Today I shall tell you what we did today and how we came to be in all three cities.

We started out this morning at around 7:20 am and left our apartment and started on a long day of driving. At first we were all looking around, eyes wide in excitement for being on the road and looking for kangaroos. We passed a couple of dead ones before Mother finally said that she had seen one, but it was too late to go back so we kept going past the corpses that were practically piled up on the side of the road. Since it was more boring than expected, I went to sleep. I was only asleep about half an hour but almost as soon as I got up I saw a kangaroo.

Those were the only two kangaroos which we saw alive today, but we saw lots of dead ones, from empty brown skins to full kangaroos that seemed like they had just been hit. Mother said that she saw some cows, and since she is a truthful mother, we have to take her word for it. We passed through lots of towns, but the only ones we stopped at were Katherine and Elliot to get fuel for the car.

Now we are in Tennant Creek in the Eldorado Motel and are getting ready for bed.

Today we went to a spring out in the Australian Bush and swam around, doing something that goes along with the following:

When we got to the springs, we went up to the top pool (about 3.5 feet deep) and got used to the water for a while before going downstream to the main pool (very deep) where we just swam across and went down a little creek to the next pool, which was deserted. But then when we came, lots of other people came but it still wasn’t crowded.

I humored myself be going off a little ledge and going down feet first to the bottom but it wasn’t that deep so it was easy. Then we went downstream. It is a fairly large river by then and you have to swim or find a rock to stand on out in the middle, where it is very deep.

When we were headed back upstream, I found a rock and tried to get to the bottom but it was too deep and even after five tries, I still couldn’t make it and just kept going upstream until we reached our stuff at the first pool.

Tonight, I got a bike out and rode it around the beach area around our apartment. I rode for a long ways one way and turned off on a bumpy road. Then I turned around and turned right and went across a bridge to the other side of the stream. The bridge was yellow and very narrow so I went slowly as to not crash into people. On the far side of the bridge, there was a road leading of into the Federal Reserve of Nightcliff or something like that and I didn’t want to go there so I turned around and went back over the bridge. On the other side of the bridge, I passed playgrounds and water fountains while heading back to the picnic table where everyone else was having dinner. When I had finished with my dinner, I went the other way through the parks and got to a point before going back to the picnic table. When I got back, I found out that the table was deserted but luckily found my father a little ways away and went with him across the street.

is one of the names for the Crocosaurus Park in Darwin. In that park, there are lots of things, from crocs to snakes, to sting rays. We saw all of them and enjoyed it, so I’ll go into the details:

There are at least 6 fully grown crocs, 5 male, 1 female. There are also hundreds of babies and you can fish for them with pieces of meat (and let them go. I did that) or just look at them through glass or hold them and get your picture taken. One of the things that you could also do was take the cage of death, a round cylinder that they lowered into crocodile water. We didn’t do it because it was over a hundred dollars per person. There is also a reptile farm and we got to see them feed an olive python and then I got to hold another python and some lizards. In one of the corners, there was a glass square that had a metal crocodile mouth in it and it chomped down to show how powerful the bite was on just a block of ice. In the shop, there were lots of expensive items, like whole crocodile skins or crocodile wallets. All in all, I think we had a good time at the Crocasaurus Park.

Have you ever been out on a beach at sunset, feeling the sand slide beteween your bare feet? It feels nice, and I know that lots of people have felt it and enjoy it. My story will start out when a family left home after supper. There were four of them and their names were Eryn, Ethan, Susan, and Jerry.

They left their apartment a little bit after 6:30 pm and where on the beach a few minutes later. After wading across a small creek, Eryn kicked off her sandals and called out to Ethan, “I’ll race you to the ocean!” and they took off, leaving their parents, Jerry and Susan behind. When they got to the ocean, Ethan tried his hand at telling a story about how feet came to be, about a giant foot who went around (by flying, of course) giving people the wisdom of the foot. The result didn’t turn out to well and he went off, abashed by Eryn laughing at his efforts. Susan and Jerry walked around before also heading away from the ocean and back to the park and from there back to the apartment.

