Travelog for: Carla

Hello! 

My name is Carla and I'm a crow of passage. Who says we the crows don't migrate?



One day I was hunging out on a tree and suddenly saw an airplane flying over my nest.




It reminded me of the birds of passage I watched here in autumn. Then I thought: “Hey, I’m a bird too, aren’t I?"



That night I made a decision to leave my native forest and to see the world.



Good bye, dear flock, I will miss you! Good bye, sweet home!

Yesterday I started my long passage at last. Passing by the outskirts of my city I noticed an unusual crowd of people and landed to find out more. It was a mushing competition:



I was watching it for a while (at a safe distance, though )



Siberian Huskies, Alaskan Malamutes and Samoyed dogs took part in the sled dog racing. In spite of the threatening appearance



they are very amicable dogs:



Most of all I liked this cutie:



Well, now it's time to say good bye to Siberia and head for the south. My first destination gonna be neither more nor less than Australia!

G'day Mum!!!!

I'm in Australia now, and when you meet someone here, you don't say "Hello" or "How do you do", but you do say "G'day"!


I've made friends with Lilly, who is seven years old.  She took me exploring around her garden.  It's supposed to be one month from "winter" here but it's so warm and everything is so green.


Neil surprised me today telling me that this afternoon we're going to hop on a plane and fly to Tasmania!  I can't wait to send you more photos when we get there.

Thanks for sending me here.  It looks like I'm going to have lots of fun.

Hugs

Carla

Hi Mum!

You'll never guess what happened????

I got to fly in a plane!

But that's not the best part!  I got to FLY the plane!!!



When Neil introduced me to the flight attendant, he was very nice and took me up to meet the Captain.  I got to sit on all the controls and fly the plane!  After that I was so excited I just had to relax in my chair and look out of the window at the clouds.

I can't believe how high up we were.  I could see for miles!

G'day Mum!

I went mountain biking with Neil today.  We rode up into the hills around town for the day, going higher and higher.  I don't know how he got up some of those hills along steep rocky paths.

He even fell off the bike a couple of times

It's much colder here than in Brisbane, but it's very pretty.

I got to ride in Neil's back pocket and I'm so glad he didn't get me to do any of the pedalling!

Lots of hugs.....

Carla

G'day Mum

Today I got to drive a cow!

I know it sounds crazy, but I found these two magic cows in a field in Launceston, and I said "hello" to them.  Being magic cows, they replied, and asked me if I'd like to come for a ride.

So I "took the bull by the horns" (so to speak) and took them for a ride.

They were very kind.  One of them was wearing a suit and hat.  He was very sophisticated and told me he had been to "Bovine University".

The other cow was dressed in very bright floral colours.  She told me she was a real "Party Animal".


I think I like Tasmania.  I have heard that people from this place are called "Tasmaniacs" or was that "Tasmanians"?

Either way, I'm so happy to be traveling and discovering new places.

Thank you for sending me on this journey!

Fluffy hugs

Carla

Howzat?!?!?!?!?!?

Sorry about that, Mum.  Today I learned how to play a game that lots of Aussies love called Cricket.

The idea is to throw a ball around, and hit it with wooden things called bats.  And to run backwards and forwards, and yell out "Howzat" if you think you're winning.  Well.... I THINK it's something like that.

I got back from my trip down south a couple of days ago, and today the kids in our neighborhood decided that they'd let me play Cricket with them.

Here's a picture of me catching the ball and trying not to get hit with the big yellow thing that I think is the bat.


The kids round here are nice, and thought it was really cool that I came all the way from Siberia to play cricket with them.  They said if there ever a Siberian cricket team, I should play for them.

Bye for now!

Carla the Cricketer ;-)

G'day Mum

I went mountain biking with Neil this morning.  He says that it was cold and found it difficult to get out of bed.

I laughed at him!!! Cold???? It was 10C.  I told him that's a summer day in Siberia and that he should harden up and not be such a softie.

So he mumbled something about cheeky birds, stuffed me in his backpack and rode off.

A little while later, we stopped in the middle of some beautiful famrland when I was able to have a quick break and look at all the cows and trees.  While I was sitting on the bike saddle, Neil took a few photos of me:


We then rode back through some old dirt tracks and horse trails just in time to wave "goodbye" to Harrison and Lilly who were leaving for school.

More news later!

Hugs

Carla

G'day Mum!!!

Today I rode a bike up a mountain to a place called Toowoomba.  Well actually (as you can see from this photo) I sat on the back and gave directions, while Neil puffed and panted and strained to get to the top of the hill.

And on the way up we discovered a strange looking hill that looks like the top has been cut off it.  It's called "Tabletop Mountain".  Can you guess why?

Hi Mum!!!!

Today we went for a walk along the lake at a place called "Forgan Cove".

I told Liz and Lilly that I was too lazy to walk, so they carried me instead! I didn't realize how easy it was to get people to do things for me.  Perhaps it's my good looks.  What do you think?


After the walk, I was so tired from being carried around and giving directions that I had a rest by the shore and checked out the lake.  It's huge!  Actually it's a man-made lake because 40 years ago they built a dam here to get water for all the people who live nearby.  And now there are lots of birds and trees that surround it.



Everyone here says it's "Winter".  I can't believe this is winter.  There's no snow, and it's not even cold.  Australians have no idea what winter in Siberia is like.

I think I could enjoy winters like this!

Fluffy Hugs

Carla