Hello everybody!

We made these tye-dye T-shirts in Fiji together

Do you remember Hannah, from Fiji?  Well, we stayed in her house in Sydney, Australia!  It was fun having some kid – time after a while with grown-ups.

One amazing thing we did was go to Les Miserables, one of my favorite musicals, in the old Capitol Theatre.

The acoustics were amazing, especially in the first scene – I got goosebumps when the orchestra started playing!

Here we are with Hannah, Rochelle, and Jamie Fletcher

It was fun being in the audience, because when I was in the musical, as Young Cosette, at the Woodland Opera House, in California, I never saw it live myself because I was always backstage.

It was fun to wear my Les Mis t-shirt from the Woodland Opera House to the show! If you are from the Woodland Opera House, please give me a shout out! I miss you guys.

Another thing we did was go to the Sydney zoo, where I saw Tasmanian devils, kangaroos, wallabies, emus, giraffes, lions and many other animals – though I didn’t see any flying dingoes – inside joke with my classmates.

Question to my classmates: What leaf do koalas eat?

This koala brushed right up against my Mama.

I see a smile on her face, don’t you?

Check out the koala sticking its tongue out for the photo! LOL

I loved the zoo!

What caption would you put for this photo?

This komodo dragon was taking a nap in the sun. Komodo dragons are the largest living species of lizards, growing up to 10 feet and weighing up to 150 pounds.

I was chosen from the audience to play with the seal!

He responded to my command to jump!

I love the views from the zoo! Here we are with Rochelle, Hannah and Rhys.

Look for another Sydney post from your Junior Worldtrek Reporter.

Keep Calm and Travel Around the World

Hello again, mates.  “Good on ya” for checking in with me and our adventures in Australia!

What a GREAT time on The GREAT Ocean Road

We are having eight glorious days along The Great Ocean Road. This road was built by hundreds of men as a living Memorial to the Victorians of World War I.

One campsite along The Road had Erskine Falls, a beautiful waterfall with a hike — it was awesome!

We met a very nice Australian family at the Erkine Falls campsite and we enjoyed the hike and falls together the next morning.

We are meeting fantastic people from all over the world!

They have three girls and they were on an 8-week holiday in their “campa” all around Australia.

We had fun at Erskine Falls and a park together.

The “zip line” is called a “flying fox” in Australia

All along The Great Ocean Road, you can see spectacular sculptures formed by Mother Nature from limestone hundreds of years ago, such as, the 12 Apostles and the London bridge.  I hope you enjoy the scenery I am sharing with you:

Can you guess why this is called “The London Bridge?”

We liked the 12 Apostles so much that we went back for a second time when it was lighter.

At one stop there was this really cool sand dune slide, and an incredible view of Block Island.

Okay, why is it called block island?

Roll out of bed and have a wonderful breakfast

Chef Mommy continued cooking in the campa and on the Australian-style “barbies”  in the campgrounds.

And I continued eating in the loft of the campa!   Breakfast in bed is the best!

Here is a shout out from my campa to my classmates at Two Rivers with Ollie the River Otter; and, Grandma Marcia with Hedwig, the Owl!

One evening, while in Warnambool, Australia, we went to an incredible place, called Tower Hill Reserve.  There were animals everywhere!

We met a family from Boston who were also on a long international trip.

Once again, we saw tons of kangaroos, emus, and wallabies in the wild.  By the way, emus’ poops look like cow patties!

Another campsite had fun activities like minigolf and huge bouncy pillow to enjoy.

More jumpin’ kangaroos!

Well that’s it for today. Look for more posts from your Junior Worldtrek Reporter – the next place we head to in the “Campa,” is the great city of Sydney, Australia!

Keep Calm and Travel Around the World

I loved the parrots so much that we went back to feed them again.

Hello, folks!  Nice posting to you “mates,” still from Australia.

I love all animals, especially big, hungry birds!

We left Melbourne and are doing something we have NEVER done before – on this trip. We hired (typical Australian word for rented) a CAMPER!

Camper + Me = GLEE !!!

Special thanks to Melanie at Apollo RV Rentals for hooking us up in an awesome RV….check it out!

Melanie dialed us in so we would be styling’ and comfortable for 8 days in our camper!

We said goodbye to Lizzie!

The first night we drove our camper to the amazing, awesome Great Ocean Road!

It is like the Pacific Coast Highway, but not like the Pacific Coast Highway! The Great Ocean Road is a rural road.

Yes, I AM on the driver’s side!

Stop where you want, when you want – it doesn’t get much better than this!

Most of our time driving in the camper was spent on the road along the ocean, but we traveled inland occasionally.

