Seattle, Washington, United States - 8th March 2008
By: sararingham
We had our last visit around Washington today before we leave tomorrow morning, I'm so excited but so nervous, first stop was in Everett, not too interesting, we had to go with Sara to her step mom's appointment with the neurologist... here we all are... :-)
Then we we're off to Seattle - we went inside a few shops on the Seattle waterfront, and there we're a lot of really cool wooden statue things that we're hand carved... here's one of them I particularly liked! :-)
...we took a stroll down the waterfront and we saw this sign - which is a memorial, it's straight in front of the Argosy cruises for the Lake cruises and the Locks cruises that they have in Seattle! It looked exciting, but not today! :-)
...and then after a bit more walking we got to the world famous Ye Olde Curiosity Shop...
This was the entrance to the store, it was already quite interesting... so I wonder what's inside! I've heard a lot about this store from Sara...
...and meet Sylvester... the most famous well preserved mummy in the world!
...and here's some information about our famous Sylvester, we heard a lady talking about the origin of Sylvester... apparently after the cowboys found him they left him standing on the side of the road for people to see, then one day a traveling circus drove by him and covered him in arsenic which caused his preserved state even more so, and then they brought him with them around the United States on the traveling circus. Then eventually a dentist actually got a hold of him and had him in his office and had him occasionally pop out on some people (mean huh? haha). When the dentist died, the wife called the Curiosity Shop and asked if they'd like him for their museum... and of course they agreed! :-)
...and now it's time to meet Sylvia...
...she is a white, female mummy, probably a Spanish immigrant found in the highlands of Central America. Scientists say that she died in her early thirties from tuberculosis, prehaps contracted during the long sea voyage to the New World...
Here's more information again about both Sylvia and Sylvester... very interesting information really... :-)
Here's an interesting thing - in the middle of the closed off area on the waterfront, there was an actual working carousel that was really pretty! I wanted to ride, but I was way too small! :-P
We decided to get some food at Ivars, the famous seafood shop on the Seattle waterfront, they have a lot here, but they were founded and established in Seattle from 1936.
While we were waiting for our food, we saw some seagulls up close!
...in the background of a second one you see a famous and familiar sight of Washington, the ferries!
Sara thought this was cute... the Clam Central Station across from Ivars!
When we got home we we're so tired, but we had to pack and get everything ready, we're about right on the limit for stuff we can bring back to Australia - so how exciting will this be! :-)
So before we decided to travel, we decided to get up to date with the world... :-) Here I am reading the newspapers from the countries I will be visiting... :-) How exciting! <3
...and here I am remembering all my fun times while I've been in Washington... my favourite was Leavenworth, how exciting it was to visit a town that looked so much like home, and yet so far away from home!
...and now it's time to write up my last entry for America then I'm off to Australia again tomorrow! Wish me luck!
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Posted Mar 8, 2008, 7:42 am
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Incheon (Seoul), South Korea - 9th March 2008
By: sararingham
Technically yesterday we left for South Korea, at 1240pm we flew out of Seattle... and 11 or so hours later, we are in South Korea, and it's 5pm... just after... so lets start from the beginning...
Here I am at the gate where Sara will be boarding the plane... we only have a few hours to wait now since we managed to get through customs, immigration and all the screening pretty quickly...
We had to check the board to make sure our flight was on time...
After about an hour our plane arrived, and we got to watch it be loaded up with everything and pretty soon we were about to board and go on our 11 hour flight to South Korea, I wonder what we'll see now that Sara has a window seat...
Very shortly into our flight we got to see some gorgeous mountains from the air, Sara says these are the mountains on the Washington Peninsula, they're called the Olympics...
We got to take a nap, and next pictures we're in Japan... here's what we saw...
As you can see we saw a lot of mountain ranges and everything, and even a volcano we flew over... we're not sure what it is called but it sure looked pretty!
Even more exciting we even got to see Mt. Fuji, it's in the far distance, and if you look closely behind the lower engine you can see Mt. Fuji in the middle...
We then crossed the sea between Japan and South Korea, and we started to come closer to landing, Sara got some photos of Seoul...
...and now we've landed in South Korea...
When we got to Korea, it was a lot of running around, and a lot of long lines but we stopped for a moment to see the beautiful Korean sunset that was happening right before our eyes...
Funny enough our terminal was the same terminal last time that we were sleeping at before, so the picture looks extremely similar, that's because it was the same exact area... here's our next plane to Sydney...
We've got another long 10 hour flight ahead of us, and then a day in Sydney to plan, we'll see how that goes... we're off to board the plane!... see you in Australia!
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Posted Mar 11, 2008, 12:00 pm Last edited Mar 11, 2008, 12:10 pm by sararingham
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Sydney, New South Wales, Australia - 10th March 2008
By: sararingham
After a long and turbulent 10 hour flight we've made it to Sydney, we got through customs and immigration almost at record time (for Sara anyways)... first things first, we got to visit Botany Bay, here I am in front of the bay on the side of the road... so pretty isn't it?
This is a photo just by itself, the little peninsula sticking out is actually the airport runway, so we got to watch some planes landing and taking off it was quite interesting...
What's even more interesting is... this is the plane we all arrived on from South Korea, and now it's going back - not even 2 hours later! It was interesting to watch the plane that had only just arrived, seeing it take off back again... how cool is that?
We took a bit longer on the road and we got to one of the proper beaches, we had to go to the beaches with the shark nets, we stopped at the first one and had a bit of a dip (well I didn't, I don't like the water!) in the Kyeemagh Baths...
Here are all of us on the beach...
...and here I am out in the water, Sara was holding me because she knows I don't like the water, it wouldn't be good for my fur!
Here are some seagulls, there we're quite a lot of them really!..
We took another bit of a drive down the beach to the next bit of the shark nets, and we even got to see the Sydney skyline... as you can see, even for a Monday morning there we're a lot of people at the beach... and this is just where we were...
...another 2'ish hours later we we're on the road to Orange, which most definately is not coastal... so no more pretty beaches, but that doesn't worry me too much... but we stopped off in the Blue Mountains and got to see the famous Three Sisters...
There were lots and lots of people sightseeing there when we all visited there... but we got in and got out pretty quick, we all just were very tired and wanted to get home!
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Posted Mar 11, 2008, 12:10 pm
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Orange, New South Wales, Australia - 11th March 2008
By: sararingham
Today we went to Blayney and on the way to Blayney we all got to see an emu, what a famous Australian animal. :-)
...and when we got home we met up with another toyvoyager,
Mulalu how exciting, he came all the way from South Africa, so we had a group photo together, now I can also introduce you to all the other toyvoyagers that have been visiting with Sara..
From left to right it's Mulalu, Me, Mel, Cronus, Alpina, Leo Lion, Benni, and Charity Bear... the walrus, lobster and turtle are soon to be toyvoyagers... :-)
Pretty soon we'll be saying goodbye to Benni, Cronus and Charity Bear as they continue their travels around the world! :-) We're going back to Blayney tomorrow so we'll have a bit more of a sight see through the small little town. :-)
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Posted Mar 11, 2008, 12:20 pm Last edited Jun 8, 2008, 5:02 pm by sararingham
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Blayney, New South Wales, Australia - 13th March 2008
By: sararingham
First things first, we had to all say goodbye to Benni and Charity Bear... it was pretty sad, but we all know they're going to have fun and going to a safe place.
We went to Blayney, we've been going everyday to feed the animals at Sara's father-in-law's house... no photos with those animals though they're too crazy. But we stopped to see the local emu, we're not sure if he's a wild one, or someone owns him... but we think he just got stuck in the paddock since he was younger, he comes and goes... he's SO big though...
Next stop, our destination... something kinda unique about this though is - it's one of four Marsden cottages they were built for the workers of the wealthy Marsden family. They're listed on the national trust and heritage as historically important. The house in front of me is the one that's most intact and in best condition of the three of them and has most of the original everything that was originally in the house. The house was built in the mid 1870's. We heard a lot of stories from Sara about some spooky stuff that's happened there, she lived there for 10 months with her father-in-law before moving to Orange in May 2006...
Animals are fed... so next stop... Church Hill...
Church hill is a large hill in the middle of town, so Sara got some photos of Blayney from a bit higher elevation... it was a nice clear and hot day so we didn't spend too much time there before moving on...
We had to also say goodbye to Cronus he's off to Costa Rica, how exciting!...
...and then we had a chance to do a mystery shop with Sara and Daniel... we "shopped" a petrol station... and had to do a report on our findings... there was a lot of information to write down... we all helped how we could...
Then we got to visit a pet store and pick out two little mice, Sara has three other mice that are a little bit bigger so we've been having trouble introducing them together, but slowly but surely they're starting to get introduced one at a time... introducing... Pancake and Waffles...
It's been a long day though, I'll have more to update with what happened on Friday, you'll just have to wait and see, it won't take too long! :-)
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Posted Mar 14, 2008, 7:12 am
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Orange, New South Wales, Australia - 14th March 2008
By: sararingham
Today we got to visit Banjo Patterson's Birth Place a bit outside of Orange... it was pretty exciting. Banjo Patterson is famous for his poetry and wrote the song "Waltzing Matilda" and "A Man From Snowy River"...
Here's a picture of me next to the statue in memory of him...
...and here's the sign from underneath the statue...
The important part of this sign says "The bricks in this plinth are from the original templer's mill that stood on this site during the time of Banjo's birth. The mill was demolished in 1971."
Here's the sign in front of the ruins of the templer's mill:
...and a close up of the sign and what the sign says...
We even then went and saw another sign in memory to Banjo Patterson...
...then last of all before we left, we actually got to sit on the ruins of the mill...
As we left, we all got to learn the words of the famous Australian song... "Waltzing Matilda"...
Once a jolly swagman camped by a billabong,
Under the shade of a coolibah tree,
And he sang as he watched and waited 'til his billy boiled
"Who'll come a-Waltzing Matilda, with me?"
Waltzing Matilda, Waltzing Matilda
"You'll come a-Waltzing Matilda, with me"
And he sang as he watched and waited 'til his billy boiled,
"You'll come a-Waltzing Matilda, with me".
Down came a jumbuck to drink at the billabong,
Up got the swagman and grabbed him with glee,
And he sang as he stowed that jumbuck in his tucker bag,
"You'll come a-Waltzing Matilda, with me".
Waltzing Matilda, Waltzing Matilda
"You'll come a-Waltzing Matilda, with me"
And he sang as he stowed that jumbuck in his tucker bag,
"You'll come a-Waltzing Matilda, with me".
Down came the squatter, mounted on his thoroughbred,
Up came the troopers, one, two, three,
"Where's that jolly jumbuck you've got in your tucker bag?"
"You'll come a-Waltzing Matilda, with me".
Waltzing Matilda, Waltzing Matilda
"You'll come a-Waltzing Matilda, with me"
"Who's that jolly jumbuck you've got in your tucker bag?",
"You'll come a-Waltzing Matilda, with me".
Up got the swagman and jumped into the billabong,
"You'll never catch me alive," said he,
And his ghost may be heard as you passed by that billabong,
"Who'll come a-Waltzing Matilda, with me?"
Waltzing Matilda, Waltzing Matilda
Who'll come a-Waltzing Matilda, with me
And his ghost may be heard as you passed by that billabong,
"Who'll come a-Waltzing Matilda, with me?"
...then on the way back from our stop in Blayney we got to see John Lister's grave...
He's the first person to find gold in Australia in 1851... he's buried in Millthorpe, a tiny town 10 minutes towards Orange from Blayney with a population of only around 800 people....