A day in Darwin sounds more appropriate, but you can’t be too picky, so I will leave it at that for now.

Okay, so, today we woke up. If you can call it that; more like I got jolted into counciousness when I heard my mother and Eryn conversing in hushed (loud) voices. I immediately was up and started reading (rereading to be exact) the Magician’s Nephew, until later when I took a shower and got dressed. We had breakfast and then went to the Defense of Darwin war museum, which was very interesting. There is a theatre with a multimedia experiance where I sat and watched and listened while the stroble lights flashed, the speakers boomed machine gun noises, and planes flew across the screen bombing a small Darwin. It was kind of sad though, listening to all of the stories that they had recorded and you could see where those people were on a big screen.

Then we went to the Leanyer Recreational Park (run by the YMCA) and Eryn and I had fun having water dumped on us while the parents sat in the shade. There was a big pool, two long body slides, one long, dark, inner-tube slide (for two people at a time), and a playground that had a bucket that dumped on people below. We had fun and got wet.

Yesterday, when I didn’t write a post, we went to the mountains. We boarded a train around 11:22 and rode for one hour and forty-eight minutes before arriving in the Blue Mountain town of Katoomba. We got there and walked down the street to the shop called the Hattery, which sells hats. In that shop, there are hundreds of Akubra hats, lining the walls of the building. Surprisingly, there weren’t that many customers and I was the only one trying on Akubras for most of the time. In the end, I got an olive green ‘Tablelands’ hat, with a wide brim and a kangaroo leather strap.

When we finished with that, we went to a French bread shop and a ‘Go-Lo’ shop to get food and water for the day before heading down the street to Echo Point. At Echo Point, we had our snacks and looked over the edge. It was a very long ways down. Once finished, we went down a path and crossed on a wooden bride a span between to rocks of about ten feet. That wasn’t very interesting and we left after taking some pictures of me in my new hat.

I know that probably you are shifting around in your seats, trying to telepathically go into the past and tell me to hurry up and get to Darwin, so I will.

After waking up this morning after our last night at Andre and Sabrina’s guesthouse, we went to the airport and waited for our plane. When we got on our plane, we sat down and started reading to pass the time while the plane taxied around for what seemed like hours before taking off.

Once in Darwin, we proceeded immediately to the Hertz rental car place and got our car and went to our apartment. There, we put our stuff down before immediately heading off for a supermarket, where we bought ice cream and the other necessities of life. Then we had a supper of pasta, broccoli, salad, and some ice cream and did our own things.

Yes, my post is about playgrounds.

Eryn and I have played on many playgrounds this trip, and here are some of them and a description:

Park in the Olympic Grounds: A big park on the riverside, this park offers everything from rope webs to wooden towers to swings. You can take a zipline or try your balance on the round balance beam. And since those are just a few of the things, you’re bound to find something that you like.

Park at Watsons Bay: This park is small and so is the amount of equipment, but some of them are very fun. There is a seesaw that spins and goes really high and some monkey bars that are curved upwards.

Other Park in the Olympic Grounds: This one was more like a jungle gym, but is still fun. There are lots of bars to climb and slide down. There is also a ‘climbing wall’ that kids can climb on.

Also, at our house, there is no electric heating and it gets down to 55 degrees farhanheit. Luckily, however, there is a wood stove that heats up the whole living room.

Luna Park, a place of fun, dizziness, and music.

We went to Luna Park today and we all had fun. After waiting for about half an hour while my father bought Eryn and I unlimited tickets for the whole park. Eryn and I went on the ferris wheel before I had to go back to the counter to get a new entrence  pass because the old one was too loose. Then we went on to the Tango Train, a really fast wheel with cars on the end.

While riding and getting squished I thought there was music like We Will Rock You.

When we were done with that, we went to the Wild Mouse, a really fast roller coaster that is kind of because you go straight towards the ocean edge and then abruptly turn off to the right before doing that again and again.

