Ahonui, Gisborne...., Australia

anxova Posted Aug 27, 2011, 12:27 pm	Hello everyone! My name is Ahonui [a ho noo ee]. I'm original from Barcelona although my name is from Hawaii and means "patience". My mum called me Ahonui because patience is a word that I have to learn as I'm very adventurous,and I try to walk so fast despite I'm a turtle to investigate something I've never seen before,but you know...We aren't gazelles hahahaha!! Sometimes I feel frustrated lol. I want to run!!! Lucky me I can swim so fast! I'm a very reliable little and super soft turtle who likes music and Iiterally sing 75% of the day! I specially like pop songs...from Miley Cyrus to Michael Jackson! I'm calm, patient, friendly and a good listener. My brothers often say that I'm funny and a little bit crazy as well.I really enjoy discovering new things.am interested also in musicals,I love dancing, watching funny movies and MTV realities. One day, a National Geographic magazine reached me...well, you know,I'm very curious and I just walk to investigate what it was!hihi Well, when I just open it,I discover life outside is so different!!!!!! And since then I'm dreaming of travel all day long.So, I've insisted a lot my mum for being a TV...And although she thinks I'm very young and little for it, she told me I can follow Airi's steps!!!! I want to learn new cultures and meeting people and turtles from the rest of the world! I enjoy nature and I'm very happy seeing wildlife,mountains or just grass; also I'm very curious and I spend lots of hours everyday in my home's balcony looking outside and trying to guess where people are going,what they do...And I enjoy touching plants. Also swim a lot in my mini swimming pool,and even sometimes in the Sea! Also I'm looking for caring hosts that can show me new and different flora and fauna as well as different places,landscapes and buildings.I want to learn sooo many things and having so much fun! Hope to hearing from someone and start my adventure very soon! Have a nice day! P.S.1 I'm not to be released in the wild please as one day I want to be reunited with my family and explained them all my adventures!! P.S.2 My first destination is going to be GERMANY!!! I'm soooo sooo excited!! On Monday I'll start my adventure!!!!!! Vielen dank @fam-united,Bis bald! See you soon in Germany!!!!
fam-united Posted Sep 8, 2011, 12:50 pm	Hello everyone, I just arrived at my first host, Petra. She took me out of my envelope and also some sweets. She really wondered, what I had eaten on my travel, because there was nothing left for her She found me eating the last big lolly! Soon I will meet all the other toyvoyagers at this home and of course we will chat about our adventures. I'm really curious, what they will tell me. Bye, Ahonui
fam-united Posted Oct 8, 2011, 5:17 pm	Today we bake a cake for a birthday party, where we will go later. It is an apple cake, bottom and cover with the same dough. It is really yummy, but we had to work a lot to get all these apples cut into small pieces.
fam-united Posted Oct 8, 2011, 5:37 pm	School started again. Did you know, that my host is a teacher? Today morning she took a trolley and set us in a backpack and went to school. We meet over 50 pupils and three more teachers there. At first we really didn't know, what happened around us, but then Petra told us, that we drive to a rural school hall of residence ( not really sure about the translation here) by bus. On our way we drove through Baden-Baden.
fam-united Posted Oct 8, 2011, 8:48 pm	After an one hour drive we arrived at the youth hostel of Herrenwies in the Black Forest. Herrenwies is a small small village with about 60 - 100 inhabitants or so. It belongs to Forbach and is located abou 750m above sea level. You have to drive about 7 km to reach another settlement. It's an area for holidays: in summer you can hike and in winter do winter sports. We had luck, that the weather was really nice. So we had been able to go outside at once. While the pupils played on the playground and in the water, Petra took some photos of me. When Petra went to have dinner, we went straight to bed. We had been soooo tired.
fam-united Posted Oct 10, 2011, 2:26 pm	It's really early in the morning. All pupils are still asleep in their beds. My host found the time to show us the beautiful landscape with some early morning mist above the water.
fam-united Posted Oct 10, 2011, 2:37 pm	On our way home we passed by the Schwarzenbachtalsperre (river dam). To see more photos of it go to wikipedia. (Sorry, there's only text in German, but the photos are good) I'm also sorry, that you only see a little of the water. We had no better view. Here we drove through Forbach, to which Herrenwies belongs.
