too long! :-)
-María-


Posted Jul 21, 2009, 2:13 pm
=)

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