by Maile Bowles | Nov 26, 2017 | Australia, Maile
On this trip, we have had many adventures. We started off in Sydney. We had a fantastic room with an excellent view. We were on the 19th floor and could see the Sydney Opera House and the Sydney Harbor Bridge. My favorite things we did in Sydney were attending a performance of The Merchant of Venice in the Sydney Opera House and climbing the Sydney Harbor Bridge. One fact that I can’t forget is that the color of the bridge is Sydney Harbor Bridge grey-its very own color!
Next, we went to the Blue Mountains. Our room was very funky. The wallpaper, tissue boxes, upholstery, rubbish bin (garbage can), and curtains all had the same design. GROOOOOOOOOOOVEYYYY!!!!!! We went to a Hatted (like Michelin Star) restaurant named Darley’s. I had a salad while Alex had kangaroo–that poor little creature. We were given a little complimentary dish with quail. I didn’t eat it; my dad ate mine. I was sad because I see those little creatures running in our yard at home. They eat strange animals here. The next morning we went on a hike. The Blue Mountains are known for its hikes through the unique jungle. It’s unique because the plants have remained the same since dinosaur times. We got some funny greenscreen photos. My favorite one was with a t-rex. One of the most common animals there was the cockatoo. They were very loud. We saw them flying everywhere which inspired me to get a stuffed animal of one and I named it Tequila. Tequila rides in style. When we were there we rode a scenic train and an aerial tram. The train was the steepest in the world.
After hanging in the Blue Mountains, we went to the beach. We had to take a two-hour long ferry to get to Heron Island which is on the southern end of the Great Barrier Reef. Heron Island has no herons on it and actually is not an island. It was named for the egrets which look similar to herons. It’s actually a coral cay, not a true island. Heron Island was filled with birds with black feathers and white heads called white-capped noddies. Alex and my mom were pooped on by these naughty birds. (Pun intended) Also, we saw many turtles. It was nesting season for them so we got to watch them crawl up on land and back down into the ocean. Alex and my mom watched a turtle fall in a hole. Also, while there I became a junior ranger. I had a small book I had to fill out in order to get the junior ranger badge. They had multiple badges that you had to get in order to receive the junior ranger badge. I received eleven out of the thirteen badges. The two I didn’t get were unnecessary: a fishing badge and a whale badge which I couldn’t get because it wasn’t whale season. It was really fun.
by Maile Bowles | Nov 17, 2017 | Australia, Maile
In Australia, they celebrate Christmas in their Summer!
by Maile Bowles | Nov 17, 2017 | Australia, Maile
We went to the zoo and saw cockatoos and saw a lot of them in the wild. Seeing them all made me want one so I settled on a stuffed animal. Tequila rides with style.
by Maile Bowles | Aug 3, 2017 | Maile, Scotland
Overnight train from London to Scotland
My family and I rode on a train overnight! The rooms were very small and had a single bunk bed in each of them. I let Alex have the top bunk because I have a bunk bed at home. The bottom bunk was surprisingly cozy.
Bunk beds on the train
I enjoyed the train very much. The train went from London, England to Inverness, Scotland where we rented a car. You drive on the opposite side of the road in Great Britain which freaked all of us out. Our destination was Pitlochry. We drove to our new hotel which happened to be a palace. Before we arrived, we visited Loch Ness in hopes of seeing Nessie. We had one of the two suites in the palace. It was a house that had three floors! I got the top floor all to myself. My room was bigger than both of our rooms on the train combined.
Atholl Palace Hotel
by Maile Bowles | Jul 26, 2017 | France, Maile
This is where Marie Antoinette wanted to pretend to be a peasant. Marie Antoinette’s servants would look at her dress and then sneak out and dye the sheep a color to match her dress and would put perfume on them to make them smell good. Part of Marie’s hamlet is now an animal rescue.
These are three of the goats at Marie’s hamlet.