fam-united Posted Oct 10, 2011, 6:08 pm	Today the weather is so so beautiful, that we decided to go on a walk through Bruchsal. Bruchsal was first named in 976, so the city is rather old. Nevertheless there are only a few old houses, because during World War II. about 80 % of the city was destroyed. At first we walked through the citizens' park. Here you see the medieval tower and a part of the community centre. The tower was built in 1358 and is the oldest building of Bruchsal, which belonged to the old castle. We walked through the Huttenstraße with its beautiful old houses. Then we arrived at the baroque palace area. All these houses  - about 50 single buildings all together - belong to the "new" palace of Bruchsal. In the far you see the Damian Gate, the end of the palace area. We're now standing in front of one of the three entrances to the palace church called St. Damian and Hugo. From here you can see the county court, the Damian Gate and the tower of the jailhouse. The building on the left side houses the chamber music hall. Inside the church you can see these plates, which show the palace during the years. It was built in 1722, started by Cardinal Damian Hugo von Schoenborn and finished in 1760 by Cardinal Franz Christoph von Hutten. On the top photo you can see, how it looked like after World War II. In the last photo we were standing just in the corner, which you see in the middle of this top photo, between main building and church. The church wasn't rebuilt in baroque style. It is really modern. Somehow that's sad, but the costs were just too high. Here we are at the backside of the church. You see, that the tower isn't directly next to the church. This is the backside of the palace. In summer there are weeks, when they play open air theatre and in winter there is a second Christmas market since 2 or 3 years. This pond is a place for ducks. Children love to go there and feed them. Next to the main way through the palace garden you find a lot of statues. At one crossing you see in each corner one statue of the four elements: fire, water, earth and air. Here you see the statue fire. In one side of the main garden you find a small rosegarden. TV_TV, Mausi and I play in the arcades. Back in the mainpart of the palace garden again we walked through a large chestnut-lined way. We found some chestnuts on the ground. When we were in the mainway again, we came to another crossing. The statues in the corners show the four seasons: winter, spring, summer, autumn. Here you see summer. We walked through a small gate, which you can see on the right side of the next photo. Here you see the mainbuilding of the palace. At last we read something about the palace history. It is a bit small, I'm not sure, if you can read it here, too. This is the county court with the Amalienbrunnen (fountain). The Amalienbrunnen is called Schnecklesbrunnen ( in Bruchsal dialect), which means snail fountain. A last view back to the palace with the part, that houses the chamber music hall on the right side. In the Damian Gate you can visit art exhibitions. Here's the jailhouse of Bruchsal. It is a very interesting building, at least from outside. There were and are some "famous" prisoners in it. I also read something about it here: Then we walked to the hospital with its beautiful old part with the small tower. In the far you maybe see the statue of a nun. We will go there at next. There is the entrance to the small hospital chapel. Here's the back side of the hospital. The hospital is next to the prison, which you can see here again from the back side. There are some beautiful old houses next to the Stadtgarten, another park. This house is one of them. In the park I saw this beautiful lime tree. This fountain is called Ferdinand Keller Brunnen. Behind the fountain you can see a part of a grammer school called Schönborn-Gymnasium. The Belvedere is situated at the other end of the park. It was a former hunting lodge. Nowadays it is used for open air theatre during summer, too. From this point on top of the Andreasstaffel you have a wonderful view over Bruchsal. You already have seen the medieval tower. The next tower belongs to the City Church Our Holy Lady and the next belongs to the Lutherkirche. The houses, which are in one line right in front of us, belong to the Huttenstraße. We had some difficulties to take these photos, because the sun was shining so brightly. Here you see the baroque church St. Peter in the far. If you take a look at the middle part of the photo right to the edge to the wood, you can see a big house. This house is called Sancta Maria. It is school for social education and it is still home for Franciscan nuns. The buildings right in front of us and the white building in the far are all part of the old people's home. The big grey building behind the white is another grammer school called St. Paulusheim. I read something about this place too. The weather wasn't good enough or maybe it was too good, so we had no chance to see the Palatinate Mountains today. Once more we saw a beautiful house next to the Stadtgarten. Here's the St. Paulusheim. It is a private grammar school, founded by patres of the Pallotti order. The wall to our right side still belongs to St. Paulusheim. In the far we see St. Peter again, where we will go at next. The church St. Peter is located at the edge of the graveyard. It is the only church, which survided the bombing on 1rst March 1945. We took a view back to St. Paulusheim. Then we went to read about a memorial stone and about the baroque church. The view into the Petersgasse is our last photo of the walk through Bruchsal. I hope you enjoyed it as much as we did.
fam-united Posted Nov 6, 2011, 5:15 pm	Today we drove to Rülzheim to visit the Straußenfarm Mhou, it is a farm with ostrichs. I've seen many ostrichs, very young and really old and big ostrichs. It's a dangerous thing for us small toyvoyagers to walk between these big animals, but we all were safe, because they had double fences there, so the ostrichs had no chance to reach outside of there green fields and catch us. Ostrichs can grow 2,60m high and weigh about 170kg. They can become 60/70 years old and lay eggs each second day. There were also really nice autumn trees. In the shop you can buy nice egg lamps,  but they are really expensive. On our way back home we've seen some really nice houses. It was a nice trip
fam-united Posted Nov 12, 2011, 11:43 am	Today is a special day for toyvoyagers.com. We've watched TV_TV from Galileo in German television. I've seen many famous other tvs at the beginning of the show and then there was TV_TV.
