There really is a Tasmanian Devil

Hobart Tasmania  2/18/13



Tasmanian Devil

Today found us in the home of the Tasmanian Devil.  I got to see one at the Bonorong Wildlife Sanctuary.  They are cute but very vicious.  They have lots of them there because they are trying to protect and breed them so they don’t go extinct.  They have already lost the Tasmanian tiger. 

 

 

 

 

 

 



feeding a kangaroo

We got to feed tons of kangaroos.  They are very soft.  They eat right out of your hand.  They like being scratched on their chest.  I even saw some joeys in their moms pouches and fed some. 



 

 

 

 

 

Bert the koala

We also saw a Koala named Bert.  After everyone else walked away we got to pet him and take a closeup photo with him.  He was not as soft as you would think they would be.  He fur was  pointy like when you have a bad hair day.  It wasn’t soft- mom says it’s called wiry.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

When we got back to town I got to go on a Segway for a few minutes.  The man was just starting his business and let me have a few minutes to try it in the parking lot.  It is crazy to control that thing.  You stop it by leaning back.  It was a lot of fun!!!

G'Day mate

Sydney, Australia- Fri 2/15 & Sat 2/16

sailing by the sydney opera house

We arrived in Sydney very early in the morning.  We headed out to Paddy’s Market to do some shopping.  It is in Chinatown.  Things were pretty cheap there.  I bought real Pokemon cards there that have tons of HP.  I also got a Ganga Ganga style shirt there.  It is Chinese New Year so they had a cool dragon parade go through the market.  

In the afternoon, we rode the Hop on Hop off bus.  We saw lots of Sydney.  We saw the Opera House while we were on it. 

 

 

 

The next day, we rode the bus out to Bondi Beach.  This is a famous surfing beach.  It rained very hard while we were on the bus.  Of course we were on top when it started but it rained even downstairs.  We walked in the rain at the beach too.  We rode the bus back to downtown and we went to the Maritime Museum.

the famouse Bondi Beach

We got to go on a copy of Capt. Cook’s Endeavor.  We had to crawl through part of the lower decks.  There was also a cool pirate exhibit.  We saw a model of a ship that is on the Australian $20 bill. 

this ship is on the AUD$20

That evening when we sailed away from Sydney we watched from the deck.  I took fun pictures with my camera and its timer.

 

I forgot to post earlier that one evening after dinner while cruising from Auckland, we saw White Island which has an active volcano that we could see.  I also saw the Southern Cross that night.

Good bye New Zealand

Monday Feb 11, 2013

Today was our last stop in New Zealand.  We were on the South Island in Picton.  We walked around the town.  Grandpa and I went on a boat that is being fixed up.  It is called the Edwin Fox.  It is the 9^th oldest ship in the world.  It was used to bring people to Australia and other places.  Grandpa and I also went mini golfing here. 

the bed on the Edwin Fox- a whole family would sleep here

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We had lunch in a restaurant where I tried a thick milkshake.  Remember thick NZ milkshakes are NOT thick.  But it still tasted good.  After lunch we went to a craft market where I bought rocks from NZ and a cool pen made from rimu wood.  Mom bought jewelry.

 

 

Hobbiton photos

Here are some pictures from our day at Hobbiton



Sam's door he walks into at the end of the movie

Wonderful Wellington

Sunday Feb 10, 2013

Today we were in Wellington, NZ.  This is the capital city of New Zealand.  This is our last stop on the North Island.  We went on a cable car that went far up to the top of the mountain.  At the top there was a cable car museum.  These cable cars run differently from the ones in San Francisco. 
When we left the museum we went down the hill through the Botanic Gardens.

In the gardens there were lots of cool flowers.  There was also an awesome playground with a zipline.  I wish we had one of those at home.  At the bottom of the gardens, there was a graveyard.  Many of the headstones were from the 1800s.

Next we walked to the Te Papa National Museum.  There were some trolls from the Hobbit there.  They also had a cool quake house.  It moved to show you what an earthquake in 1990s felt like.  They also had collosal squid.  It is the only complete squid anywhere on display.  They found it in Antarctica.  They hoped it was a male because no male was ever discovered.  Sadly it was a female.  We were lucky to see it!!!!!!  They are taking it away soon because it is falling apart. 

After we finished at the museum we walked along the waterfront back to the ship’s shuttle.  Along the way we stopped at another park with a giant slide. 

napier, new zealand

Sat. Feb 9, 2013.

We were in Napier, NZ today.  This is a town that is Art Deco.  They had lots of cool old cars from the 1920s and 1930s.  There were people dressed in costumes.  They were having a bagpipe contest.  It was like a band contest.  We watched that for a bit.  