After that, Eryn and I went to Coney Island. Coney Island is a large building that houses  twelve different things that you can do, seven of them just being different slides that all look the same. There is also a maze of mirrors that is just boring and a couple of moving walkways that go in circles. There are also two circles that go around in different directions. Then there is a place with moving boards underfoot and you have to try to get across. Then there is a spinning thing, people sit in the center and try to stay on the middle as long as they can while the circle is spinning quickly.

Later, I went on three different rides that spun around called the Music Ride, the Moon Ranger, and the Flying Saucer.

Public transport, trains, ferries, buses.

We needed those things today, but instead of using them, Eryn and I decided to walk (and drag my mother along too) to a ferry wharf that was a long ways away from where we wanted to be, a big park. When we got to that wharf, we called father to see where he was and it turned out that he was where we had wanted to go and he wanted us to join him there. We saw a sign that said ‘Park: 2700 meters’ and walked for 2.7 kilometers.

What we now wish we had known was that where we wanted to go actually wasn’t that far, but we thought that it was closer to the wharf than it was and went the wrong way. On the way back, we rode a bus that took us right where we needed to be, when we needed to be.

However, nobody died or anything like that so I thought that it was a good waste of time.

Yes, that’s what we are doing now in Sydney, Australia. We are loving being in a place that doesn’t have cow poo everywhere and you have to watch where you step every second of the day.

Yes, kite.

Today we came on the train into Old Delhi to see: kites!!! Lots of these colorful flying pieces of paper adorned the bright blue sky as children gathered below to control the kites. Many a time, we saw kites on the ground, broken and useless. Yet still their little owners found ways to be happy on this year’s Independence Day, celebrating the 65th year of independence.

The Indian people use kite flying to show how they feel about their independence from Britain. Most people have kites and they use them in games to cut one another’s string and for contests of duration and height.

Today was our last day in Jaisalmer, and we spent it staying around home and doing work (reading and schoolwork). We went on a shopping trip (we being Eryn, my mother, and I) to use up my money and for Eryn to look at patchwork things. The first shop that we went to didn’t have much, but the second shop was more interesting to Eryn, as she saw a pillow case that she liked. We walked down the street to a small table that had miniature auto rickshaws-tuk-tuks- (Eryn: ‘CUTE!’) and small elephants. I bought an elephant and something else while Eryn bought nothing. We went back to Bobbi’s place to look at pillow covers before heading back to the second place to get the pillow cover that Eryn liked at the beginning. I went on another motorcycle ride with Raj before heading back to the hotel in the middle of a storm. Now, there is water in the streets and people are happy for more rain.

We went to a mansion today and it was made of stone. It had lots of stone. And lots of bats. And lots of guano, too.

Despite all of that, it was a cool (by which I mean hot) house, with at least four floors and a rooftop with towers jutting out. Eryn and I spent most of our time on the towers watching the parents go around and around on the lower levels, and when the reached the top, we went down. We did that for a while before going to the next house over and discoving that it was the one that was so important, because it actually had no bats and someone who cleaned it. I liked the other one better. At the second one we went up and down the stairs, looking at the exhibits of locks and musical intruments before going to the resturaunt at the bottom of the stairs. While there, we got some cool drinks before heading back towards the hotel.

Tea, a drink with Jam and Bread

Yes, my post is about tea. Today I will tell you how to read tea leaves to tell your fortune. Actually, I’m not. I’m going to tell you what happened in a poem.
Here it goes:

Mom put the teapot over cup,
She pressed the handle and tea went up.
It sprayed all over clothes and the floor,
And then breakfast wasn’t such a bore.

We sat silently, numb with shock,
and then began to laugh and talk.
The waiter asked if he could help,
Right as Mother began to yelp.

The tea had burned Mom on the arm,
But for us, the tea did no harm.
The tea then poured so easily,
What was lost was very measly.

I said it would be in this post,
and then the waiters came with toast.
Eryn’s toast had lots of gold honey,
But to me, it was too runny.

was one of my questions last night on our camel safari. There were five guides, but none of them drank anything. You’re probably wondering if I’m going to talk about anything but beer, and the answer is yes.