fam-united Posted Nov 12, 2011, 4:15 pm	Today we sit in front of the computer to watch a flight from Berlin to New York, because our hosts's son sits in the plane. He will stay in New York for a week. It's a pity, that he only had space for two toyvoyagers and I had been the unlucky looser at this point, but I know, that I will travel with my host tomorrow - to Remscheid I know, it's not New York, but I'm sure, I will have some fun too.
fam-united Posted Nov 12, 2011, 4:53 pm	Here's I'm on the railway station in Mannheim. I'm just waiting for the ICE, which will bring me to Wuppertal. I'm a bit excited.
fam-united Posted Nov 12, 2011, 5:02 pm	We had a short stop at Cologne. Petra said, that she had seen a part of the cathedral, but I only had been able to see this part of the railway station.
fam-united Posted Nov 13, 2011, 10:36 am	At Wuppertal we met olgamaus. We and our host will stay at her place until Wednesday. In the afternoon we took a walk in the vicinity of the medieval castle in the neighbour city Solingen. Before visiting the castle we took a walk in the surroundings. We started our trip in a rural area with lots of livery stables. In the far between the hills you can see the city center of Remscheid. We reached this beautiful outlook pavilion. I like this overview to the valley of the river Wupper, which we had from there. In the distance we saw Schloss Burg. There is another toyvoyager coming into my photo We saw the castle which is situated high above the river Wupper several times before we finally reached it. We saw a defence tower. It was built for protecting the outer line of defence, some  hundred meters apart from the castle. Here you can see me and all the other ToyVoyagers who went with us today. Soon we reached the castle. We went into the courtyard and found a lovely half-timbered part of the castle. Schloss Burg was built in 1133 by Count Adolf I von Berg on a hill above the river Wupper.That's why this region is called "Bergisches Land". Many people believe that it's name refers to the landscape with hills and valleys. (For those who do not speak German: The German word for mountain or hill is "Berg", so many people think that the name "Bergisches Land" means "land with many hills" ) About a hundred years later it was enlarged by Count Engelberg II von Berg. This is the guy on the horse in the courtyard. I saw these bird houses. I really would like a little house for myself too. (sorry for the blurry photo) In Thirty Years War (17th century) large parts of the castle were destroyed. It was rebuilt then, but it was used for industrial purposes for many years. In the end of the 19th century they began to rebuild it as it appears today. The round tower was the powder tower, it was restored about two years ago. In the castle courtyard you can find souvenir shops and shops whose owners are doing an "old" handcraft, for example handmade brushes, brooms, soap, lovely yarns and wooden knitting needles, toys like swords and helmets and much more. While olgamaus bought some wooden buttons for knitted cardigan, I tried to find some nice buttons for myself. But maybe I should buy a wool cap? or a wool pullover?
fam-united Posted Nov 13, 2011, 11:25 am	We were really tired, when we arrived at olgamaus' home again. So we first took care for our host's knee. She hurt it badly on the way back home. Then we had dinner and fell in our bed, actually Petra's bed, but she didn't want to go to bed as soon as we did - and you know: Who comes first
fam-united Posted Nov 19, 2011, 1:37 pm	Today we planned to visit a museum, the German Tool Museum (Deutsches Werkzeugmuseum). It is situated in the district Hasten, we went there through the municipal park. The observatory is situated in the entrance area of the park. We all had fun playing in the leaves. Hasten is one of the oldest districts here, you can still find narrow lanes with cute old houses here. Here you see a part of the museum, but we were in another house to take a look at the tools. Inside the museum we had to hurry a little bit, they were closing 30 minutes later. The ground floor is dominated by a steam-engine. Although it isn't really nice, it was somehow funny, to see Petra hurry. In each drawer you could find different tools. With my host I'm usually living three quarters of an hour away from Stuttgart in Baden-Württemberg and now we are in Remscheid. It was kind of a sign made for us to show you, where we stay right now. We also found displayed tools from early ages, for example Stone Age and Bronze Age. Then we sat next to a fire place. From the second floor we saw the engine again. A historic company sign ... Outside the museum you can still find machines and tools. Afterwards we took a short walk along those old houses.