At one stop, we got to feed beautiful parrots that land on your arm and eat straight from your hand!

Mama was nervous, one landed on her head, too!

In some places we spotted koalas again!

Eat, sleep, eat, sleep, eat, sleep, eat some more, sleep some more, repeat.

Every day we found the perfect picnic spot for lunch with good, I mean great views!

I get to keep up with my cooking skills with Chef Mommy in the RV, too, while enjoying the views!

I wish you lads and lassies could be with us – our adventures are getting more exciting every day!

Keep Calm and Travel Around the World

I hope my posts are lighting up your day!

For all of you tennis players (especially Grandma Marcia), we went to the courts where the Australian Open is played!

It was really fun seeing where this international event takes place every year.

Walking back to the apartment we were staying, in the Southbank (a very cool area), we stopped at the sound of bells.

When we took a closer look, we found out that they are actually called the “Federation Bells,” which ring three times a day for one hour. We enjoyed them from 5-6:00 PM.

The bells were designed by Australian engineers and the songs are all original compositions by Aussie musicians – it made my heart sing!

One more thing, we were in Melbourne on Anzac Day. This is basically Veterans Day as we Americans celebrate.

This is because they honor the soldiers who fought, and some who died, in World War I and World War II.

As part of this celebration, there were two women who started an organization back in the early 1900s where people sewed handmade poppies to honor all the people who died in New Zealand and Australia during these wars. Now, there are millions of poppies sent from people all over the world!

We sure had a good time in Melbourne, and got to spend more time with our friend Lizzie.

Thanks Lizzie for everything – we can’t wait to see you in the US next year!

Look for more posts from your Junior Worldtrek Reporter soon – next stop, The Great Ocean Road!

Keep calm and travel around the world.

Who can guess where we went next? If you can’t guess, we went to the city of Melbourne.

Melbourne is known as the arts and culture center of Australia

I would like to start from the very beginning of our little adventure.  The first thing we did was go to the State Theater where we got a private tour!

On the bridge we were walking on to get to our next destination were love locks, some jammed together so much that you couldn’t find a space to put a new one.

Mother’s Day is coming up!

Our next destination was the Melbourne museum.

This museum was jam-packed with cool stuff like the history of the aboriginal people, awesome dinosaur skeletons, and how the earth was in the past and how it might be in the future.

Make no bones about it, this is a GREAT museum

We also watched eel feeding, looked at old-fashioned objects, and a giant squid.

The Melbourne Museum is for sure a to-go place. After the museum visit, and since I needed to get some energy out, we went to a playground called Art play, where the kids get to draw all over the structures.

That night we tried our luck to get extra tickets to the Lion King, which is one of our favorite musicals ever.

We got in to the Lion King!  While in line we met a very nice lady named Courtney, from Tennessee. Courtney is a very special person, and we want to thank her very much for her generous spirit – it was great to meet her and sit near each other at the performance of the Lion King.

We spent four days in Melbourne, so stay tuned for more on Melbourne from your Junior Worldtrek Reporter…..

Keep Calm and Travel Around the World

Ruff-ruff! Hello everyone. Sorry it’s been a little while since I last posted, however, we have had limited access to the Internet.

I am now very excited to share a very wonderful visit we had while in southeastern Australia, outside of Melbourne, in a town called Foster.

Lizzie took us to visit Paul MacPhair’s Kelpie training center! This is a sheep dog farm – I wish we could have stayed there all day!

Paul and Anneke were the hosts and showed us around the property, and the operations of the training facilities.  Paul is a fourth generation Australian sheep farmer on the property, and Anneke, is originally from Holland (a dairy farm) — the two of them were great hosts!

They train the kelpies and also raise the sheep. Wool and lamb are two of the main industries of Australia – and, New Zealand.

Paul trains the puppies and the dogs to herd sheep and sells them to other farmers to help them with their sheep.

He trains them with three words like “stay” “back,” and “sit.”.  He rewards them with food and cooling off by jumping in the trough.

Of course, all the puppies/dogs were waiting for their rewards — good dogs!

Roxy is the mother of the young puppies.  At one point, she saw that one of her puppies was missing and checked on the one that I had.

There were so many dogs, I couldn’t count them all! I like the puppies the most – they were so cute! I got to hold the three week old puppies and they barely had their eyes open and could not walk.

We got to watch the older pups (10 weeks old!) when they were first being trained to herd sheep.

I also liked watching the adult dogs herding the sheep. After working, King and Gloria, (the names of the dogs), jumped into the water trough, too, as a reward for their hard work.

My favorite move is when they – “back” – the sheep, which is when they run up and down on the backs of the sheep.

Boy, do I hope I can go back there again someday…..maybe Paul would hire me to help!

Getting ready to be sheared for wool

And boy, do I miss my own golden retriever, Powder.

Who’s the dog that I know and love? My woo woo, Powder.

Thanks Jack and Sandy, for sending us videos and pictures of her, and especially, for taking such good care of Powder!

Look for more from your Junior WorldTrek Reporter

Keep Calm and Travel Around the World

Hello again, everyone!  I actually went to the prom in Australia, even though I am not in high school yet… Just joking!

Pouches are one of the things that distinguish marsupials – we saw this Mom with a “joey” in her pouch!

Beautiful Wilson’s Promitory

Huge Rock Outcroppings are All Around the Coastline and Park

This is a very different type of prom. The Wilsons promontory is basically a National Park, with most of the native wildlife of Australia.

We stopped on the way at the side of a mob of kangaroos lying in the sun and then, to emus (ostrich-like birds) walked out from the bushes just behind us.

Emus are native birds of Australia and are similar to the ostrich.

Then we set off on our hike. Only five minutes later we spotted a wallaby. Wallabies are smaller and darker and kangaroos and are really cute.

Along the way we stopped for lunch and then off again.

Jumpin’ Kangaroos!

After a nice long hike we reached the beach.

The water was warmer than I expected, though I didn’t get to swim in it. Now we were on our way home – although we had a night hike planned.

South Coast National Park Sunset

Before we got in the car we saw our our very first wombat.  Wombats are like giant guinea pigs, but are not as cute as wallabies.

Wombats are really solid, and lumbar along

Kangaroos are Active at Night

This Wombat was very Friendly

I hope you enjoyed this prom – entation – ha ha…..

Look for More from Your Junior WorldTrek Reporter

Keep Calm and Travel Around the World

Boing — Boing!  Hop — Hop!  Boing — Boing!!!  Can you guess what’s bouncing now?

A kangaroo!  And Kangaroos are from which continent/country?

If you said Australia, then you are correct.  Our friend Lizzie picked us up from the airport in Melbourne after the flight across the Tasman Sea from Christchurch, New Zealand, to Melbourne, Australia.  Then we drove to Lizzie’s home in Meeniyan, Australia.

Lizzie is so lucky! All of us Americans want to see koalas, right? Well, anAustralian with a eucalyptus tree and no fences like the Lizzie, can see them every day!

Good Morning!

We woke up the first morning and walked outside to see a koala right in her yard. It was so cute! Wish all of you were with us to see it!

Yummy Eucalyptus!

Later that day, Lizzie took us to Coal Creek, an old fashioned town where coal was mined in the the 1800’s and early 1900’s.

Each building had a different subject such as, music, sewing, saddle making, blade Smith, and even a barber.

This was a famous music teacher’s home and studio, Miss Daisy Hardwick.

This was her famous student, Bruce Hungerford

Wow, what did this thing do?

This was the way cash was sent to the purser in the store

I am telling you, roos really are this big!

Wow! Lots of memories recorded in these……SMILE, everyone!

For some kids who like the gross stuff, one of the worlds largest earthworms was found here. Anyway, every building was great.

EEEEEEeeeeeewwwwww!

I also got to see what an old-school was like we are so glad that this is not how school is now.

“Sit up straight!”   “Arthur, that is not how you write an ‘a’!”

Once our bellies started rumbling we decided to search for the perfect picnic spot. The beach was a perfect place for that.

After the picnic lunch was another beach.  We went to Eaglesnest with a tall rock that looks like, well, an Eagle’s Nest!

The Southern Australian Coast, Inverlock.

The next day we went to three art galleries and I met a couple of artists.  One gallery had amazing artwork made from charcoal pencils and even iPhone digital creations. Another had odd furniture made from all recycled materials.

The last one had many books. I read a lot of them because I really like the author who both writes and illustrates her books. This was Alison Lester’s gallery in Fish Creek, Victoria, Australia.  Our favorite book of hers, “Magic Beach,” actually has “charging white horses” in it!  Do you remember what charging white horses are?

We will be enjoying more good home-cooked meals here, too, at Lizzie’s place — how can you tell?

That’s what we did the first few days in Australia….

Look for more posts from your Junior World Trek Reporter.

Keep Calm and Travel Around the World.

Cock-a-doodle-doo! Where are you?  I am in Oamaru, New Zealand.

The Chicken Coop

We have visited Philip and Diana, who were dear friends of my grandparents and are now our dear friends, too!

The Old Victorian Part of Oamaru

We Went to a Cool Adventure Bookstore

And a Park/Playground Made Entirely Out of Recyclable Materials

Woo Hoo – a Zip Line!

Philip and Di are originally from England where my Nana and Grandpa met them, and they are retired (not expired,as Philip said) in New Zealand, although Philip works twice a week as a physician in Oamaru.  Both Philip and Di work very hard (but fun work) on their beautiful farm.

Learning How to be a Sustainable Farmer

They live on the ocean where you can see charging white horses – an inside joke – any day!
Can you guess what charging white horses means (see below for hints)?

Philip and Di’s Property From the Distance

If you guessed ocean waves, you are correct!

I loved their exotic garden.  In fact, it is so beautiful, that it won the “National Garden of Significance” which is a really special award in all of New Zealand.

Eight Peking Ducks in the Pond – the Island is Where They Sleep

Not many gardens win four stars.  There are only four other people with four star gardens!

The Bees Love It, Too!

Philip and I picked lettuce for salads and Di and I picked rainbow chard for the chickens.

Every morning we fed the chickens leftover bread and chard.

Early AM

One of the hens did not come out to feed because she was sitting tight on her eggs.The Cockrell/rooster fertilizes the egg so they can hatch. The hen sits for an average of 21 days. Unfortunately, the eggs didn’t hatch while we were there.

Mother Hen

Speaking of eggs, did you know that eggshells are the color of its mothers ears? Now you know why there are brown eggs and white eggs and a lot in between!

The chickens at Philip and Di’s are free range chickens, which means their wings are not clipped and they can fly and walk wherever they would like. But the Cockrell/rooster makes sure they come back at night. The rooster also is a good alarm clock, though he wakes me up a
little earlier than I would like!

Philip and Di also have sheep!  “Lamb Chop” is the oldest and the matriarch of the herd.

We got to herd them from one Paddock into another Paddock (field or pasture). Check out this cool video:

https://youtu.be/liG_A1Q2P9Y

We visited the Oamaru Opera House – I miss my friends and being in shows in the Sacramento and Woodland Theaters.

A Big “Shout Out” to All My Woodland Opera House Friends!

One of Philip and Di’s friends, Sophie, invited me to go see the movie, Cinderella.  It was fun playing with her and her brother Jacob.

Sophie and her brother, Jacob.

We also got to walk along the beach. I found a Paua shell. A Paua is the Maori name for a large edible sea snail.  In America we call it abalone.

I noticed Philip and Di ate a little differently. Every meal has courses, such as breakfast has cereal, then eggs, and then toast.

We Had Lots of Great Breakfasts!

We ate out on the “bandstand,” a structure they had built outside by the pond with a table. It has beautiful views of the garden and pond.

And Lunches!

In the Bandstand!

And Dinners, too!

Now you know all about our trip to Philip and Di’s – thank you Philip and Di – we can’t wait to see you again soon!

Look for more from your Junior World Trek Reporter.

Keep Calm and Travel Around the World.

Now we have been to a town fit for a QUEEN! Can you guess it’s name?

Queenstown!

From Philip and Diana’s home in Oamaru (more on that later), we drove the 3 hours to Queenstown.

It looks like a dream

On the way we looked at the elephant rocks. It is hard to believe that it used to be under the sea.

They were sculptures of rocks piled high in the air. You stop and wonder, “are they really there?”

We got back in the car and went on our way. Next stop had a river with people on boogie boards gliding down the rapids in the currents. It is called river surfing. They had wetsuits on because the water was freezing- it was snowing in the mountains in the distance!

After that we traveled through countryside with grapevines and orchards, after all, this is a big part of New Zealand. Am I right?

An old gold mining town on the river and vineyards all around

Finally, we reached our destination, Queenstown. Awaiting us in the morning at our home stay was a very nice Australian couple from Canberra. Aeron braided my hair and I braided hers.

Nice to meet you Aeron and Troy!

Down to the town we went. There was a line of creative mailboxes down the street and beautiful views of the lake, shiny and sleek.

The mail must go through

Queensland is a ski town with several ski areas – Yay!

That wasn’t all, because on our way back we saw an activity that might give you a heart attack. A bungee jump that is way high up, on a bridge.

This is where bungee jumping was invented back in the 1970’s.

I wanted to go jump off that bridge, but I am too young to do it — you have to be 10-years old.

This now brings an end to my unabridged story!

Okay – abridged story!

Look for more from your world trek reporter.

I get my doggie-fix whenever I can! I miss my dog, Powder; and friends, classmates, neighbors and grandma — talk to you soon!

Keep Calm and Travel Around the World!