Yesterday, I went on a ride with Raj on his motorcycle around the fort. First, we went to the gate and had glasses of fresh juice. Then, we went around the city for about ten minutes before heading up to the main square, where we drank chai and talked with some of Raj’s friends. When we were finished with our cups, we got back on his motorcycle and went down the street. After a brief stop at the hotel, we continued our ride down to a Nokia phone shop, where we talked to some more of Raj’s friends. When we were finished there, we went to the fort and drove around before going back to the square for more chai and a passenger to take to the train station. We were there for a little bit before going back to the hotel for the final time.

Now for the camel ride. We left around two o’clock and rode in a jeep for about two hours to get to a village. At the village, we had a cup (or bowl) of chai tea before getting on our camels and riding off into the sunset. We rode for about one hour before getting to camp on the dunes. We all played around on the dunes a bit before supper was prepared on a fire. It was Indian food cooked to perfection with a little bit of smoke flavor. We looked at the stars for a while before lying down. But sleep would come to none of us. Finally, at about midnight, I drifted off and awoke the next morning covered in sand. We had breakfast and mounted our camels for a long ride.

After about two hours, we were finished and said goodbye to the guides (one of them was eleven) before riding off in a jeep.

Yes, we found a French bakery, but as you can see from the title, there are no French bakers. More of that later, though. Yesterday I had ended my post with an explanation of the hotel in which we are staying. Now, I will try to give a summary of what happened today, with the interesting bits left in.

We woke up (early, early, early) at 7:30 am to go to breakfast while it was still cool. Again, I ordered something with so-called chocolate (a banana-chocolate pancake), which always turns out to taste like hot chocolate mix mixed with milk. We ordered a cup of tea and drank most of it before heading down so we could leave in the next hour. When we headed out (finally) we had in mind to go and visit two temples and a palace. But then again, days don’t always go the way they are planned.

We went to two temples and then walked down the street a little ways until we saw a sign that said boulangerie. We went down that side street and met a cook who said the restaurant was at the top of the building. We went up there and got some cool drinks and heard that the French chef was out because of his paternal leave. The cook also said that he likes Obama, and that our president was communist because he cared a lot about the country and not that much about the people. We left, went to two more temples and went back to the hotel. At the hotel, I did my schoolwork and went up with my father to the to the outside restaurant on the top floor to see if Raj was there to talk about the camel riding. When we got up we saw that all the cushions were set away in the alcove. We looked to see approaching rain clouds, the first in about a year. The rain started softly, but by the time we had gotten down to our rooms to get the cushions off of our balconies, it was pouring with very fast winds.

My room was almost soaked and I finally got a towel at the bottom of the window to stop the worst leak. The rain continued for about 10 minutes and then settled down to a steady sprinkle. We went up to the top and drank tea with Raj before we headed down to buy clothes for the desert tomorrow.

For supper tonight, we went to the same place that we had the cool drinks at noon. Most of the time we were waiting for our food, Eryn was trying to take pictures of lightning. It didn’t work too well.

Despite what the title said, we did not have donuts today, but the day did go on, and it was also a down day. It was a warmish day today and we spent most of it outside in the shade of the hanging swing, reading and writing to catch up with all of our emails and pictures. The Internet was down (again) but my father got it to work just long enough so that we have tickets to get home on June 19, 2013. Home being Seattle, but it’s at least on the right side (or is it left?) of the continent. Nonetheless, it is good to know that we are going home, as up until now, we didn’t know if or when we were coming back. Knowing that, it puts an even brighter look on the future of this trip.

Yes, that’s right, we finally arrived in Jodphur today. By train, of course. Our new place is a little ways outside of town. It is called the Mandore Guesthouse and it has 16 roundavels, most of the, with private balconies. We got two of those, and we spent the rest of the day lounging around outside in the late afternoon sun. There are lots of trees and places to sit in the lawn, and it is all very nice. No pool, though.

We had an Indian (obviously) supper and ate till we were full, and then washed it down with tankards of banana lassie. It was good and I think we all enjoyed it.