fam-united Posted Dec 3, 2011, 8:50 pm	Today we decided to take a look at Muengsten Bridge, one of the touristic highlights of this region. We walked to the Solingen part of the bridge. Poor Petra had a hurting knee, but she still carried us around. Can you see the little pavilion in the background? It is a sibling of the one we saw on Saturday, created by the same architect. We had to walk for only  a few minutes until we reached the bridge. A few years ago a leisure park was built under the bridge. You can find lawns for relaxing here and a crazy golf course. We even climbed to the train station on the Solingen part of the valley. When we reached the station we took the train to Solingen to have lunch in a restaurant. The Zwilling company is situated here, well known in the whole world for their knifes and cutlery. We forgot to take a photo with me at this place We walked along an interesting playground. Here you can see part of the former railway track, now built to a lane called "Korkenziehertrasse". Those buildings were the freight depots once, nowadays you can find artist's stores and cafés here.
fam-united Posted Dec 3, 2011, 9:07 pm	Today we went along the city center of Remscheid to reach a bus to Wuppertal. On our way we've seen the city hall of Remscheid. In Wuppertal we saw this amount of flags - I'm sure, they had to do with the zoo, because we already were really close to it. Maybe we will go to Wuppertal zoo? Petra still had a lot of trouble with her leg. So there is only this one photo with elephants. This one we took outside the zoo again.
fam-united Posted Dec 15, 2011, 4:55 pm	I left my host's home for a new adventure in a far away country. It took me a while to activate my host to send me, because she had and still has some problems with her knee. I'm even not sure, if she has to write some more updates or not. So please don't be too surprised, if you read updates of her while I'm with my new host. Bye, Ahonui
fam-united Posted Dec 18, 2011, 3:34 pm	Today another package arrived at our place. We all were really curious. It was a new toyvoyager called Drescher, who just had arrived at our place. We decided to listen to the White Christmas Album while we baked a Hannchen Jensen cake, which you can see on the left page. We baked it with peaches, because we don't like cherries in it. While we took care for the Hannchen Jensen cake, Petra baked some cookies. You see, it isn't that easy to hold Mi-Go back from eating everything. He just threw us around when he jumped up to catch some of the finished warm cookies.
fam-united Posted Dec 18, 2011, 3:46 pm	Today we baked a braided yeast bun, because Petra's one son had a belated birthday party. It tasted really fine - and once more we had to take care for Mi-Go to not eat it all before any other person had a chance to get a slice of it.
fam-united Posted Dec 18, 2011, 3:59 pm	Today we wanted to create some tea-light holder. We needed four pieces of hard transparency foil and napkins with small ornaments on them and some glue for napkins and white colour. At first I had to rip out some ornaments of my napkin. Then I had to glue it on the foil. After it was dry again, I stamped some white colour around the ornament. Some even used golden colour. Petra helped us to staple them together.
sararingham sara.ringham@gmail.com Posted Jan 12, 2012, 1:30 pm	G'day mum! I've arrived in Australia... I'm very sorry I haven't updated sooner, but my host has been *so* very busy with working and the holidays that she hasn't had a chance to sit down and let you know... she wanted you to know that she is very sorry and she will be taking us to the beach for a week and promises to see a lot of amazing things while we're there... I'm very excited! I wonder what we're going to see! I will write again very soon, I promise!
sararingham sara.ringham@gmail.com Posted Jan 29, 2012, 6:05 am	On the way to work today, we had to quite unexpectedly do a short trip through the Sydney Central Business District - which included, a drive over the Sydney Harbour Bridge, and this time, Sara was prepared... so she put us all up on the dashboard of her car and snapped some photos as we went through the CBD, and then across the harbour bridge... we could even see the Opera House, even if only for a few short seconds as we entered the bridge... it was way too quick (and too rainy) to get a good photo so Sara missed her opportunity for that one... but it was a nice view, even with all the traffic around us... In the very first photo, you can just see the top of it along the top of one of the buildings - but you can see the top of the Sydney Centre Point Tower which is one of the famous landmarks on the Sydney skyline... Once we got off the Harbour Bridge, Sara snapped a photo of one of the street signs going to a city called Kirribilli... that's where the prime minister of Australia has their home on a regular basis... so something pretty cool... unfortunately we weren't headed to Kirribilli today... we had to get to the next location pretty quickly so we just camped out and watched the views from the dashboard as we went past...