When we got home... Sara showed us a $10. note, it features Banjo Patterson... that shows how famous of an Australian he is... so how cool to see and learn more about him... today was another huge day, and it was again, so hot... we're hoping for a cool down soon since we're almost a month into autumn now... well time to rest for a while... I'll post again very soon! :-)
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Posted Mar 14, 2008, 7:33 am Last edited Jun 8, 2008, 5:03 pm by sararingham
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Orange, New South Wales, Australia - 17th March 2008
By: sararingham
I'm off to a host now! I've been with mom this whole time, but now it's time for me to explore a little bit on my own! I promise I'll update often with photos! I can't wait to see where I'm going next! :-)
...bye everyone I've had fun! Maybe we can meet up again one day in all of our travels! :-)
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Posted Mar 20, 2008, 8:40 am Last edited Jun 8, 2008, 5:03 pm by sararingham
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Casterton, Australia - 25th March 2008
By: gingermuggins
Hello
Finally i have been resuced from the dark, tiny hole they call a post box in the country. My host told me i should be thankful i wasn't delivered to a road-side mail box as they can get cold, wet and when a car goes past it can sound scary and noisy!
I wasn't lonely while in the box though, there was a fellow TV named Roberto who travelled from USA. Well, we had lots of time to chat about that country. I told him all about where i had travelled while over there and he told me about his home town, Florida.
I'm going to get to know the other TV's here now.
I miss you but am having a great time.
Hugs
xx Leo xx
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Posted Mar 25, 2008, 1:01 am
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Hosts Home, Australia - 26th March 2008
By: gingermuggins
Hello!
You wouldn't believe after all the fun i had yesterday and all the photos Sam uploaded for me, I forgot to tell you that the Easter bunny left me a gift even though i wasn't here Sunday morning. I am soooo lucky and can't wait to eat the yummy chocolate i have.
More updates later!
xx Leo Lion xx
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Posted Mar 25, 2008, 11:55 pm
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Hosts Home, Australia - 27th March 2008
By: gingermuggins
Hello
We have had a couple of quiet days. The weather has been awfully cold and wet.
Today i ate a Lamington. It's like a small sponge cake, coated in melted chocolate and rolled in desicated coconut.
Sometimes they can have a strawberry flavour to them. Some people say it's a traditional Australian cake. I'm sure you know all about lamingtons though mommy! I had a chocolate tasting lamington and it was yummy!
Hugs
xx Leo Lion xx
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Posted Mar 27, 2008, 4:38 am
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Hosts Home, Australia - 1st April 2008
By: gingermuggins
Hello Mommy
Today we had a new toyvoyager arrive, ducky-duck and also an adpoted toyvoyager who my host has named Eliza. We sat around and chatted for awhile.
The weather is still horrible. Very wet and windy. I dream of sunshine and blue skies all the time.
Big hugs to you
xx Leo Lion xx
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Posted Apr 2, 2008, 1:45 am
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Hosts Home, Australia - 6th April 2008
By: gingermuggins
Hello!
You wouldn't believe how quick the weather changes around here. Today was a beautiful sunny day. Blue skies, white fluffy clouds, sunshine all around, very different from the last week! Just when we thought it was a great day we saw something that wasn't too great. Lots of thick, black smoke rising from the forest. Yes, it was a fire! We thought maybe it was started on purpose but after some investigating (lots of phone calls), Sam found out it was a controlled burn by the forestry people. They were cleaning up fallen trees and branches after last weeks windy weather. Phew, our minds were put at ease, it wasn't too far from Sam's home!
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Posted Apr 6, 2008, 12:39 pm
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Casterton, Australia - 12th April 2008
By: gingermuggins
I am writing this on behalf of Leo Lion.
He couldn't wait to move onto his next host so he packed up and took off after saying a quick but fond farewell to his newfound toyvoyager friends.
He is only travelling 400kms north but it will take a few days.
It was a pleasure to have him visit.
Safe travelling Leo!
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Posted Apr 12, 2008, 1:47 am
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