Travelog for: Dilbert

Today we went to a place called the Monte Casino. We did NOT go gambling...pity, I may have won enough to afford to travel in something a little more luxurious than a padded envelope....

The Monte Casino has a bird garden attached to it and THAT is where we went. We had to park in the Casino parking and then walk through the casino to get to the birds. It is built in the style of an old Italian village. No photos are allowed inside, so you will just have to use your imaginations. There are cobble stone paved walkways, houses, laundry hanging over the balconies, pigeons (fake) nesting all over the place, old cars and motor bikes, and the ceiling is painted to look like the sky, daylight, twilight and evening, depending on what part you are in.



That is a huge hot air balloon to the side, but it was grounded as it was too windy today. First thing we saw as we walked in was a peacock. This one was quiet, but Fi says they are quite noisy.



A bird show had just started so we sat down to watch.



This pelican was the star of the show, he danced and strutted about and performed some tricks. He was also very fat because he ate ANYTHING he could find. He once got into the kitchen and ate the food of all the other birds in one go! I was rather hoping he didn't spot me and mistake me for a snack...



This is a Cape Vulture. After several years of training, all he will do is walk out one door, across the stage and back through another door!



Can you see whoo whoo is in the bell tower?



This is Oliver the owl. If humans eyes were the same size as an owls, in proportion to their heads, their eyes would be the size of grapefruits! This means that owls have very little space for brains because their eyes take up all the space! Not really that wise apparently.



There were some geese wondering about  being nosy. They were very interested in us.... a bit too interested for my liking.



This unattractive gentleman is a maribou stork...



Once the show was over we went into a very hot room that was full of tropical frogs. Most of them were poisonous and came from South America.... and we saw snakes, scorpions and a huge tarantula that was almost the same size as me





!





We wandered over to this tank to see what was in it...



Aha! a very curious terrapin!



He swam straight over to meet us!



Next we saw a flock of flamingos.



I marvelled at the cycads, also known as living fossils, as they have been around since the dinosaur days. HitchaRideDooey said he had already seen them at the Botanical gardens whilst I was away on safari. This particular one is 2500 years old! That is not a typing mistake...



This parrot started showing off when I went over to look at him.



We fed nectar to the lorikeets, this fellow clearly doesn't know that dogs don't eat nectar. He kept his beady eyes on me the whole time. I kept my eyes on that sharp beak the whole time.



Ooh, ooh! I found a HUGE tortoise!



Oh, okay, I stand corrected... THESE are huge tortoises!



What a weirdo! Looks like a cross between a vulture and a guinea fowl!  Funnily enough it is a Vulturine Guineafowl! It comes from North East Africa.



I am happy to say that I am VERY, VERY glad that there is a nice thick piece of glass between us! This is a Burmese python... we could not get into the section where the indigenous snakes were thank goodness...


This sweet tiny buck is called a Duiker, we found it under some bushes. It was so small it hardly came up to Fi's Knees! The children immediately wanted one as a pet...



Obviously the animals around here don't get to see many ToyVoyagers, they were very curious and kept coming over to get a closer look like these Tamarins did...



We saw so many different birds and animals. It was definitely a fun experience. We had a spot of lunch and played a bit in the children's play area. It was time to go home but the children sulked because they wanted to watch the bird show again! So did we...



Fi said No! and dragged us off to the car park.....

WOW! Fi was just about to update with the photos I took on my trip to the Kruger National Park and she found out I was the Voyager of the week! She called me over to read...



How cool! Thanks...

What a miserable day! No blue sky and no sunshine... it was gray and very cold and it drizzled... made me homesick. We went to visit Fi's sister and Dooey and I just curled up and slept in front of the fireplace all afternoon.



On the way home I got dropped off at Fi's friend Marcelle. Apparently, I am in for some excitment tomorrow. Hold thumbs that it doesn't rain!

Well! What can I say? Exciting was an understatement! Fi's friend Marcelle has connections in the most interesting places...

Can you tell where I am?



Um, zoom out a little...




Yes people! I am in the safety car, on a real race track, in a real race! Helloooooooooooooo adrenalin....