sararingham sara.ringham@gmail.com Posted Jan 29, 2012, 6:19 am	Well, we were headed out to the beach town of Manly, it is one of the second most popular Sydney beaches.. next to Bondi Beach... unfortunately after going through the city, the weather did not improve, and Sara wasn't about to get out of the car because the rain was literally just hammering down... so we stayed in the car and watched as the Manly ferry transported people from the Manly Wharf to Circular Quay (where the Sydney Harbour Bridge and Opera House are located). So we happily stayed in the car where it was nice and warm, and when it stopped raining (for about a total of 5 seconds), Sara decided she would snap a few photos of the Manly Wharf area... this is where people of Manly and surrounds store their boats, and where the Manly Ferry is located... the beach is just behind us, behind a whole bunch of buildings and apartments, so we weren't able to see that unfortunately... and I don't think it was the best day to see it... it's been a very stormy Summer!
sararingham sara.ringham@gmail.com Posted Jan 29, 2012, 6:36 am	We had to head up a day early (work obligations) to go on holiday - harsh right? We left very early, about 3am, and we got up to the Central Coast to drop off their dog, and then went to work - as we had a bit of time to waste, we decided to do a bit of sight seeing - we found a lookout and decided to go investigate... it's called St Johns Lookout... it looks out over the bush land area of the Central Coast. It was a nice day, so we had a nice view... Sara did a few snaps, and we went off to the next location...
sararingham sara.ringham@gmail.com Posted Jan 29, 2012, 6:55 am	More of exploring areas we've never been before... we checked out a place called the Terrigal Lagoon, which is located in the town called Terrigal, on the Central Coast... it was a very nice little lagoon and we were able to dip our feet in for a little bit... but decided that we would rather go somewhere with a bit more... surf! We'll see what we can find!
sararingham sara.ringham@gmail.com Posted Jan 29, 2012, 7:07 am	Didn't take us too long at all to find our surf... although not much of it, it was a nice change and we were able to sit down, relax and enjoy the sun with many of the locals... it was beautiful! The cliffs that surrounded the Terrigal beach made it breathtaking, but it was also quite warm... surprisingly warm... we snapped some photos and enjoyed ourselves for a while before realizing that work was calling - and unfortunately, we had to pack up and head  back to work... :-( Oh well... we had a good time while we were there none the less!
sararingham sara.ringham@gmail.com Posted Jan 29, 2012, 7:41 am	After we got our work done, we headed a bit more North, another few jobs were up in this area - but we had another waiting game... so like before, we decided to explore... we drove to Salamander Bay... but the first beach we stopped at, had a nice little trail through the mangroves... ...and I don't know if you've ever walked through mangroves, but it's not very pleasant... you sorta sink into the sand... and this was a lot like quick sand with how it acted, and at some points we sank down to our knees in the sand... so Sara didn't stay very long... we got a few photos - none with us in it because we just wanted to get back to a nice beach as quickly as possible... once we got back through the mangrove area, we headed to another, more pleasant to walk through sandy part of the beach... Once we got to the actual Salamander Bay, we took some time out and got some photos - saw some baby fish in the shallows - but unfortunately there was a storm coming through so we couldn't stay too long... but it was very pretty, especially with all the boats sitting out in the shallows of the water... As the last photo, Sara put in one of the photos of the sand near the mangroves... as you can see, it does look very pretty - but, it was very difficult to walk through without sinking quite badly... the photo doesn't give it justice on how pretty it was though!
sararingham sara.ringham@gmail.com Posted Jan 29, 2012, 8:01 am	Today is the day! Today is the day we start our long journey north! Well, first, we had to back track... we went to The Entrance it was very windy and stormy - it is predicted to be as such for the next few days on the Australian coastline... but we'll make the most of what we have... we parked near this boardwalk and got out to explore the area... it was very pretty...
sararingham sara.ringham@gmail.com Posted Jan 29, 2012, 8:20 am	Just like magic, we are at our destination... Nambucca Heads on the mid-North Coast... The real magic was about 5 hours of driving... and that's without stops... so it's a bit longer than that when you add breaks for fuel, food and bathroom breaks... but once we were there... we went down to the beach and ran down to the beach before it got dark... just like down at The Entrance, it was very windy and rainy up here... and unfortunately -  not much changed the entire time we were there... but Nambucca Heads is a very beautiful beach area and the water, was even warmer than when we were at Terrigal - like a luke warm bath! The last photo... I thought I should explain that a little bit... you see, the waves began to get larger and larger as the tide was coming in... so they began to scare me... I pulled my head into my shell to hide from them... but eventually they calmed back down enough to make me feel comfortable around those HUGE waves!
sararingham sara.ringham@gmail.com Posted Jan 29, 2012, 8:52 am	Today, we went to Port Macquarie... about an hour South of Nambucca Heads... there was a little zoo there where we could see some koalas and other Australian animals.. there wasn't too many opportunities for toyvoyager photos as the animals were all resting, or hiding - as it was raining constantly throughout our trip to the zoo... it was quite fun though, and Sara was lucky enough to pat a koala and a freshwater crocodile... Afterwards, we headed to a city beach called Nobbys Beach, which is popular for people that have dogs... and the dogs were having a lot of fun running up and down the beach... but we had a chance to enjoy the surf and the big rocks on the beach... it was quite pretty... but it was getting kinda cold so we decided to head back to the tent for the night...