Afterwards, we walked down the promenade to the National Aquarium.  We saw a real cool scooter park with ramps like a skateboard park at home.  At the Aquarium we saw a Kiwi.  There were 2 of them, a brother and sister that were hatched there.  They were Northern Brown Kiwi.  There are 4 main  types of kiwi-  large & regular Spotted, Northern & Southern Brown. 

They also had a neat Little Penguin (also known as Little Blue) exhibit.  Many of them are rescues.  Some are missing a flipper and one has a paralyzed right flipper.  Many of the rest were abandoned chicks.  They fed them while we were there.  They are the smallest type of penguin, only about 18 inches.  This is much smaller than the Kings we saw in Auckland, they get to about 38 inches.   We also saw pregnant seahorses and baby seahorses- you could barely see them. 

Tonight’s show was a ventriloquist.  He was funny.  He had a baby puppet, an old man puppet and a crow.  I got to meet him after the show and take a picture.

More from NZ

Fri. Feb 8, 2013

This day we went on a Hobbiton tour.  We got to see the movie set from Lord of the Rings and Hobbit.  This was fun since I had just seen the Lord of the Rings trilogy.  There was a tree there that had 2000 fake leaves on it.  But Peter Jackson became ill and they didn’t film for 6 months. When they were ready to film the leaves were not the right colors so they had to paint them all.   We got to go into one Hobbit hole.  It wasn’t very big though.  

In the afternoon we walked into town and went to the beach.  There were lots of cool shells to collect.  I also got a haircut there.  She even knew how to do my faux hawk.

That night, I helped Cheryl greet passengers at the show door.  It was fun.

 

I'll post photos later.

Auckland New Zealand

Auckland, NZ Feb 5- 7, 2013

We are sailing away from Auckland, New Zealand toward Tauranga, NZ.  We have spent the last 2 days in Auckland.  The native people who live here are called Maori.  We met some today at the Auckland museum.  I took a picture with them- sticking my tongue out.  This is what the Maori do in their war dance- called the Haka.  We found out they carved boats and houses to tell stories to pass down in history because they didn’t have a written language.  We also saw lots of statues and art from the Maori , culture there.   

was i a maori in a past life?

 

Earlier in the day we took a ferry to Devonport.  This is an island in the Auckland harbor.  We walked on the beach and collected shells.

Yesterday, we rode the hop on hop off bus (known as Auckland Explorer bus) to the aquarium.  They had fish of course but they also had penguins and an Antarctic exhibit.  There were stingrays and seahorses too.  The penguins were the best. 

king penguins

 

There was a Gentoo that followed my brochure  wherever I moved it.  If I can post a video later I will show you how funny it was.  They also had King penguins there. 

After this we rode the bus to Parnell Village.  There was a cool shop which sold local crafts.  I got a top shaped like an acorn.  It spins on the top and bottom.  We had a quick bite at the BurgerFuel.

 

 

 

 

sky tower

In the afternoon, we went to the Skytower.  It is taller than the Eiffel Tower and the Sydney tower.  We rode in a glass elevator with a glass bottom panel. You could see down the elevator and out to the sky.  On the observation deck you could stand on a glass floor and I did!  We went up to the top observation too- 722 feet up.  While we were up there people were doing the Sky Walk- walking on a platform outside the building.  People also jump from the tower too.  Mom thinks they are crazy.  Emily, our ship’s librarian did this.

 

 

 

 

At night, on the ship, they had another local show.  This time the Maori came and told their traditional stories. 

The first night we were here, we walked around the harbor.  We saw the America’s Cup yacht, the KZ1 which competed in big sailing race.  There lots of other fancy boats in the habor.

More later.

Where did the groundhog go?

Where’s the groundhog?   Seems he went missing along with Sat. Feb 2.  We crossed the International Dateline so we went to bed on Fri. Feb 1 and woke up on Sun.  Feb 3. 

On Sun.  I got to go on a bridge tour.  I went with my friends from the kids club, Caleb, Jake, & Cole.  We got to take turns steering the boat and looked at all the equipment.  The captain was not there but the 3^rd officer gave us the tour.

 

On Monday, we had a Superbowl party.  They decorated the show lounge with all kids of football stuff.  They even had a football to take a picture with.  Big Bummer that San Francisco lost.  

supebowl party with Cole, Jake, Caleb, Cheryl and Lachy

 

 

That night we had a farewell dinner in the Italian restaurant- it’s called Cannaletto.  Mom & I go there about once per week.  I like the spaghetti & meatballs. 

Tues before arriving in Auckland, New Zealand we had a party in the loft (kids club) and watched the Lord of the Rings Return of the King.  I will miss all my friends when they get off tomorrow.