See the blonde in the back doing a movie star impersonation? That is the lovely Marcelle, she let me hold her hand (so I didn't slip off the chair, no other reason) as we went round, and round, and round that track. I can honestly tell you, I now know what G-force is, I felt it BIG TIME. 




So that was Zwartkop Raceway. Marcelle, when are we doing Kyalami? Fi says she went round there ONCE in the back of an AUDI RS4  at 190km/h and that was once too much, thank you very much. She is definitely not an adrenalin junkie like you (and I)...

Yuk, another gray, rainy day, I may as well have stayed in England. It is the last day of the school holidays and Fi was going to take us all to the Lion Park. But she said it was pointless trying to take photos of wet, miserable toy voyagers and wet, miserable lions in wet, miserable weather... and driving on wet, slippery, dirt (mud) roads is not her idea of fun.

I suppose she had a point. HitchaRideDooey and Pinky Bear were terribly disapointed. But I, um, err, wasn't, because, ahh, umm, I have actually already BEEN there...

When we got back from the Kruger Park, the visiting Americans (my BFF Amy and her husband) had not had their fill of animals, so we all went to the Lion Park.

Now, after seeing real wild lions out in the bushveld, I have to say I am quite nonchalant about lions, especially those in captivity, like this huge ferocious, um, CUB...



See, how close I let it get? And, I am NOT just that brave because Dave is millimeters away, ready to whip me away from certain death... I am just BRAVE, Africa has toughened me up.



See? At one with nature...



Well, lovely meeting you Cubby, on my way now...



Yes, goodbye! Don't look at me like that... makes me nervous...



Yeah Baby! Dilbert in the Lions Den!




Okay, back in the car please, windows UP! This white one doesn't look too friendly.



And she is not exactly smiling either...



Gulp!



Now, do you remember Fi said that giraffe breath smells bad? I can honestly not tell you if that is true or not. There was so much DROOL coming out that things mouth, I was not going near it...



Keep away, I don't want to drown in giraffe slobber..

Well the children went back to school today. It was very quiet around here..except for Fi doing the post holiday house restoration. It is hard to believe that two small people can create that much chaos. The three of us just sat around chatting, the other two eventually forgave me for going to the Lion Park without them...

Fi said we needed to get rid of some energy. We joined Shane and his football team on the  school field.... I scored a GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAAALLLLLLLLLLLLLL!

After all the excitement of the football match we hopped in the car and went shopping. We had to get dog food. The dogs in this house are so big they go through  a huge amount of food...

Dooey and I had so much fun in the pet store!

First we tried out all the dogs beds, none were as nice as the one Fi made us of course (she MADE me type that!)



Then we tried out the food bowls...



AND THEN!!!! Oh. my. goodness. gracious. me. Marcellos revenge! Drool, drool, drool, OSTRITCH BONES!



Is this ridiculous or what? What size dog...?



We tried to get a little taste of the juicy bones, but Madam Bailey was being a little possesive...



Come on, just ONE lick!



The other great big greedy mutt just walked off with her bone anytime we went near her... we had to settle for macaroni cheese!

Today I ALMOST completed a life mission....

Fi took us to the SPCA (Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals).



We donated two blankets and a bag of dog food. (I tried to talk her into putting it in the envelope for us when we travel but she said the postage would be astronomical.)



And duly signed our names in the register...



A very stroppy lady told us we were NOT ALLOWED to take photos in the kennel area... (Fi always wonders why some people like animals but hate humans - she has dealt with the stroppy lady before).

There was no one else around at all, so I could not help anyone choose a dog, BUT, we went to the thrift shop that they have to raise extra funds and we rescued a plush pup!



And a whole bunch of other toys...



They were a rather motley crew, Pinky Bear rescued a very cute, very old, very well loved bear that needed lots of surgery...



The others just need a (eeekkkk!!!) bath, and a new bow and Fi has something special planned for them!

I am off to hide in case she sees the dirty ring my tag chain has made around my neck and tries to bath me too... bye for now!

Okay.... what exactly is all this for?



What???? There is HARDLY any dirt on me, and if you put my chain back on you won't see ANY dirt...



WOW, she is one persistant woman! Said there was no way I was going to my next host without being cleaned, I am a DOG for Pete's sake! I made sure I shook myself all over her camera... that'll teach her to give me a sponge bath, I am not a geriatric...