sararingham sara.ringham@gmail.com Posted Jan 29, 2012, 9:15 am	The next day, we had to headed an hour North of Nambucca Heads to Coffs Harbour... there's a couple neat things to see, so we quickly got our work done and headed to the attractions... we first went to the Coffs Harbour Jetty... which is a very popular spot for people to swim during the Summer, and is usually pretty calm, but today, because of the storms... it was quite far from that... we got a few quick photos and headed back to the car, we were SOAKED!
sararingham sara.ringham@gmail.com Posted Jan 29, 2012, 9:26 am	Next stop, and one of the more popular parts of Coffs Harbour, is The Big Banana... it is one of the many iconic "big things" that Australia has... it was very cool to see it!
sararingham sara.ringham@gmail.com Posted Jan 29, 2012, 9:44 am	It has been raining constantly since we came and unfortunately now, the Nambucca River is almost at the edge of the highway... some areas around the mid-North Coast are flooding and being blocked off... it's pretty intense... Sara and Daniel aren't able to go snorkeling because the risk is so high because of the water level, and the torrent of water in the river is so quick it wouldn't take long for something to go wrong... so we're being safe instead... Today, we decided to go down to the river to see the water level. We walked along the boardwalk that runs along the highway near the tourist information centre... the water level was SO high! If it was much higher we wouldn't have risked going out on the boardwalk area... it was crazy! Hopefully the rain will stop soon...
sararingham sara.ringham@gmail.com Posted Jan 29, 2012, 10:08 am	It's Australia Day! This is the day that Australia celebrates the arrival of the first fleet at Sydney Cove in 1788. It's a day with a lot of celebration and Aussie flags around... it wasn't much of a day for a barbecue though, as it was still raining... We decided that we would head down to see another nearby town - known for the shipwrecks on the beach... it's called South West Rocks... we headed there - and just like we expected it was raining and very very windy... we snapped a few photos and saw that the shipwrecks are now covered by a sand dune or the water level has covered them... it would have been neat to see them - but oh well... We quickly got some photos and then headed out to the next destination... we had to do it pretty quickly because on the road to South West Rocks, the water level was right against the street... and it was continuing to rain. We didn't want to get trapped in the town overnight... That night we were all listening to flood watch on the radio, and the road to South West Rocks was shut down, for as much as 72 hours... can you believe that? How crazy is that?!
sararingham sara.ringham@gmail.com Posted Jan 29, 2012, 10:57 am	Next destination around South West Rocks, was called Trial Bay Gaol... unfortunately because of the risk of being stranded... we couldn't explore the gaol, but we said we would make it another trip to come and see the gaol, which is now a museum... Here is a bit of information about the gaol itself: Quote: The Trial Bay Gaol was established in 1876 as an experimental Public Works Gaol where the inmates would construct the breakwater. Although work started in 1877, it was not completed until 1886 due to difficulties in working the hard stone, inconsistent funding and contractual problems. When the second (southern) wing of the gaol was completed in 1900, electric lights, a new kitchen, scullery, bakehouse, toilets, wash house and weather shed were installed in the complex, strongly indicating NSW Government support for the Public Works Gaol experiment. Yet only three years later work was abandoned and the gaol was closed in July 1903. Severe storms and increasing costs had seen only some 300 metres of the planned 1500 metre break wall completed. External buildings were auctioned in 1904, and after 17 years of use, the abandoned gaol remained as testimony to an experiment with humane prison reform. With the onset of World War 1, the old gaol was given a new lease of life as a German internment camp (1915–1918). After the war, a caretaker was installed and, with no foreseeable future, the gaol was stripped of all movable buildings and materials in 1922, leaving the heritage listed ruin that you see today.
fleursmum Posted Aug 14, 2012, 6:40 am	Hello!! I am now in Victoria, Australia. We are having a walk on the beach - it is sunny but there are lots of black clouds around and rain is going to come later! Here we all are watching a boat go by Kevin Kiwi, Tica, Lexie, Calliope, me, Toto and Glubschi all sitting by the beach!  This looks like a good place for me and Glubschi! Yup, quite like it here Mum,  Toto has been here before so he was telling us all about St Leonard's. I think the rain might be coming Mum, Sue held me up to have a look at the flowers on the wattle tree Mum - this is a sign that spring is just around the corner!  Love and best wishes Ahonui xxooxx
fleursmum Posted Aug 14, 2012, 6:42 am	Hi Mum, Today the weather has gone bad!! Too cold and wet to go outside so we are staying in!! Love and hugs Ahonui xxooxx
fleursmum Posted Aug 14, 2012, 6:47 am	Hi Mum, How are you?? Today I went to work with Sue to see an elephant!!! Lucky it wasn't a real elephant!! It is made from fiberglass and painted by some of the art students in the school. The Melbourne Zoo is celebrating 150 years of having elephants at the zoo and there are 50 of these elephants in schools around Victoria. Later in the month we are going into the city to see bigger elephants!!  Isn't this one special Mum! Love you Ahonui xxooxx
fleursmum Posted Aug 16, 2012, 1:11 am	Hi Mum, Today we said good bye to Lexie she going on with her travels to America. Love and hugs Ahonui xxooxx
fleursmum Posted Aug 16, 2012, 1:35 am	Hey Mum, Today we said goodbye to Toto - he is travelling home to Switzerland Love and hugs Calliope xxooxx
fleursmum Posted Sep 2, 2012, 8:51 am	Hey Mum, Tonight was helping with dinner night tomato sauce is cooking in the pot, the some is put in to the dish and then layers of cheese and spinach and chopped up veges!  ready to go in the oven Yum ready to eat!! Love and hugs Ahonui xxooxx
fleursmum Posted Sep 2, 2012, 9:04 am	Hey Mum, Back at the beach - thought I might do some sailing...what do you think?? down at the beach with Glubschi looking at the shags on the boat launching place resting in the bushes here I am in the native clematis that grows along the beach front Love and hugs Ahonui xxooxx
fleursmum Posted Sep 2, 2012, 9:11 am	Hey there Dinner and a drink after a long day! Bye from Australia Ahonui
fleursmum Posted Sep 2, 2012, 9:12 am	Today we said goodbye to Kevin Kiwi - he is off to visit Germany.
fleursmum Posted Sep 2, 2012, 9:23 am	Cold wet and windy day today so we are staying home to watch a dvd or three!  Ahonui
fleursmum Posted Sep 2, 2012, 9:26 am	Hey Mum, We helped with sewing today!!  Ahonui
fleursmum Posted Sep 2, 2012, 9:38 am	Hello World!  Today we had a look at some of the post crossing cards that arrived and then we spent the evening keeping warm by the fire! Ahonui
fleursmum Posted Sep 2, 2012, 9:56 am	Lovely day here today, we had a little time outside trying to spot the tadpoles! Ahonui
fleursmum Posted Sep 2, 2012, 10:01 am	Gardening and ride in the wheelbarrow day today!  Ahonui
fleursmum Posted Sep 9, 2012, 9:24 am	Hi Mum, Today a kookaburra came to visit - usually Sue feeds the birds but didn't have any mince in the fridge today. I am very fuzzy because we zoomed in so you could see the kookaburra ok. Love and hugs Ahonui xxooxx
fleursmum Posted Sep 9, 2012, 9:46 am	Hi Mum, Today the principals, teachers and support staff went on strike and had a big rally in the city - there were 15,000 people there! Love and hugs Ahonui xxooxx
fleursmum Posted Sep 13, 2012, 8:48 am	Hi Mum, Today we took the chow chow for a walk in the park this is the old court house here is the map around the walking  paths and the creek off we go walking! here we are in the old part of the park with the big old oak trees Love and hugs Ahonui xxooxx
fleursmum Posted Sep 13, 2012, 9:17 am	Hey Mum A new TV arrived today It is Jufra from Germany Love and hugs Ahonui xxooxx
fleursmum Posted Sep 16, 2012, 9:16 am	Hi Mum, Today we had a drive up to Mount Macedon and had a look at the BBQ at Day's Picnic ground. It was very cold and wet most of the time we were there. More soon Love and hugs Ahonui xxooxx
fleursmum Posted Sep 16, 2012, 10:33 am	Hi Mum, Today we went to the Zoo to have a look around there are supposed to be turtles in here but I can't see any!! in here is a goanna - which is like a big lizard and here there are two koala's up the trees some zebra a giraffe off to see the elephants we saw the whole family - well just the females! off to see the gorillas now maybe I will get to see some turtles here Mum mmmm.maybe not!! surely I will get to see this one Mum   YES!!! star turtles in the reptile house! I think I have met a LIFE MISSION Mum!! I think this might be a little close!!!!!  more turtles!!! Love from Australia Ahonui
fleursmum Posted Sep 20, 2012, 7:53 am	Hey Mum, Playing in the back yard today - Calliope took me for a drive!! Off I go!! Bye Ahonui
fleursmum Posted Sep 20, 2012, 9:23 am	Hey Mum, Today we drove over the other side of the city to Eltham and had a walk past some signs showing paintings of a local painter we also found an old horse trough when we got home we went outside with the chow chow to the back of the block Hey Mum, I have a question?? Do I have another host to go to??? I have been in Australia a long long time!  Love from Ahonui xxooxx
fleursmum Posted Sep 20, 2012, 10:32 am	Hey Mum, Did you know today was Talk like a Pirate Day today??? we found a pirate sword at work! I wonder where the pirate is?? We found him - Pirate Dave!!! Arrrrr! Then we met a beautiful pirate!! We had a great day! Ahonui
fleursmum Posted Sep 25, 2012, 7:21 am	Hi Mum, Back at the beach for the weekend Ahonui
fleursmum Posted Oct 2, 2012, 8:29 am	Hey Mum, This afternoon we went to look at the light house and the beach here. the Point Lonsdale Pier Now we are off to Steps Beach Up the steps we go..... here we are at the top here we are on the beach now for the steps back up!! a little rest on the way back up! Phew!! Ahonui
fleursmum Posted Oct 2, 2012, 8:29 am	Hey Mum, A relaxing day in the sun today!  Ahonui
fleursmum Posted Oct 14, 2012, 8:59 am	Jufra left us today - his travels are taking him to Japan. Ahonui
fleursmum Posted Oct 14, 2012, 9:11 am	Hello world! Today we are on our way to Canberra - here we are having a break from being in the car More soon Ahonui
fleursmum Posted Oct 14, 2012, 9:22 am	Hello world.. This stop was because there is a huge submarine in the park - not something you see every day! Pretty big huh!! More soon Ahonui
fleursmum Posted Oct 14, 2012, 9:36 am	Hello World, Today we are in Canberra - we are at the Floriade festival - there are spring flowers everywhere Time for ice cream now!!  We found some friendly gnomes in the garden I Met a TURTLE!!!!!  Bye for now Ahonui
fleursmum Posted Oct 23, 2012, 9:41 am	Hello World Today I am at an Arty Farty weekend for quilting people!! Early morning walk time! Helping with the sewing!  Love this quilt by Helen Godden the teacher for the weekend Ooooohhh.....a turtle!!  Time for bed after a busy day!! Ahonui
fleursmum Posted Oct 25, 2012, 9:24 am	Hello World!  We are having a big breakfast before heading out for sightseeing today Maybe a game of chess? and outside the Aboriginal embassy and this is the current Parliament house and here I am inside the House of Representatives and the Senate Now we have driven to the Australian War Memorial On the way back home now Phew..lots and lots of driving....and then the car broke down!!! More soon Ahonui
fleursmum Posted Oct 26, 2012, 9:34 am	Hello World.. We are in this little country town in New South Wales because the car has broken down and we are waiting for it to be fixed! So, we had a look at the old train station - trains don't come here any more but the station has been restored and is sometimes used for weddings! we sat on the luggage trolley has a ride on an old jigger we had a look at the old bridge and the old railway bridge when you travel from New South Wales to Victoria you have to put your fruit in the bins to stop the fruit fly from travelling with you!  so we did the right thing!  More soon Love Ahonui
fleursmum Posted Oct 30, 2012, 7:39 am	Hi Mum, Today we had a little look at Castlemaine - it was an old gold mining town back in the 1800's - today lots of people live here and commute to the city, there is also a thriving community of artists and musicians here. here I am at a look out above the town this is a monument to two explorers, Burke and Wills who tried to find a route from the south of Australia to the north now we are at an old goldmining site we had a walk int he maze - lucky we didn't get lost!! Ahonui
fleursmum Posted Oct 30, 2012, 8:13 am	Hello World, Today we sat in the sun with Tupai Ahonui
fleursmum Posted Nov 1, 2012, 8:18 am	Hello World, Today we had a walk along the beach to the playground we sat and watched the world go by and found a memorial to a man who lived with the local Aboriginal people many years ago Ahonui
fleursmum Posted Nov 1, 2012, 8:32 am	Hello World, My last day at the beach - soon I am travelling back home!  down the steps enjoying the view Ahonui
fleursmum Posted Nov 9, 2012, 10:05 am	Hey Mum, My last update before I come home to see you!!  we went to the park with the chow chow, but today he was rushing ahead of us!  we had to look out for the magpie parents 'cos they had babies and will swoop if you get too close to the nest tree in the park we saw a kowhai tree - it is a native of New Zealand and had lovely yellow flowers on it spring is everywhere Mum, the oak tree has nice new leaves! See you soon Love and hugs Ahonui xxooxx

Back