Mwah har har! Could Dooey actually look any more pathetic?
Guess he didn't care too much for being bathed either...



Next was this little bear, who was actually white under all the dust and very fluffy!



This little guy just won't take anything seriously, he is always monkeying around! I think he was neglected for a long time, he just likes to hug everyone...he is very needy. He was also in need of surgery as his hand was falling off, but not any more!



This pup went mad! He shook himself all over the rest of us and then rolled around to get dry. WAY TO GO, PUP!!!....



This bear is very quiet, he spent a long time on the floor at the thrift shop because he had fallen off the back of the shelf and was trapped under a box of junk. He was absolutely filthy and Fi didn't know if the big black patch would come off his chest. Luckily it did and look how clean he turned out!



This lucky guy escaped the wash, he was so new he still had the store price tag on and he was inside a plastic bag...



We had to leave the room and go sit on the window ledge in the warm sun to dry... no pegs on our ears thank goodness, though I did see them lurking by... because Fi had to do a big job on the last bear and she didn't want us to watch because she had to do something very scary....



After a while she made us all turn around to dry on the other side... like chickens on a rotisserie... but it was lovely and warm in the sun and we were completely dry in an hour or so.



This is the bear that needed major surgery. He was split apart everywhere and he is very old and fragile. We thought he was a girl because of the lace around his neck. Poor bear, the lace was hiding the previous surgery he had to re attach his head.... ooh I feel faint just thinking about that... and the person who did that to him put his head on backwards!!!! That is why we had to leave the room. Fi thought we might be freaked out if we saw her taking his head off... boy was she right!



Here he is all fixed and cleaned up. Fi had to be extra gentle, because his fur is brittle and falling apart. Doesn't he look much happier with his head on the right way round?



Tomorrow they all get new ribbons and accessories AND we find out what is to become of them all...

Oh, what a busy few days we have been having!

It was quite exciting as the pup we rescued from the SPCA wanted to be a TV too and HitchaRideDooey hepled him become one. We had a lucky draw to give him a name as he had forgotton what his name was... read all about it on Dooey's travelog.

Here we are with Ambrosius as he is now known... didn't he clean up nicely? Actually so did I, though I still maintain I did not need a bath...



Sadly, my stay in South Africa has come to an end. I saw so many interesting things, went on exciting trips and met lots of nice people and another TV. Pinky Bear I am sure we will meet up again somewhere one day... goodbye!



We are off to see Carlissa in Miami... what adventures await us (other than the postal servive?)

See you all in a few weeks! Bye!!!!

I have arrived in Miami, Florida!  I played a game of Hide and Seek at the Post Office, but I was eventually found and my new host took me and HitchARideDooey home with her.  We are going to see the new Indiana Jones movie this afternoon, so I will get some pictures up later.

I went to see Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull this afternoon with Ossa, Jimbo Elephant, and HitchaRideDooey.  We all enjoyed the movie - lots of action Indy style,  Soviet agents, creepy skeletons, and cute ground hogs!




After the movie, we met this girl who was playing outside of the theater:

Our host went Goodwill hunting today and came home with 5 teddies. They will be going to Threadbear's Teddy Bear Clinic.  Decker, HitchaRideDooey, and I were really excited to meet these brave little bears and manatee.



They needed a bath, so we helped with cleaning them:



They are now ready to go!

Decker, HitchaRideDooey, JamaBanaDukLuv, and I went to Miami Metrozoo this afternoon.  We spent about 2 hours walking around looking at all the animals, and we had a great time!

Here I am with the gibbon,


and the komono dragon.


I wonder if this hyena is a relative of mine?


We missed the pelican feeding; I hope they got enough to eat!

Today we went Miami Beach to visit our host's daughter who is in the hospital.

We had to cross the Julia Tuttle Causeway to get to Miami Beach.



After visiting with our host's daughter and cheering her up we went to see the bay and go for a walk.

Here is the view of downtown Miami from Miami Beach:


Here we are sunbathing on the seawall:


and the hospital:


After exploring around the hospital, we went for a walk to find the church that we saw from the window of the hospital room.  Before we came to the church, we passed though this little park:


Here's the church that we saw from the window: