Braiden's Blog

Day 1 - May 22

Today we drove for 13 hours and it was really boring. I looked out my window and saw lots of cacti, cotton plants and emus. We watched 3 DVD’s throughout our trip. When we finally reached our destination for the first night, I got out my guitar and practiced a little. We had sausages for dinner and I quickly fell asleep after that.

Day 2 - May 23

Today we only had 7 hour drive and I saw many changes in terrain as I looked out my window. I also watched Avatar, Ice Age 3 and Rocky 5. When we arrived in Broken Hill we had to locate our caravan park and I saw many mining objects throughout the town. After we found the caravan park I rode my scooter and played my guitar. Tomorrow I am looking forward to seeing parts of Broken Hill.

Day 3 - May 24

Today was the most fun day yet. When first woke up I got out of bed and saw Mum and Harrison talking so I asked Mum what the time is and it was 6 0’clock . Soon after I went back to bed again and woke up at 7:40am. At 8:00 we went to beuropaires and fixed a flat tyre that we had. Then we went to a camera shop to get Dads wide angle lens fixed but the wide angle lens started working again. So we went to some awesome sculptures of didgeridoos and people. Later that day we went to a restaurant called broken Earth which also had the miners memorial up there. It was lots of fun up at the miner’s memorial but very chilli. We also went to go to the milk bar!!! But it was closedL. So we decided to go and have lunch. But we were out of bread so we went to Woolworths to get some bread. When we got the bread we went back to the caravan to eat our sandwiches. I had ham and cheese. YUM!!! Then we decided to go to Silverton so we went there and we had lots of fun driving there because of the dips and the funny feeling in your belly when you go down the dips. When we finally got there we saw the car they used in mad max and we took a few photos of that. We also went into the pub and Dad got a beer. Then we went to some old buildings and took some photos of that and we went into lots of art galleries there. When we got back from Silverton we went to pro hart gallery and that was awesome. Then we went to our caravan park and wrote our blog. (Which is the thing i just wrote in)

Day 4 - May 25

Today was an awesome day. T ostart off this awesome day we had a really tasty pancakes with jam, butter and maple syrup. Once we had finished our lovely yum pancakes we headed off to Bells Milk Bar which is what they had in the 1950's (60 years ago). The spider they had for me was delicious, something I would have every Saturday...Yum! The flavour is had was fruit tingle. At about 11am we headed off to get Dad's new wide angle camera lens. Dad loved it! After that we headed back to Lakeview Caravan Park and we had some lunch while doing 2 pages of maths and 1 page of english. Later that day Harrison and I went scootering. Then we went to the Living Desert a semi-arid desert area. On this walk we saw aboriginal huts, giant didgeradoos, a mine and saw lots of lookouts. We then went to the Sculpture Symposium where i gotlots of photos. The Sculpture Symposium was the best part of my day!

Day 5 - May 26

Today when I woke up I played Pokemon Heartgold for a little and when Harrison and Dad came back from their photography trip Harrison and I decided to go scooter for a little while. Once we finally finished scootering it was about 9.30am and before it could be 9.31am Mum called us into the caravan and said we were going to an old train museum. I was so excited because I was starting to get bored of scootering. When we got to the museum we went and bought our tickets and then we went and looked at old typewriters, telegrams, old video game consoles etc. The last part of the museum is the train that we got to go on...it was so fun!

When we got back from the museum we rode our scooters.

Day 6 - May 27

Today when I first woke up I realised that I had a sleep in when we were supposed to leave at 6am. So I asked Mum why we were still here and it was because a man shouted at us for being too noisy. Instead we left at 8.15am and we did not drive as long. Instead to going to Woomera we drove to Port Augusta. When we got to Port Augusta we hasd lunch and an ice block. After that we went to a desert place (Wadlata Outback Centre) that showed all about Australia's history. It was so much fun! When we gotback from the desert place we did some reading and ate dinner.

Day 7 - May 28

When I first woke up today I put a thermometer on the caravan step to check what the temperature was and it read 9 degrees. Later we drove to Woomera and on the way I watched Rocky 3 and it was so cool. When we arrived at Woomera it was raining and it was as cold as ice. We got out and went to the Woomera MIlitary Museum. At the museum we saw rockets, dioramas, seal skulls, emu eggs etc. It was soooo cold at the museum so I couldn't wait till I got back in the car. Then we went to Spuds Roadhouse at Pimba to free camp for the night. It was so windy there that it almost blew the caravan over. Then when we stopped I played my DS and blackjack and went into the petrol place (Roadhouse) and it had pokie machines. It was so muddy!

Day 8 - May 29

Today when I first woke up I had to go in the car because we were driving to Coober Pedy. When I got in the car I played DS and watched Kung Fu Panda. When we got there we had a milo and then went on a tour and saw rocket ship from a movie (Pitch Black). When we got in the tour we saw heaps of opals and we learnt how they used bombs for mining. I also learnt how to build an underground house. It was the most fun I've had on this whole trip. We also watched a picture show about opals there. Soon after the tour we tried to find a lookout but we ended up at a funny chinese man's house and he was trying to sell rocks...saying that they were opals. But then, when we were driving back we found the real lookout which had the best view I had ever seen.

Day 9 - May 30

Today when IwokeupIplayed my DS for about 2 hours because I wasn't too sure if it was midnight or early morning and it turned out it was mid morning. Soon after 8.00am we went to The Breakaways which was awesome because we climbed up The Castle which was two different colour mountain type things. At The Breakaways we also saw really good lookouts and the dog fence. After we left The Breakaways we had some lunch and then we went digging to try and find some opals. We found lots of small ones and big rocks with small amounts of opal in it. After we went digging we went to a kangaroo orphanage which told us about kangaroos.
FACT OF THE DAY: The Breakaways is a site of significance to the Antakirinja Matuntjara Yankunytjatjara people.

Day 10 - May 31

Today when I woke up I slipped out of my warm and cosy sleeping bag and straight up I had to hop in the car. We drove for about two hours while watching Rocky no.3. It was a really good movie and it finished about 15 minutes before we were in Northen Territory. When we hit the South Australian border we stopped for some breaky and we also took some photos of the sign that said "Welcome to the Northern Territory." Mum had to go out and buy some fruit loops and Harrison and I almost ate the whole packet. It was delicious. Once we started driving again, within 2 hours, we could see Mt Connor which looks exactly like Uluru but smaller. One hour after that, we saw Uluru and Katajuta faded in the distance. They looked very small from a distance. Later, we arrived at Ayers Rock Resort and it was much better than free camping! We found our caravan spot easily and straight up, I helped mum with the electricity, water, gas and make the bed. It was the most helpful I have ever been. After I helped mum, I got out my DSi and played Pokemon Heart Gold for a little bit. But before I could even do anything on it, Mum said that we are going to Uluru. I was so excited!! We hopped in the car and we drove off to try and find Uluru. When we got there, it didn't look that big from a distance and it looked really fake. We took some photos of the sunset with Uluru in it and then we decided to try and drive around to the other side. Uluru looked so huge as we were driving right next to it. I was wondering how I would be able to climb that thing! We couldn't find the sunrise side, so we decided to head back to the caravan park. When we got to the caravan park, mum and dad started cooking dinner and I started writing my blog. Tomorrow I hope we can climb Uluru and have a look at the view from the top.

Day 11 - June 1

Oh My Gosh! I can't believe I did it!!!! Today was the funnest day of my life! It all started when I went to Uluru to see the sunrise silhouette effect and it was so good because of the brightness in the background and the darkness of the rock. It was really good but sooner or later we had to leave. We went back to the caravan park and got dressed and had some breaky. After we had really yummy fruit loops and pancakes, we went to Uluru again to go to the best lookout that I have ever seen. When we started to climb Uluru, the first part was really, really steep and there was no chain to help us. Mum was really scared and she nearly decided to stay at the bottom but then a lady came along and started encouraging her. After we got past the first steep part, we reached a chain. That's when it started getting really, really, really steep. We had to hold on so tight to the chain. We thought we could see the end of the walk and a man who was coming down told us that it was only 1/3 of the way. When we reached what we thought was the top, we realised that there was a really small steep part and then the rest of the walk had no chain to assist us. We had a little break 1/3 of the way up where we drank some water and took some photos. The view from there to Kata Tjuta was the best view of my life so far. Mum was pretty freaked out and wanted to go back down but Dad encouraged her to keep going. Then we started going up the small but steep part and we took that one at a time. From there on, it wasn't steep at all and it was much easier with regular smaller hills to climb. Mum lead the way to make sure that we followed the track and didn't accidentally walk down sheer cliffs. Dad was behind us for safety and encouragement. Soon we got up to a part where if we made one mistake, we would have fallen off the whole of Uluru. Dad went first for that part because he was going to help us all down and Mum was ultra scared!!!!!!!! But Dad helped us get down that part and the only thing we were worried about from there on was how we would be able to get back up that part on the way back. From there on it was an easy walk to the top centre of Uluru. When we reached the top, we saw a man with his laptop skyping someone. At the top of Uluru, we took lots of photos and enjoyed the view. It was even better than the view from 1/3 of the way. Kata Tjuta looked like giant rocks as big as Uluru. After that, we started climbing down the rock. It was an easy walk back to the chain part, except for the part where if you make one mistake you fall off the whole of Uluru. Instead of going on the sheer cliff part, we decided to take another part which was almost vertical but a man helped us up and then we all helped each other up. It was much safer. After that, we walked all the way to the chain part with no trouble. When we got to the chain part, it was really scary because you had to go down and you could easily see the views and could easily see that you could fall. Soon we conquered our first really steep part and the hardest part of the chain climb. Then we had no troubles except being quite scared the rest of the way until the next steep part. When we reached the last steep part, we all went backwards because it was much easier and you couldn't see the view. From there on, it was easy to where the chain ends but then we had to get down approximately 10 steep metres without a chain. We had to be really careful not to run this part because we would have easily fallen down Uluru. Mum stopped to wait for Harrison and Dad. I asked if I could go ahead and I kept going. I was the first one to make it down from Uluru.....HOORAY! Later, Harrison and I spotted some tombstones on Uluru. They were from people who had died from climbing Uluru and falling from the top. We were so glad that we didn't see that before the climb because otherwise it would have made us really scared. It was an awesome day!

Day 12 - June 2

This morning I had a big sleep-in because I was really tired from climbing Uluru yesterday. When I did wake up, I smelt the smell of bacon sizzling on the barbeque and it smelt soooooo good. I got out of my bed and went outside and got some bacon and an omelette that my Dad cooked especially for my brother who had a massive craving for bacon. After breaky, we got dressed and put our shoes on. I wrapped my bandage around my foot because I hurt it the day before. Then I jumped in the car to go on a guided Mala walk. When we got there, the Ranger wouldn’t stop talking and we hadn’t moved anywhere after half an hour of listening and listening and listening. When he finally started walking with the group, he stopped at a cave where he told us about the cultural beliefs and he still didn’t stop talking for another half an hour. All we did was listen and listen and listen. After that, we stopped at the Eucalyptus tree and he started to talk about Aboriginal weapons, medicine and food. He spoke for another half an hour so we decided to ditch him or we would never get around the whole of Uluru in a day. We started walking away from him and we found this gorge place that you were allowed to go into. We went in and Dad took a few photos of us and we looked at Aboriginal rock art. Soon after that, we found another little gorge thing that had lots of Aboriginal rock art but I couldn’t tell what anything was other than a hand. Then we decided to head back towards the tour, except not go in it. Instead of going back to the tour, we decided to do the full base walk of Uluru. It wasn’t that good because most of the sites were sacred sites and you weren’t allowed to go right next to the rock. The good things about the base walk were that we could see lots of physical evidence of the cultural beliefs and creation stories. We knew that this was from their creation stories because we went to the cultural centre yesterday and we learnt lots about their dreamtime stories. We saw lots of things like two cracks on Uluru, which represented the woman throwing two sticks at someone’s head and killing them because she got so mad. We also saw footprints on Uluru which represented an evil demon from the dreamtime story Kayina. That was basically the only good, fascinating thing other than caves and other things. Once we finished the 10.6km base walk around Uluru (it took us 3 ½ hours) we headed back to the caravan park to have some lunch and rest because we have done a lot of things in the past two days. When we got back to the caravan, I jumped up in my bed and laid down trying to get to sleep. I couldn’t get to sleep so I decided to have some grapes for lunch. After I had grapes, I went outside and played a bit of DSi. Tomorrow I am looking forward to doing Valley of the Winds walk at Kata Tjuta.

Fact of the Day – Uluru and some of the rocks at Kata Tjuta can go up to 6km into the ground.

Fact of the Day 2 – Uluru is made out of a type of sandstone.

Fact of the Day 3 – Kata Tjuta is made up of conglomerate of gravel, pebbles and boulders cemented together.

A Message from Braiden and Harrison to their Classmates

Day 13 - June 3

Today Dad woke me up really early because we were going out to see Kata Tjuta and the sunrise. It was about a half an hour drive to get to the sunrise area. When we got there it was really worth it because Uluru had a really good background but Kata Tjuta didn't really. So we decided to take pictures of Uluru instead. I was freezing because it was about 4 degreees. Mum and I were really, really, really cold so we decided to go back and sit in the car and just wait. When Harrison and Dad came back from their sunrise silhouette picture trip, we decided to go to a picnic area where we will have our breaky. When we got to the picnic area, we found a nice shady table where we would have our breakfast. I had fruit loops, Mum and Dad had crunchy nut cornflakes and Harrison had sultana bran. My fruit loops was the best. Soon after breaky, we decided to go to the Valley of the Winds walk instead of the Kalpa Gorge walk. At the Valley of the Winds walk, not far into the walk, Mum tripped over and rolled her ankle because she was videoing. She thought that she had sprained her ankle but she found out that she was just in shock. Later, we walked into this opening with lots of plants and beautiful flowers. I started videoing, making a documentary on Kata Tjuta. The show is called Outback TV and I will put it on the blog website when I have finished it. We crossed a bridge that went over a creek bed where you could see little bits of water but most of it was dried up. About 15 metres after that, we climbed this little area which is filled with conglomorate (a mixture of pebbles, stones and rocks all cemented together). It was like a hill but not that big. Dad took a picture of lots of friends so that the person who was going to take the picture could get in it. After that, we continued on our walk and Dad took a picture of me doing a random thing. Then we went through a little gap between two domes and we went through a big range of Domes. It was really cool. Later, we reached a second lookout and that really, really had a good view. We went through a gap opening, where I filmed Mum and Harrison cooeeing. After this part, we were about 50 metres out from the domes, except they were surrounding us so it was still a good walk. Later on in our walk, we came to a drink place but we decided just to walk past it because we were only about 2.6km from the carpark. Before we could get to the carpark, we had to go between two domes. When we reached the carpark, we headed back to the picnic spot to have some lunch. We found a shady place to eat (the same place we had breaky). We got all our food out and started eating but before we could take one bite, flies sabortaged us! Harrison was dancing like crazy because the flies were all chasing him around everywhere. We finally finished our lunch without eating a fly. We then went to Kulpa Gorge walk which was only 2.6 km. It was a nice easy walk and at the end you could see lots of plant life. I filmed the big domes surrounding me and I had to lift the video camera all the way up so I could actually fit it in. Once we looked at the view, Mum and Dad sat on a park bench chair while Harrison and I went around exploring the domes. It was really fun and Harrison go some good photos of me. Sooner or later we had to leave so we came home.

Braiden's Video Series "OutbackTV" of Kata Tjuta

Day 14 - June 4

Today I had a sleep in because it was our rest day after four long days of walking an exploring Uluru and Kata Tjuta. When I did wake up I couldn't be bothered getting out of my bed so I just lied down in my bed for a while. When I did get out of my bed I got up and had some brekky and then I saw Mum and Dad talking to our next door neighbours (Dad's old workmate) and they gave us some Travel Buddies to make a video of a Koala that was really cheeky. First Harrison and I went up to a lookout where we filmed Cheeky the Koala climbing a tree while his parents were shaking their fists saying get down here this instant. Soon after we took the travel buddies to a playground where we filmed Cheeky The Koala getting a mintie from his parent's pouch and we also filmed Cheeky the Koala going bungy jumping. It was so fun making the movie. When we finished making the movie we went grocery shopping where Harrison bought a Uluru hat and a cute stuffed toy dog. When we got back from grocery shopping Harrison and I went scootering and showed Mum a lookout while Dad was taking photos of Uluru. When Dad got back I payed Mum my 25 dollars in exchange for a aboriginal hand crafted spear. Soon after Harrison started editing our movie of Cheeky The Koala while I played my ds. After that we had dinner and did our blogs.

Day 15 - June 5

Today I had a bit of a sleep in but it wasn’t a big sleep in because I had to wake up to leave for Kings Canyon. When Harrison came to wakey, wakey me I didn’t want to get up because I was really tired but I got up because I couldn’t resist the smell of Froot Loops. But before I could have Froot Loops I had to get dressed. When I did get dressed I decided to eat my irresistible Froot Loops. They were deeeliciiiousss and YUM!!!!! After I had my irresistible Froot Loops I had to help do an easy job but I also had to fold up a green mat which also was an easy job. After Mum and Dad packed up we hopped in the car and I beat my record in paper plane on my ds!!! After I played paper plane I got out ROCKY 1 but Harrison said NO NO NO WE ARE WATCHING PREHISTORIC PARK!!!!!!! When Harrison put Prehistoric Park on we selected play all and we watched all of the episodes and on the way to Kings Canyon we saw a emu and a dingo on the side of the road. Whe3n got to Kings Canyon we went on the canyon walk where the terrains changed from rocky to grassy to like a rainforest and peculiar rocks stuck up from the ground. Most of it was rough terrain and really rocky and there was a lot of sheer cliffs but we managed to get through it. We were about 270 m off the ground and it was scary because most of it was sheer cliffs. The rock we were walking on was a type of strong sandstone and thats why there were big cracks which made it a canyon I think. There was lots of Spinifex that was really spikey( don’t touch it) . When we finally finished the walk it was a relief but I had just had the best walk of my life.

Day 16 -June 6

Today I had a bit of a sleep in until about 8:00. At about 8:00 when I woke up we were a bit late so Dad and Mum rushed me to get dressed and have brecky. When I finished getting dressed and having brecky we hopped in the car because we were going to do the Kings Canyon walk again because for Dads photos it is a different lighting but I couldn’t tell the difference between afternoon and morning like Dad could but I liked it because I got to do my best thing on this holiday twice. We decided to do the Kings Creek walk first because it is shorter and we had already done the full Kings Canyon rim walk. When we started the smaller walk we walked for about a km going through cold, rough and rocky paths to get to a lookout at the end of Kings Creek. The lookout was a pretty good lookout although it wasn’t high lookout over viewing the land. On the way back from the small walk we saw a really cool coloured grasshopper (Black with yellow spots) so I decided to film it. When we got back from the smaller walk we went on the full rim walk and while we were on the rim walk we saw a peregrine Falcon chasing a crested pigeon we also saw another type of crested pigeon. It was a fun walk even though we had already had the experience. When we got back from the rim walk Harrison and I had awesome DS fun for about two hours then we did our blog.

Day 17 - June 7

Today when I slipped out of my warm and cosy sleeping bag I played paper plane for about 1 min before Mum and Dad told me to get up and go hop in the car so I brought my DS in the car to and I played DS most of the way and on the way we saw two Wedge Tailed eagles on top of a carcass and the eagles were huge. Soon later we hopped out of the car because we were stopping for breaky. I had FRUIT LOOPS as usual. After breaky we kept on driving till we reached Alice Springs and first thing we did was go and get our caravan fixed and it didn’t get fixed because the man thinks it is something to do with the car. After that we headed towards the super cool caravan park that had Jumping pillows, games corner, swimming and spa pool, ect. When we reached our destination Mum and Dad had to set the caravan up while I sat there eating a mandarin. Once we were set up Harrison and I went to the jumping pillow and played TIGGY. It was really fun but me and Harrison came back because other kids were coming in so when Harrison and I got back we played DS a bit more before we had to go shopping and at the shopping centre we saw a big Finke Desert Race sign and it looked awesome. When we got back from shopping we went back on the bouncy jumping pillow again and played tag again. We also went to the playground to catch a pigeon and it flapped its wings in my face. Then we came back and saw two rabbits.

Day 18 - June 8

Today I had a small sleep in but Mum and Dad thought it was a big sleep in and they woke me up pretty early so we could go to Finke Desert Race (a race in the middle of the desert near Alice Springs). We got packed and ready to leave for the Finke Desert Race...we were going to stay for lunch. When we left it was about half an hour drive to a location that was really good to see the drivers practising. Dad, Harrison and I went up to a hill to see the drivers and riders fly over it whilst Mum stayed in the car due to the cold. When we were up there we saw several riders fly over and then a man rode his motorbike up to us and he was a spectator as well. Dad spoke to him and learnt some things about the Finke Desert Race. Then the spectator left us and we watched a few quad bikes ride past. After that we saw a few more motorbikes and we then went back to the car to have some lunch. After that we returned to the sand dune and we spoke to some competitors who were looking at the sand dune. They told us about the scrutineering night (Friday night) where you can see the bikes and meet the competitors and even get some autographs. After we spoke to the competitors we returned to the car and drove to the Alice Springs Desert Park. At the desert park we saw heron like birds and other animals such as red kangaroos, birds of prey, thorny devils etc. We also went to a cafe at the desert park where I had an ice-block and a fruit juice and Harrison had a powerade and a mars bar (he won another free mars bar). Later we went to a Birds of Prey show where a ranger told us all about birds of prey. It was really cool and we got to see a black kite, whistling kite and some owls. The birds of prey had really strong legs and when they grabbed the meat it was locked in. Eventually it was over and we had to leave and we returned back to the caravan park. When we drove into our street there was a climbing and jumping portable cliff-face located there and we decided to goand see what it was like. It was really really fun trying to jump for a bar dangling down. I missed the bar by about 20 centimetres and Harrison decided to hold onto the rope rather than jump out for the bar. It was really fun but after our one go it was closing as we arrived late. Due it being closed we decided to go to the jumping pillow and Dad got photos of us doing silly things in the air. I was really tired so I went back to the caravan whilst Harrison stayed to play bullrush with the other children.

Day 19 - June 9

Today I had a very BIG sleep in and I did my usual stuff. After I did my usual stuff I hopped in the car because we were going to see the tourist attractions of the West MacDonnell Ranges. The first place we decided to go to was Glen Helen Gorge and it had a massive wall and a sheer cliff if you were at the top. We decided to have morning tea there as Harrison and I had a Mars Bar and some Chicken Crimpy Shapes. While we were at Glen Helen Gorge we decided to go for a little walk of about 500 metres and it was freezing (the coldest place in my life). When we got to the end of the little walk we saw the Finke River and you could see through the gorge. After that we hopped into the car and we drove to Ormiston Gorge where we did a lookout climb...it was very tiring for me but everyone else had no problems. Mum waited for me even though she wasn't tired. At the lookout it was a very good view and if you fell off you would die. Daddy went off the lookout trail and walked on some loose rocks to get a photo and it was worth it as he didn't die and he got a good photo. After that we headed down to the bottom and went on a short Ormiston Waterhole walk where Harrison and I climbed some high rocks and enjoyed the view from above. Eventually it was time to leave the waterhole and Harrison and I got down from the rocks without dying. We headed back to the car where I was seriously thirsty and I drank a whole 600ml bottle of water. After Ormiston Gorge we decided to go to the Ochre Pits were Aborigines got their paint from rocks. We wandered about 300m to get to the viewing point of the Ochre Pits and we spotted some stairs going down to the Ochre and felt what the rocks were like. We found some small amounts of ochre on the ground and Harrison grounded and mixed it with his spit. We walked along the creek bed where we found some coloured ochre to get a family photo. After that we headed back to the lookout point for a last viewing before we headed back to the car and had some lunch. I had a Twistie sandwich (everyone else had ham/salami and cheese sandwiches) and it was delicious. After we had lunch we headed to Serpentine Gorge where I got to decide whether we went on a walk or not...I decided to go on the walk because there was no steep stairs and I thought it would be a good view at the end. At the end of the walk we saw a dead kangaroo with its bones scattered everywhere on the edge of the waterhole. We looked up and we saw about 80 metres of rock facing vertical. It was very high! Eventually we had to leave Serpentine Gorge and we drove for about an hour to see an Auto Electrician. The Auto Electrician could not see our car today so we headed back to the caravan where I played DS.

Day 20 - June 10

Today when I woke up we went in the car to go to the Alice Springs Reptile Centre. At the reptile centre, we went in and paid and then we went into Exhibit 1 where there were reptiles. The first reptile I saw was some type of dragon. Then I realised that on the floor of the Reptile Exhibit 1, there was a Spencer Goanna called Frank and it was walking around without a cage. After I saw Frank, the Spencer Goanna, I decided to have a look at all the other reptiles before I patted Frank. I decided to go to the Mulga snake (King Brown) first and it was actually quite big. Then we went to a show about all the reptiles where they tell you about them and you get to pat and hold them. The first animal was a bearded dragon. We learnt that you had to hold it by it's tail and it doesn't hurt it a bit! The next reptile was a Centralian Blue Tongue Lizard. We learnt that he is a ground lizard and he is not made for climbing trees. The last animal was an Olive Python. She showed us some of the fangs of a deadly Australian snake compared to the fangs of an overseas snake. This was really interesting. We had a great day.

Day 21 - June 11

Today we went to the Telgraph Station, Trephina Gorge and we had a bit of bad luck on the way! Our first stop was the telegraph station where we met an Aboriginal man who was really fascinating with his facts. His name was Alec. At the Telegraph station, there were really old buildings with kitchens and telegraph lines but I think the most interesting thing of the day was how we found out how Alice Springs got its name. Alice Springs got its name, because there was a cave that filled up with water and every five minutes when in was full, it rushed out and looked like a spring. The European Settler who found it though it was a spring. He named it Alice Springs after his bosses fiance Alice.
Next we went to Trephina Gorge where we went on a guided tour with a ranger and lots of other people. I was feeling really cold, so I wasn't really listening to the ranger. I sat in the sand and dug holes. I found a really big rock and dug it into the ground deeply so that scientists can find it in 20 years. I hope it works! When we got back from our walk (well, hole digging for me) we found out that we had another flat tyre! Dad changed the tyre and some other men helped.
After the wheel fixing (eating chips and watching them fix it for me) we had lunch with the people who helped us do the wheel. Lunch was delicious because they were older ladies and they had homemade cookies and lollies. After lunch, we headed back to Alice Springs except the tyre that we had put on didn't seem right so we had to go for 50km/hour on the highway and pull over every 5 minutes to tighten it. When we finally made it to Alice Springs, we went to Bridgestone tyres to get them to fix it but they were full until next Wednesday (we are leaving on Monday) because of the Finke Desert Race. So we decided to go to Mitsubishi but they were full until next Tuesday because of the Finke Desert Race. So we rang RACQ and a man came to look at it and said it was really unsafe and had to be towed to a junk yard (well, it looked like a junk yard). The man drove us back to our caravan and we are stranded.
As I am writing my blog, I am listening to my dad yelling at the Television because the Titans are winning against the Sea Eagles at half time! Yah!!!!!!

Day 22 - June 12

Today was our rest day (because our car broke down). The highlight of my day was................... Fish (the card game)!!!!!! The fun thing about fish was that it is a fun game and we kept laughing because we had a easy way to win. I had sooo much fun although Mum won both times. Today I also played DS again (I play DS so much because there is nothing else to do in a caravan). Another fun thing we did today was the jumping pillow where Harrison and I pushed and tackled eachother to be the last man on the jumping pillow. I had so much fun playing that too although I lost every time but we also played run chicken run with some other kids and I actually won most of it. HOORAY!!!!!! The last part of my day was the WINDMILL (a restaurant). I ordered pepperoni pizza and it was the hottest pizza I had ever had but it was also the best. The restaurant that we were at was very fancy.
Tomorrow I am looking forward to getting my presents for my birthday and we are going to Standley Chasm.

Day 23 - June 13

Today was the day of my birthday and when I woke up this morning the first thing my parents and Harrison did was sang me happy b'day and Harrison gave me my present first and it was a automatic happy birthday singer, jack in the box. Mum and Dad could tell I was still really sleepy and said I could have a sleep in Dads bed but it wasn't actually because I was tired it was because thier present was in Dads sleeping bag but before I layed down I went to get it out because it wouldn't be very very cumfterble sleeping on a hard pole. When I got it out I relised it was a didgeridoo and a case (just what I asked for). Straight away I played it because I was so excited but Mum and Dad told me to stop because it was only 7:30am and they didn't want a angry caravaner. When it was about 8:55 am I started playing it and it was so fun but sooner or later I had to stop so Dad cooked some bacon and eggs and they were yum. I had bacon and an ommelate. I had best birthday ever but I had even more fun because we went to the narrow and rocky Stanley Chasm and sandy Simpsons Gap.

Braiden's TV Series "Outback TV" - Kings Canyon

Day 24 - June 14

Today was another day of relaxation although it wasn’t very relaxing for me in parts of the day. To start off our day Harrison and I headed off to the playground as we were not allowed in the caravan till 11:00 and Harrison and I had so much fun jumping off the swing going really high but when I stopped swinging that is when it all went wrong. I was standing on a metal pole watching Harrison swing off the swing and then I tripped and almost............................................................. snapped my tooth in half. I went back to Mum and Dad in the caravan (I didn’t care about not being allowed into the caravan) and they took me to the hospital (because there was no dentists open) but they said go to the dentist tomorrow so we came back to the caravan and hired some go carts where we explored the giant caravan park and had fun.

Day 25 - June 15

Today was another day of relaxiation as we are still waiting for our car to be fixed. To start off our day I had to go to the dentist so they could check up on my cracked tooth but they just said wait until we get back to the Gold Coast so we had to pay 51 dollars for nothing basically (actually 31 dollars because private health care covered 20 dollars). After I went to the dentist we came back to the caravan and played some new games (actually one was just bought but we had already played it before) that we had bought after the dentist. The first game Harrison and I played was Barrel of Monkeys and I won most of the time. But after that we played Smart Ass (my family calls it smart bum). This time I came second because the questions were hard and Mum and Dad could easily answer them but I answered some about superman. Soon something called the Pinnicle of Death was on (a climbing apparatus) and the first part of that was the wobbly ladder and we had to climb up a wobbly ladder and once you get to the top you had to take both arms off and one leg off. The second part of Pinnicle of Death was the jumping for bar thing as you can read about in day 18. After that we went to star gazing where we saw shapes of stars, planets, meteorites (shooting star), etc.

Day 26 - June 16

With all our dramas at Alice Springs we finally headed off to Devils Marbles in our BIG black four-wheel drive. When we got to Devils Marbles we set up and then Harrison I went exploring. Harrison and I found a really cool cubby house (a cave) and then we looked for more and we found several with one filled with wasps. Harrison and I went back to our cubby house and we saw some wild tomato (bush tucker plant). Harrison and I decided to climb up on top of the cave and we saw Mum who was yelling out “how do you get up there?” We showed Mum how to get up onto the rock. She looked at our cave and she then decided to go back down. We returned to the caravan and we had dinner and then we went to the neighbours campfire because they invited us. At the campfire we roasted marshmallows...YUM!

Day 27 - June 17

Devils Marbles are huge balancing rocks. Today we decided to go and explore these huge balancing rocks. Firstly, we walked out to the back of the camping ground and Harrison and I went and climbed some rocks. It was awesome up there! While we were walking out to the back of our camp ground...we were pricked a lot by the Spinifex (I sure miss the old normal grass, not prickly grass!). We climbed the rocks for about 2 hours before we headed back for some lunch. We had yummy, yummy, yummy, yummy, yummy, yummy pikelets. We then sat around the caravan for a bit and then we went to this split rock where we got some more photos. After the split rock, Harrison and I explored around the rocks a bit and then we headed back to the campground. Dad went and got some wood to make a good campfire so that we can roast marshmallows tonight.

Day 28 - June 18

To start off my day I had a BIG sleep in. We went to the rocks and I brought the video camera where I did the Adventures of Devils Marbles for my Outback TV Show. When we came back I decided to do a new part for Outback TV.....The Outback Dunny! It was really fun but really scary if you are watching it. I scared Harrison on the film and he ran away screaming...not going to the toilet. At about 2.30pm we climbed some of the rocks and enjoyed watching all the caravans drive in...by about 4 o'clock it was basically packed. Harrison and I took some time to explore some of the rocks we haven't seen before. I enjoyed that day and I am looking forward to a campfire tonight.

Day 29 - June 19

Today was a day of fun and drinking (for Mum and Dad). We had a long drive but when we got to Daly Waters we got to put a flag up in the pub and do a history treasure hunt. But the best part of today was dancing in public while a guitarist play some songs. I am looking forward to dinner at the pub. It was a great day.

Day 30 - June 20

Today we arrived at Mataranka and stopped at the caravan park. At the caravan park we set up and I read my wonderful book, I love it! Later we decided that we what to go to the Natural Mataranka Springs. Firstly we headed to the Thermal Pool, At the Thermal Pool we jumped in and stared swimming. It felt really good to be back in water as the gold coast is surrounded by water. The Thermal Pool is a part of a river system but it didn’t really feel like it because there was metal stairs and seats. Secondly we stopped at the Bitter Springs. The Bitter Springs felt much more natural, as there was moss everywhere. Every now and again I would touch the moss it felt slimy. I loved the Bitter Springs as I could see moss surrounding the river bed. We also went down stream this was awesome, while I was swimming I could see and feel the moss and I could smell the strong bitter odour. I completed this route twice! When we got back to the caravan park I got my book and sat in the sun.

Day 31 - June 21

Today was a day of swimming. To start off my day we headed off to Barra feeding. I watched Harrison feed some Barra and they were really big and strong and when you tried catching them they just swam straight away and they are way too fast when they swim away. After Barra feeding we went to Mataranka Homestead where we saw an excact replica of the homestead that they used in the movie we of the never never. We looked in it for a bit but soon we decided to go to the spring and it was nice because we had a good splash around a bit.

Day 32 - June 22

Today was another day of swimming. We drove for about 4 hours and then when we reached Litchfield we went to a waterfall called Florence Falls. When we went swimming in the bottom of Florence Falls the rocks were really slippery and there were lots of BIG fish that were not afraid of you and I accidently stepped on one and squished it. We decided to go to behind the waterfall but the current was too strong and my Dad was the only one who made it to behind the waterfall. Soon later we hopped out and decided to go to Buley Rockhole where there was a fast flowing creek and I sat in one and I almost came down to the actual rock hole but I held on. After that I found a really good sitting rock with the current flowing on your back. I felt like I was in heaven.
I had a great day!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Day 33 - June 23

Today was another day of watching waterfalls. The first fall we went to was Tolmer Falls and it was a really cool waterfall although you couldn’t swim in it. It was not a wide waterfall but it was still awesome. After that we went to Wangi falls were we went on a walk where it was like rainforests and I cooled off in a trickle of water. It was a GREAT day.

Outback TV - Devils Marbles

The Outback Dunny

Day 34 - June 24

Today my Dad told me I have to put more effort into my blog or I have to get a haircut so here it goes. To start off my excellent blog I will tell you about a termite ranger talk. The ranger told us about magnetic termite mounds (they are really thin and look like a graveyard). She also told us about worker, solider, king and queen termites. After the termite ranger talk we drove up to Adelaide River and went a war cemetery which had the people who died in the bombing of Darwin and the top end in World War 2. It was a sad but peaceful place. It showed the Air Force, Navy and Military graves. It even showed the graves of the non army people who got bombed (this happened when the stolen generation were on the island). It was a sad place but soon we headed off to have lunch. I had a Barra burger. It was YUM! I had a great day. Please send me good comments about my blog. I DON’T want a haircut!!!!!!!!!!!!

Day 35 - June 25

Today we went to Berry Springs. At Berry Springs, we went to the water hole. We swam there for a while and then Dad decided to go get the Boogy Boards to help us float because it was really, really deep. The water was an aqua colour and you were allowed to dive so we had a lot of fun diving in. After we swam to the other side of the plunge pool, we saw a waterfall but it was really rocky and we kept slipping so we went back to the main plunge pool. We swam there for a while and then we went to the lower plunge pool which was a bit shallower when you got in but really deep when you went out further. We swam there for a while and then we went for a picnic.

Day 36 - June 26

After a night of curlews calling I finally pulled myself out of bed so we could go to the Nature Park. The first thing we did at the nature park was Tucker Time at the Billabong. This was a ranger feeding Pelicans, Barra, Freshwater Crocodiles and lots more. When he fed the pelicans you could the fish going into their mouth and there mouth was just like a plastic bag. The barra got the food really fast and all you could hear was a BOOF!!!!!!!! After he fed the barra he tried to feed a bird but before the bird could get it the crocodile got it. Tucker Time at the Billabong was really cool although you couldn't feed them youself. Next up we were walking to the aquarium where we saw various sizes of fish, 4.7m Estuarine (Saltwater) crocodile and even differant types of turtles. The turtles looked like they were mating and they were not a great size although they were cute. The Salty (a saltwater croc) was like a statue but then he moved so he was basically face to face with me and he stayed in that position until we turned around the corner to the exit of the aquarium. Before we knew it we were watching a ranger feed whip rays but before I got time to see any thing a fish spat water at me. I turned around hoping to see what had spat at me but I couldn't see anything. But soon the ranger told us about the spitting fish and we got to feed the fish grubs. But then the ranger actually fed the whip ray and they are actually pretty aggressive. Next we went to a birds of prey show and we learnt about Falcons and Kites. It was pretty cool because you got to see them crack eggs and feed on prey. Harrison, Mum, Dad and I all made a spider and did a colouring in thing. Soon we watched birds and more things in the aviary but we quickly rushed through it to get to the Quoll show where we saw Northern Quolls and learnt a lot of information and got some Tic Tacs!!!

Day 37 - June 27

Who would have thought we could spend 6 hours at the food markets..... well we did. After spending 45 minutes in the car we reached Darwin but we were not allowed in our caravan park until 12:00pm and it was only 9:30!!! But soon we went to the Mindil Markets( food markets). We spent a bit of time on the beach before we started roaming the markets where we saw people writing names on one grain of rice. It was TINY!!!!!!!!!!! We also saw someone making hats out of cans (aluminium). It was awesome but the food was even better. I had a pizza it was YUM!!!!! I also had a slush puppie and some delicious watermelon. But the best part of the night was a fire show where a fire breathing man or should I say a fire breathing MANIAC!!!!! This maniac ate fire, juggled Machetes, used fire tricks and breathed out fire. He was a real MAAAAAAAAANIAC!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Day 38 - June 28

Today was a day of exploration around the heart of Darwin. To start off this day of exploring we found a hair cutter and Dad got his hair cut while we looked around in some souviner shops and found some small cheap things including something called a lazy letter. We soon went to a wave pool and played lots of games there including boogie boarding. It was so fun as it reminded me of the wet and wild wave pool back on the Gold Coast. We also had fun in a water forcefield type thing although it didn't protect us from bad guys like it does in the movie star wars( i think). Soon we went to a under ground tunnel where we can see where the army stored thier oil so the Japanese people couldn't bomb it when it was world war 2. It was really freaky in the tunnel as I kept hearing things that sounded like bombs but they were just drains.

Day 39 - June 29

Today was a day of prison although I wasn't in prison. To start of this day of prison we went to old Phanie Bay Gaol (you spelt jail gaol in the olden days and this was a very very old Gaol) where we got go in the old stinky cells and even the isolation cells. It was a very big jail because they had a excersice yard, laundry toilets, etc. Soon we went back to the caravan and got ready to go to dinner because we were going to watch the sun rise as we ate dinner and read our book. It was a great dinner.
fact of the day- When the bombing of Darwin was happening the prisoners got set free and on guy got put in prison for killing a japinese diver and when he got set free the officer told him to kill as many japs as he can.

Day 40 - June 30

Before we set off today we had a few hours of relaxation as we were planning our agenda. After we planned our great agenda we set off to start our mighty day. The first thing we did was went to Fannie Bay again to take a few pictures of the aqua tinge in the water. After we took a few photos we set off for the miltary museum as we were not able to go yesterday because the telstra line was down but soon we found out it is down again today and we were not able to go until the counter women said she would let us in for a bit cheaper so we got in for 23 dollars. The first thing that took my eye was the guns that they used and Japanese guns. Soon we headed for the next room and in that room they had news articles, maps, maps of where the Japanese bombed us and even some cannon bullets. We saw lots more army guns and even one GIANT 3 to 4 metre cannon. Soon we headed off to Crocosaurus Cove but we stopped so Dad and I could get some more photos. It was SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO muddy and my thongs snapped and Dad's did to. Soon we were watching GIANT crocs even bigger than the GIANT cannon. The biggest one I saw was 5.5m. But the best thing so far was swimming with the crocodiles as you got to get up really close and see them under the murky water. Soon we were watching more crocodiles but even better we got to fish for some. When I fished for mine I teased it but finally with a big leap out of the water the crocodiles got it. The crocs were very strong for babies but we were not allowwed to actually catch them but I still had so much fun!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Day 41 - July 1

Today we had a early start to our day as we were fish feeding. There were billions of fish of all differant shapes, sizes and even different fattness!! You were allowed to feed them bread but you were not allowed to feed some catfish because there whiskers will sting you and they do not have anything to cure the bad pain. All the fish were slimy and some fish that I fed were about the size of me just a tiny weeny ( about 11 centimetres to be exact) bit smaller than me. They were all very slimy and disgusting. Soon we went to watch Karate Kid and it was so cool.
Soon we went Mindil Beach Sunset Markets again! We spent a little while just relaxing and moving our chairs from place to place. We ordered our food and I had spring rolls and fried rice...YUMMM! Then we went and moved our chairs onto the beach to watch the fireworks as it was Territory Day. There was lots of people who have bought their own fireworks and cracking them up...it was a bit scary as I was right next to them. Soon we saw the professional fireworks and they were magnificent. They were popping up everywhere and they were making patterns in the air. I loved the fireworks...apart from the people who bought their own as they weren't as good. The people who bought their own fireworks were still cracking them after 10.30pm. I couldn't get to sleep due to fireworks noise but it was a great day!

Day 42 - July 2

Today we were relaxing and I read a lot of my book called the Hobbit as I was really enjoying the story and what's happening in the story. Later in the day Harrison and I went for a swim but the best part of today was the Deckchair Cinema. When we arrived there we paid for our tickets to watch Nannie McPhee and the Big Bang. When we were in the outside cinema there were lots of deckchairs and thats what we sat on. It was a bit uncomfortable but we had pillows so it wasn't that uncomfortable. It was a very funny movie and really cool. It sounds like a baby movie but it is really funny. We had a great day.

Day 43 - July 3

Today we had an early start to our day as we were driving to Kakadu. On the way we saw many birds. Soon we stopped at the Adelaide River Jumping Crocodile Cruise and before you knew it were cruising along the Adelaide River until a crocodile named 'Missy' came up and we made her jump. She did a magnificent leap but it wasn't good enough to get the meat so she had a second try and with that leap she swam off and enjoyed the meat. Soon we came along some more crocs and all of them got their meat but all with a big leap. The crocs names were 'Fang' and 'Staffy'. Soon we came along to something I would call The King!!! He was about a fraction over 6 metres. His name was AGGRO. He wasn't able to jump because he weighed about 1 ton. We fed him then before you knew it we were looking in a information house and a big look out over the wetlands (Window on the Wetlands). It was a great view but soon we had to head on to Jabiru. When we reached Jabiru we headed into the information centre where we paid our National Park entry fees and walked around a bit. Soon we were at Ubirr where we saw great rock art and a wonderful lookout. We also listened to three ranger talks.

Day 44 - July 4

Today I had a sleep in and when I did wake up I read my book a little and then we set off for Ubirr again as we were going up onto the lookout again. I decided to take Dad's old camera as Harrison was not using it today. I took some really good photos of the wetland landscape and the rocks. When we were about halfway up the mountain type thing I asked Mum to hold the camera so I could run up. I ran up pretty fast and when Mum and Dad came up I decided to follow Dad because he knows where to get really good photos. Dad also got some good photos of us pretending to rock climb. Soon we were at the caravan swimming and Harrison and I had a jolly time skimming a ball and racing each other. Soon I read my book and FINISHED IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Day 45 - July 5

Today we had only a half hour drive but we stopped about 10 minutes out to go to Burrungoy which is a place where there are lots of lookouts. We saw many rock arts in shelters and we learnt about what the aborigines used to make the rock art. Lots of these paintings included crocodiles, emus and even kangaroos. We also saw a evil spirit that ate females (if you are a girl watch out). We also saw one giant shelter and various lookouts. The lookouts were good. Soon we headed to a culture centre where I got a hat. Then we went to our caravan park.

Day 46 - July 6

Today was a day of wildlife watching. We started off in the early morning so we could get to a boat cruise in the South Alligator River. We got to the boat first so we got the best seats. The first animals there were feral horses where cattle egrets sat on their back. We watched the sun rise up just behind the horses but then we realised one of the horses has an injury on the back of his leg. We thought he got taken by a croc but the tour guide said he could have got in a fight with a dingo. Soon we moved on and saw one crocs head pop up but these crocs where very shy and just went straight under. We saw lots of birds and the driver was especially interested in the types of Kingfishers. We saw quite a few Kingfishers and we even saw a Sea Eagle with big strong talons puffy shoulders and a girlfriend that we saw have children with it. Soon we saw a giant Jabiru's nest but better we got to eat 6 pieces of watermelon, five hash browns, a bit of bacon, two slices of pineapple, and even some jam toast at the buffet breakfast. I also saw dragon flies having children (it's breeding season in Kakadu). Later we did a croc Outback TV. The crocs we saw was nothing compared to a about 4 metre croc just cruising along the river not even bothered about us yesterday.

Day 47 - July 7

The highlight of my day was fruit eating. We had about a 3 hour drive watching Space Chimps and the rough terrain outside our windows. When we reached Katherine we had about two boring hours of shopping but it seemed like 22 hours. It was one of the most boring 22 hours I have ever experienced. Soon we headed back to our caravan where I ate delicous red, juicy yum watermelon, strawberries and orange mandarines.
The rest of our day our eyes were fixed on ipPds and listening to hilarious bush poetry.

Day 48 - July 8

Today was a day of cruising along the Katherine River. We had a pretty early start to our day as the cruise started at nine a.m. When we showed our tickets we had to wait in a queue for the actual cruise to start. When we started cruising along the first gorge we realised it was as high as the sky. It was very much like a sheer cliff but we were cruising the bottom of it. The river itself was actually pretty wide and very long. It was a bit like a giant snake. There was many rocks around us and the guide was very knowledgable as he was an Aboriginal himself. Soon we hopped off the first boat and learnt about some Aboriginal Rock Art and why they make the rock art. We even saw some spiritual rock art that spirits made. Soon we went and hopped on to the second boat to start cruising the second gorge...in this gorge we learnt about the hardest sandstone in the world and how some plants survive while on the sandstone. We also saw a GIANT pack of rock swallows making their nest out of mud under the rocks and when they got scared they all went out of the cave. Soon we saw two little baby freshwater crocodiles swimming around. When we reached the third gorge we didn't learn as much so the next big thing was swimming in a really refreshing rockhole.

Day 49 - July 9

Today I had a bit of a sleep in and the I woke up and we left for Timber Creek but we stopped a bit before Timber Creek so we could do an escarpment walk. On the escarpment walk I was a walking machine and I could easily walk through the steep rough terrain that was laid out for this walk. I stopped about twenty metres from the top and I drank heaps of water as I was dehydrated and in need of water. The view at the top was great and I was speechless but it was a great view of the escarpment up high. It was an easy return trip.

Day 50 - July 10

To start of this wondrous day we woke up and we went to the car as we had to have one hour of driving. During this one hour of wondrous time we watched Sound Relief and counted cows. Soon we reached our wondrous destination and then I read my wondrous book called Deltora Quest. Soon we were watching the wondrous twin Boab trees and looking at the tree with my Mum and Dad's wedding date engraved onto the wondrous tree. After that I read my wondrous book again as I was addicted to reading this wondrous book. I had a wondrous day. I hope you enjoyed this wondrous blog! While I am doing this blog we are all complaining that the heat is wondrous.

Day 51 - July 11

Today was a day of history. We had a very early start as we were driving as far as we can. We started our hours of driving at about 7:30am and we saw lots of Boab trees as we were leaving the border of Gregory National Park. Once we clearly passed through the borders of Gregory National Park we realised there were no boab trees as far as the eye can see. Soon we reached the Western Australian border and got a few photos by our wonderful photographer Dad. Soon we stopped at the Quarantine Station and a man searched our caravan for fruit and vegies and honey just in case they bring any diseases into Western Australia. They were very strict as they even searched our clothes door and the boot of the caravan. Soon we left and headed on to Kununurra where we had our breakfast stop. I had plain old boring but yum FRUIT LOOPS!!! As we started driving through the Kimberley’s we noticed their were much more termite mounds but they were much smaller. We kept driving on and on and we realised the road was so straight that we think it is like the Nullabor. We saw a dingo while we were driving but a big road train soon blocked it from view. Soon we cheering and screaming as we had just reached our Milestone which is that we have now driven over 10,000km. Soon I was sitting reading my wondrous book again.

Day 52 - July 12

Today we had an early start as we were driving as far as we can. Firstly we silently packed up and crept off as early as we can. We had about two hours of techno eyes before we reached Fitzroy Crossing where had the ultra famous breakfast meal. This famous meal included FROOT LOOPS as usual. We had about another three hours driving over the rough terrain and looking out at the wonders of the savannah. The savvanah included trees, grass, dirt and ..........................................termite mounds. Soon we reached the famous prison tree. We drove around trying to find the car park but soon we found another carpark and so we walked straight towards the prison tree. I thought the prison tree would only fit one person but it was so big it could it could fit 22 people at least. Soon we reached.........................................................................you will find out soon.................................................BROOME. It was a struggle to find a caravan park but we tunrned up at the local pistol club(where they have a gun field).

Day 53 - July 13

Today was a day of adventure as we explored Cable Beach, ChinaTown, and pearl paradise. To start our big adventure we went to pearl paradise where we went to about 39 pearl shops and 1 souvenir shop. It was the most boring hour of all as Mum had to look specificly at every pearl in the shop. Harrison and I just sat about waiting for Mum to get out of the shop. (Warning Extremely Boring pearls ahead). Once looking at 67 billion pearls we headed through ChinaTown where we saw a camel shop that selled toy camels and we also saw a souvenir shop where we got our hat badges. Soon we headed to Tong's ching chong Chinese restaurant where we got some photos because Tong is our last name. Soon we headed to Cable beach where we swam, ate watermelon and ate more watermelon. We also slid down a giant hill and I think Ryan, Jacob, Joseph and of course not Oliver would like sliding down it.
For Oliver's eyes only......................................................................I meant you would like sliding down the hill.

Outback TV - Kakadu Crocodile Attack

Day 54 - July 14

Hello all my fans out there. This blog is going to be an excellent blog, so sit back, grab a cuppa and read. To start my day I had a early wake, getting up at 6:00am. When I woke up I read my book but then soon we went to a Japanese and a Chinese...................................cemetry. This cemetry was very neat and all the dead people were all lined in rows but some tombstones were big, some were small and all of them had Chinese and Japanese symbols on them. It felt like it was sacred and was protected by a big spirit. Soon we went to Cable Beach where Harrison and I conquered MASSIVE waves on our boogie board. While we were boogie boarding Harrison and I were being thrown around, falling into the drink and sliding along the water. We also had so much fun on the dunes where we had a BBQ and had fun.

Day 55 - July 15

I've never really heard gunshots before but now I can't stop hearing them. Well after all we are at the pistol club! The gunshots are going off every five minutes in short bursts. Early this morning we all went down to the point where we got photos with the colourful water. The rocks were really beautiful but kind of hard to climb. We went for some boogie boarding down at Cable beach . We got MASSIVE waves. Soon we headed to the Camel rides where we we bumped up and down and up and down and up and down and up and down and up and down and up and down. The only scary part was getting up and down. Soon we headed for TONG'S chinese and I think the food was yummy.

Day 56 - July 16

Today was the day we said farewell to the famous wonders of Cable Beach (and the camels on the wondrous sand) (especially Jemma) (Jemma is the camel Harrison and I rode). Today was the rest day at Broome and half the day I was madly reading Lord Of The Rings as I have been a great reader throughout this trip. We soon went to the shops so we could go ''grocery shopping''. We soon went to the the beach and we dug a massive hole that a whole four wheel drive could fit in. We even had hot dogs for our farewell dinner.

Day 57 - July 17

Today we had a very short drive which was only an hour. When we reached it we could see the ocean and I helped set up and Barn Hill Station was not like I expected it to be like because there was no farm animals, it was near the ocean and it was hardly a caravan park. Though they don’t have pit toilets but the toilets have NO roof. Soon we headed to the beach but I came back to MADLY read The Fellowship of the Ring (the first story in the Lord of the Rings Trilogy).

Day 58 - July 18

Today we played Lawn Bowls and went for a swim. The swim was fun and Harrison and I went body boarding and it was so fun as we were like skimming rocks. We jumped in front of the waves just in time for the body boarding PARTY!!! We also collected special rocks because we were pretending to be archeologists. We also collected special shells to make a word (3 words) out of shells. Lawn bowls was hard.

Day 59 - July 19

Today we drove and drove and drove and drove and drove and drove and drove and drove and drove and even more driving. The terrain was very much like we were thinking the Nullabor would be like. The main part was watching SALT MOUNTAINS as we entered Port Hedland. When we reached the golf club I read my book.

Tonight I and looking forward to BIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIngo.

Day 60 - July 20

After a late night of money winning bingo games we finally left the CAR PARK of the GOLF COURSE. We were heading towards any ROADHOUSE after some long tiring driving. When we reached our destination I read the second book of MAD, AWESOME, OOL Lord Of The Rings series.

Day 61 - July 21

Today was WATERRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR DAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!! To start this water day we we woke up early and we started driving and we got back into borin old spinifex again. This spinifex looked very dry of dehydrated as it wasn't the really bright green colour. We also finnally started driving between some beautaful but very rocky scenery. We had a few stops along the way but we also watched a few movies. When we reached Carnavon we payed for our caravan park and we drove off towards the jetty. This jetty was very LLLLLOOOOOOOOONNNNNNNNGGGGGGGGGGGGG as it was 1 MILE LONG. The jetty was old and every step you took it would creeeak or wobble around. Soon we went to the Blooooooooooow holes and they bley very stongly and you could feel the water spray your face!!!

Day 62 - July 22

Today was BEACH DAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We had a long and tiring crime scene of Sid the Sloth.
Theory 1. Sid is eating Broccoli mumma dinosaur attacks Sid. Sid fights back with Broccoli leaving mumma dinosaur a vegetable.
Theory 2. Sid is eating Broccoli. mumma dinosaur eats Sid and steps on Broccoli leaving Broccoli a vegetable (the crime scene was in a movie).
Soon we reached Shell Beach where there were lots of broken up tiny shells. Soon we reached our destination and Harrison and I went exploring on the sand dunes where we saw Bilby tracks, dead bones, feral dog tracks and before we knew it there was a growling sound and rustling in the bushes and Harrison and I went sprinting back to the caravan.

Day 63 - July 23

Today was full of ADVENTURES and WILDLIFE and TRACKING and FEEDING and EATING and WATCHING and no more than that. The first part of the day we encounterd was WATCHING some dolphins up CLOSE doing tricks and swimming around. Some people got to FEED the dolphins and lucky enough I was one of the people that got to FEED THEM!!! It was very fun and I DIDN'T GET BITTEN. It DIDN'T take the food for a while but soon.................they just snatched it out of my hand. Soon we ATE. Soon we came back to the caravan and Harrison and I went TRACKING for a bilby and we SAW ONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We saw heaps of WILDLIFE today. There was lots of ADVENTURES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Day 64 - July 24

Today was a wildlife day!!! To start our day we went to Eagles Bluff where we had a great lookout over the water and I saw a TURTLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Soon we scurried along on the sand dunes but we didn't find anything interesting. Later we went to a small lagoon and on the way we saw a Blue Tongue Lizard in the middle of the road and we took some pictures of it hissing at us thinking that we were predators. Soon we took it off the road and we drove on to the small lagoon. The ''small'' lagoon was GIANT!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It was at least 4 km LONG. We saw 5 ray sharks swim along in FEAR!!! hahahahahahahahahahahaahahahahah We even saw one STING RAY swim away in FEAR!!!hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahaha We even had to wade along in SHARK AND STING RAY INFESTED WATERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! But WE DID NOT GET EATEN ALIVE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Day 65 - July 25

Today was a day full of adventure.
We went to Hawks Head and we saw a great big gorge and the actual rock called Hawks Head. It was a great view of the lookout and soon enough we went down the rocky path down to the bottom of the gorge and Harrison and I hid from Dad while exploring the rocky beautiful bushy place. We even saw the river down there. Soon we headed onto the really rocky 25 km dirt road to Nature Window. The walk was hard but the lookout over the window was GREAT and we got to take a few photos of the view and ME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It had the gorge and river below in the window.

Day 66 - July 26

Today was the day we were cruising along the coastline stopping at all the tourist attractions and rock formations. We started our driving at about 10 and we firstly looked out at Blue Holes where we watched the dark blue waves crash against the rock. Even all the froth was a light blue colour and I have never seen any water colour like it. Soon we headed towards Mushroom Rock where the walk was rough and like walking on spinifex except without the pricking in your feet. We saw lots of goats roaming around on a hill near Mushroom Rock. We even saw some pretty BIG crabs under a little cave type thing. Soon we headed to Red Bluff lookout where we saw where the outback meets the sea!!! Soon we headed to Natural Bridge and we spent sunset out at the lookout. Throughout the day we saw at least 1oo WHALES and 3 pods of dolphins.

Day 67 - July 27

Hello all my blog watching fans out there!!! This will be the BEST blog so sit back, get your mothers to read it to you and enjoy. To start our day we hopped in the car and we started driving to Geraldton as we were spending the day exploring it. The scenery of the farms made the crops look like wild flowers and we couldn’t stop watching them because we thought they were wild flowers but they were actually crops and we only stopped when we found that out. About half an hour later we reached Geraldton and we started our exploring at the information centre where they had awesome souvenirs. After that we headed towards the HMAS Sydney Memorial where we learnt about the HMAS Sydney and the battle of the Germans, the people who died, and the seagull sculpture. It was very SADLLL Later we headed to the Museum where we had a task to do and when we were finished we got some free wild flower seeds. The museum contained lots of stuff about the Aboriginal lifestyle, HMAS Sydney, treasure ships and disected bugs, butterflies, and moths. Soon we reached our destination and IT'S RIGHT ON THE WATER!! We also get a......FIRE TO ROAST MARSHIES (marshmallows)!!!!

Tomorrow we will be heading to..................................................................................... You will find out tomorrow.

Day 68 - July 28

To start our day we started driving through the wild flower infested country. The wild flowers did not stop as far as my eye can see. They were mostly yellow. We also got out of spinifex country again. HOORAYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!!!!! When we reached Cervantes Harrison and I went and played on the playground and they had these spiny things and a surfboard that twisted round and round until you jump or get off. Soon we headed to the Pinnacles and we spied on Dad always keeping him in sight and not us. Dad saw us a few times but we did not give up our mission. Today we failed our mission but we are going to try tomorrow. The rocks were in their THOUSANDS and just popping out EVERYWHERE!!! We also went to the Discovery Centre and we learnt what animals live here. On our way back we saw an emu and Harrison got a photo of it for his friend Jordan. The other parts of the day I was reading my book that I really LOVE!!!

Day 69 - July 29

To start our day we went to a VERY SPECIAL rock that is believed to create LIFE. This was at a GIANT LAKE that was very wide and ULTRA SALTY!!!! These are called STROMATOLITES!
Soon we headed to the Pinnacles and we kept doing our mission and we ACCOMPLISHED IT (it is still top secret). We started a mission to spy on Dad and we followed him EVERYWHERE staying hidden ALL the time!! We also watched a movie called ALIEN IN THE ATTIC on our iPODS. The rest of our day was reading as usual!!!!

Day 70 - July 30

Today was a sleepy Braiden day. To start it we went to the markets and it was really cool because it looked like an arcade game corner. We went around them twice and on the second time I bought Harrison and I some chocolate coated STRAWBERRIES!!! Soon we found out we went to the wrong markets so we roamed around them too. Later we went to a torch light prison tour and we got scared spooked and more. It was very big and the tour guide was funny. She didn't joke when we went to the whipping posts and hanging rooms because people died there. They did 3 pranks and one was on a suicide net and they chucked a dummy down and screamed. The other was a man running out of a cell and the last one was women running out of a cell.

Day 71 - July 31

Today was a Chocolate day!! We went to lots of wineries playing our new game called FRUIT NINJA until we reached the chocolate factory!!!!!!!! We tasted delicious chocolate buttons of White Chocolate and best of all Milk Chocolate. We roamed the whole shop and factory until we had our Chocolate Fondue morning tea. I had heaps and when we were done I licked my Chocolate Moustache and looked at my new Chocolate coated T-SHIRT!!! Later Harrison and I played on the playground defeating the DARK LORD!!

Day 72 - August 1

Today was a day of walking!!! To start it we saw the Australia II yacht that won the America's Cup!! Soon we climbed up and down some ladders into a BIG submarine!! There was giant engines and TINY beds. We learned all about torpedoes. Soon we headed towards the prison again and we did a day time tour and the man was being him normal self but he didin't know he was hilarious. We learnt completely differant things although we went to the same rooms.

Day 73 - August 2

Today we explored Perth on FOOT!!! We went to lots of shops and we learnt that at every hour some knights fight under the big clock outside London Court. We went to London Court and the buildings were very old and full of wonder. They were not old shops though they were just souvineers. We went down every street and we came across a book store and I bought Garth Nix's Abhorsen, Sabriel, and Liriel books. We also spent some of our day in theMac Store playing iPhones and IPads. We spent at least 30min in the Mac Store as Harrison and Dad loved it. Mum also bought us cupcakes and BANANAS as they are scientifically proven to calm the nervous system.

Day 74 - August 3

Today was a rest day! To start this rest day off I read my new awesome book and we also went to the playground where Harrison and I had abs workouts. After this we came back and had some lunch of delicious strawberries. I also read my book again before heading back to the playground. At the playground we were swinging on the thing that goes "weeeeeeeee". We also cooked for the family as we made our pretend restaurant and we cooked porcupines. We had mixed oreos with custard for dessert and we made mum a love heart made out of marshmallows.

Day 75 - August 4

Who would have thought you would only do Fremantle Prison when there is lots of other stuff. Well we basically did other than grocery shopping and markets!!! Today we headed back to do the last of the 3 tours which was the Great Escape. We got to go to lots of different wonders of the prison as it was all about people escaping the prison. We learnt all abut the Postcard Bandit, how he escaped and him sending postcards to the prison officers. The Postcard Bandit seemed very smart and he was even on the run for 6 years before he got caught again and now he has 32 years more of jail and might have more because he needs to go to court again. We also learnt about a stupid prisoner who escaped, went to a pub, got drunk and got arrested again within the first few hours. Moondyne Joe escaped 4 times in another gaol so they put him at Fremantle and he escaped at Fremantle too. Some people when they tried to escape broke knees, broke ankles with the bone popping out the side and even got shot by the guards.

Day 76 - August 5

Today we went to Margaret River. When we arrived at Taunton Farm Caravan Park Harrison and I went straight to the playground. The first thing we did at the playground was the flying fox as Harrison and I really love it. This flying fox was the fastest that I have ever been on. Soon I did the monkey bars and I went straight to the end and then I went swinging on the swing. Soon we got called back to the caravan to go an explore a cave. So we drove to the nearest Information Centre and we learnt which cave to go to. We decided to go to Mammoth Cave. When we got there we paid for our tickets and went straight in. We could see lots of formations called Stalagmites and Stalactites. They were like the sharp icles things on the movie ICE AGE. We got an audio talk and each time we listened to a number it told us something new about the cave. We saw some jaw bones and different types of bones in the rock inside the cave. We also saw some other bones on display under a lit glassed area. It was about 30 metres wide and about 80 metres long in parts. The deepest part was twenty metres deep. I felt really tiny as the cave was so BIG.
When we left the cave we returned to the caravan park and we got to feed the animals. First we got to feed a lamb some milk and after that we got to feed some big horses some carrots and hay. We sprinkled hay over the fence and I hand fed a cow, a sheep and a horse.
I had a wonderful time!

Day 77 - August 6

Today was a drive from Cape to Cape. The first cape we went to was called Cape Leeuwin and it took about 45 minutes to get there...it is the most south-westernly point in Australia. It is also the tallest lighthouse in Australia...we were hoping to do the tour but sadly it was undergoing some maintenance. This point was very cold as we arrived early and it was about 12 degrees. We saw a couple of whales where the Southern Ocean meets the Indian Ocean. We got a few photos of the lighthouse when it didn't show the maintenance work that was being done. When we left the cape we had to drive through a forest...the trees were pretty wide but surrounded by shrubs.
Soon we reached Cape Naturaliste and we went about a kilometre to a whale lookout, unfortunately we did not see any whales but...we saw some SEALS for the first time! There was about 10-16 seals that I could see and they were making a horrible whining sound. We watched them for about 15 minutes before we headed back to the car.
To end the day we headed off to the wineries as Mum hadn't been to many wineries so far.

Day 78 - August 7

Today we had an A Maze'n day!
To start our day we went to A Maze'n where we paid for our tickets and went straight to the mini maze. The mini maze took us a lot of time to work out as we could only turn left and the exit was right but we finally worked out you needed to get there and then turn right. Once we figured that out we went onto the massive hedge maze where Harrison and I were a team and Mum and Dad were in the other team. Harrison and I got off to a bad start as we sprinted and kept getting into dead ends. Soon we finally found a trick...the emergency exit that was fake and we roamed around in that part of the hedge maze for about 20 minutes before Mum and Dad yelled "we're there"...Harrison and I found it really frustrating after that but after about 2 minutes we finally found the middle. We then had a race to the exit and Harrison and I found the exit within minutes...Harrison and I found it earlier when we took the emergency exit...so we knew the way. We then went to the Stepping Stones and I found my way pretty easily as I studied it before starting...I was the first to finish it.
We ended our day with a few wineries and the Fudge Factory.

Day 79 - August 8

Today we spent a day looking at GIANTS!
We were driving to Albany today and we had two stops to look at GIANTS along the way. The first stop we stopped in the middle of a giant forest and we walked about 20 metres until we reached a massive tree with flimsy spikes sticking out of it. I went up about 2 metres up and got a picture with Dad and then continued going up...but it got freaky so I decided to go back down. Dad went all the way to the top and he took some photos up there as it was a lookout. Once Dad got back down Dad and I went about 10-15 metres up and Mum got some more photos as well.
Soon we headed to the Valley of the Giants where we went on a tree top walk. This walk went 40 metres above ground with bottom being shrub lands. You could see lots of tops of trees with many being dead after a big fire in 1937. We went on a mini walk with a tour guide and learnt all about the Tingle Tree which often has hollows in the base of the tree. Soon we headed back to the Tree Top Walk again before leaving for Albany.

Day 80 - August 9

Today we went to a different dimension...the whale dimension. To start our day we went to a wind farm and were amazed by how big they were and we were still about 200 yards away. We also went down exactly 251 step to the bottom of a beach where we saw heaps of whales and even some breaching. We were amazed by and spectacular and scenic show the whales put on for us. Soon we went to Whale World and we learnt all about how they hunted whales and
how there ship looked. We saw lots of familiar artifacts as we saw some at the maritime museum. We finally got to enter the new dimension where we saw some whale bones and the blue whales bone was massive.

Day 81 - August 10

When I woke I soon found myself reading again. Mum, Dad and Harrison went to the beach to see some whales and finally for a short time I was in peace. I sat there for a while but soon I disturbed the silence saying ''must get back to my reading can't handle not reading, need book'' but I ended up collapsing on the book instead of reading it. Soon I found the strength to start reading and from that time on I was in complete silence from Braiden Thomas Tong as he was in a deep reading spree as he had been for the last two months. Soon Mum and Dad beckoned us to the spa where we spent the rest of our day relaxing.

Day 82 - August 11

Today we had a long 6 and a half hour drive. We were camping in a national park so we still had to pay a little bit to go free camping. On our way to lucky bay we were very impressed by the colour of sand in the bay. It was a very pale white and the water of the bay was very sea through and you could see all the sea grass. Instead of helping set up Harrison and I went to go and see the beach and the sand actuality felt like squeaky not hardened concrete. Soon Mum and Dad came down and we went for about a km walk to the sand dunes where Harrison and I spent a few hours doing experiments while we were observing and conserving all the nature around us. We spied out a few birds behaviour and we explored every part of the dunes. Soon we headed back to finally finish the book I was reading.

Day 83 - August 12

Today we had a great long walk. We started off with a early sleep in and the it turned it to reading and then it turned into singing. Later in the afternoon Dad and I went for an easy stroll along the beach. It was a very leisurely walk and it only rained for a few minutes. We went up rocks down rocks and we saw a MASSIVE boulder with a Mathew Flinders’ memorial on it. Today we walked about 12-14 kilometres...... on the beach.

Day 84 - August 13

Today we had a 5 hour drive to Kalgoorlie and we decided to go on a super pit mining tour. We saw lots of big mining trucks and we learnt that just 1 wheel costed 25,000 dollars. These trucks were able to carry 240 ton of rock but only get on average a piece of gold the size of a pea so it seemed like it wasn't worth the work. There was one massive digger that was basically 4 double decker buses added together. It really dwarfed the other big trucks. It went for kilometres and was exactly 527 metres deep. We went to one lookout on the tour but the others were too strong of a wind. It was a great tour.

Day 85 - August 14

Today we had a twenty minute drive through dust, trees, and buildings. We were going to the Hall of Mining fame and we saw a BIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIG wheel. We jumped in and out of the GIANT WHEEL. Harrison and I could easily fit inside the wheel and so we did go inside it. We also saw a big mining truck thet can carry 240 ton of rock. We also played a mining game and I won. We even went in a simulator. We saw lots of VEEEERY old mining gear. We also saw a MASSIVE explosion and
the sound was basically delayed by ten seconds. I never thought I'd see explosives blow up rocks.

Day 86 - August 15

Today was the first day of the Nullabor crossing and we figured it wasn’t nothing ...but it still had dead trees and spikey grass. We even allowed Mum to drive the Australia's straightest road and she wasn’t that bad...although there was no turns. When we reached our destination we went and got some firewood and we played a game while going walkabout.

Day 87 - August 16

Today was Day 2 crossing the Nullabor. When we reached our place Harrison and I were talking about all the awesome Variety Bash cars that we saw. There were AC/DC ones to TEDDY BEAR ones and even a POLICE OFFICER and SCIENTISTS. They were all very old cars that are all dressed up with toys, stickers and action figures. Harrison and I also played a game and it was really fun as it was the right environment to play it.

Day 88 - August 17

Today we got straght into the treeless shrubby country side. We were standing facing the chilly breeze while the water was spraying up the cliffs. The water crashed against the rock sending the water flying into the air. It was about a 87 metre sheer cliff to the tall, wet and spiky rocks below. The weather was as miserable as a kid who didn't get a lolly but it was fine for our game. We were peeking round trees going walkabout in the bush. Collecting firewood and bush tucker was our life for......2 hours. The shrubs was great bush tucker for our different 2 hour life. We sharpened spears created boomerangs and ate kangaroo.

Day 89 -August 18

Today was a very long day. We drove for about 40 minutes till we struck the HEAD OF THE BIGHT so we pulled in there and walked, paid and walked again all the way to the lookout. Before I got to the lookout my eyes struck a giant whale with a baby whale that was at least 5 metres long. When I reached the lookout I realised there were hundreds of whales all in the one area of the ocean. We spent half an hour there before we went to the next lookout and I was suprised about how beautiful the cliffs were. We didn't see as many whales at that lookout but we saw one of the rarest type of whale, the ALBINO whale. It's mother had twins 1 white and 1 black.

Day 90 - August 19

The trucks last night were going crazy, I couldn't get to sleep. After a restless night of noise I had to get up at 5:30am. We drove for six hours before we pulled in at my worst nightmare, the Barossa. We went to one winery today and I just played my ipod, not looking up at all. I didn't really know we were in a winery till I looked up and saw a 2500 litre barrell with 2500 litres of wine in it. I was playing zombiefarm and I won.

Day 91 - August 20

Today was the first full day of my worst nightmare the Barossa. We got a new app today as we were going to lots of wineries. I got Hungry Shark. We went to 5 famous wineries and Harrison and I just played our ipod. We got to draw on the table at Jacobs Creek and I drew stick figures jumping into shark infested water with King Kong, mutant slug, tarzan, pole vaulter and chainsaw man. They were not very big dishes. They had fire places too.

Day 92 - August 21

Today was full of drinks. Today we went cheese tasting and I didn't really like the 4 cheeses because thay were basically all the same but soon we went to a winery and Harrison and I got to get cordial tasting in wine glasses. It was one of my favourite cordials so we bought a bottle. We also went to Maggie Beers and we tasted jam, biscuits, and a non alchoholic wine and we loved it so we bought a bottle. Today was a good day because we gotto taste something.

Day 93 - August 22

Today we had a short hour drive to Adelaide and I was very happy because I got to leave the Barossa. When we reached the caravan park we set up and decided to go for a stroll to the city as it is walking distance from the caravan park. We crossed lots of roads but it wasn't very long till we reached the city. There were no high rises or anything but there was more old buildings. We walked and walked through lanes of 100 year old buidings built from rock only. We walked through statues of teachers and explorers as we passed a school. We went to a lolly shop and I hunted for the most sourest lolly in the world but they didn't have it.

Day 94 - August 23

Today we visited the Adelaide Zoo and the first animal we saw was the big Hippopotamus. They were sun baking and eating big chunks of lettuce thrown into the enclosure. It was not a very big enclosure considering there were 2 giant hippos in a 15 by 15 metre enclosure. Later in the day the hippos were swimming and popping up every now and again. Soon we moved on to the Giant Panda viewing and the first panda I saw was the lemur sized Red Panda who was playing with it's mates high up in the dead tree. The next Panda was Funi the birthday girl. My favourite panda was Wang Wang who went up the rocks of doom, through the dead tree of misery and up the rocks of doom and so on. My favourite animals were the otters as they got very excited when they were in the water.

Day 95 - August 24

Today we were driving head first into the misty fog and the rain raining down in front of us. We went on a slide after lunch and it was a very big slide and there was a very big puddle at the end of it that we had to avoid. We drove through Adelaide Hills like we were in the Nullabor not stopping to look at anything. When we reached Ballarat it was bucketing rain and I ran out of the car as quick as I could just to find out the caravan was locked. When I did get in the caravan I started reading and watching tv.

Day 96 - August 25

Today was a half rest, a half active day. We played tennis and I was very good up the front of the court making good rallies and also stopping rallies. We had lunch an hour early at a world famous bakery that I didn't think was that good. When we got back Harrison and I played ping pong and lots of arcade games including air hockey that stopped our game halfway through it. I won one game and the other I lost. I also played ping pong playing with six balls at a time so it was very hard and I endd qiuckly.

Day 97 - August 26

Today we were going to our cousins' house but we stopped at Weribee Zoo to climb on things. We went on a bus tour and we got to go in the enclosures of Harry the hippo, buffalo things and camels. We also saw the African herbivores and we went on a walk through the Australian enclosure where we got face to face with emus, kangaroos and brolga type birds. Soon we went to our cousins' house and I learnt some guitar from Jordy (my cousin). We also went on the computer and looked at music websites and some of Harrison's Internet Photos which are his favourite photos that he has taken on this trip so far.

Day 98 - August 27

Today I woke up and played marco polo with our eyes closed but we decided to build a tent and we had a lot of trouble and had to get Dad's help for almost everything. We hung out while Mum and Aunty Sue got dressed for thier Wild West Night and they looked awesome with pretend guns and bullets, cow girl boots
and much more cool stuff. I'm looking forward to a scavenger hunt tonight.

Day 99 - August 28

Today I woke up in a warm and cosy bed in a tent. I went inside and Ashleigh and I cooked demented pancakes and we ate them happily until we found one of them was raw in the middle. The rest of the pancakes we decided to put in the bin just in case they were raw so we decided to play Marco-Polo and I was good. Soon we dressed up and I was a girl and a smart nerd.

Day 100 - August 29

Today we went gardening and I helped rip out an overgrown garden and now it is a nice vegetable garden and I planted some of it. Tonight we have a well earned barbeque.

Day 101 - August 30

Today I woke up to a nice quiet morning as my cousins had gone to school before I woke up. I was very excited because I was going to watch the Lord of the Rings Trilogy so I decided to ask Dad if I can watch the first one immediately. So I sat down watched Dad and Harrison working and focused on my movie. When the movie was finished I put on the other movie and I stayed and watched it while Harrison got a hair cut and just when it finished I heard Ashy and her friend Deanne come in. So we played a bit but Ashy had to go to dance practice so we played with a hackey sack with Jordan who got home soon after Ashy arrived. We also played guitar hero and had tacos for dinner.

Day 102 - August 31

Today we woke up to find ourselves saying our goodbyes to our cousins. We drove off waving at the window until they were completely out of site. I decided to watch the 3rd movie of the Lord of the Rings trilogy. I found that the 3rd movie was the best one but the best part of the day was cheese tasting. We tasted about 10 cheeses and my favourite was the chilli. We tasted cheese at the famous BEGA factory.

Day 103 - September 1

We arrived in Canberra today. When we reached our caravan park Harrison and I wanted to relax for the rest of the day because we came up with a plan for a game we wanted to play, but Dad and Mum set up the caravan and we went to Parliament House. I was happy that we were going there as I vaguely remembered the house. The first place we went was the GREAT HALL of Parliament House. The hall was empty as nothing was going on because there was no goverment at present. On the back wall of the hall was a replica tapestry of the woods of Australia. Soon we moved to the foyer where the portraits of former Prime Ministers were but Kevin Rudd was not there as he is still in politics. We also saw the constitution of Australia. We soon moved on to the House of Representatives. The green room is where they make the laws and there were lots of flags and symbolism of Australia . We soon went to the Senate where they decide if it is a good or bad law. We also saw the double decker bus size Australian flag up on the roof. I also loved rolling down what we called Parmesan Hill.

Day 104 - September 2

Today was a Science Day. Today we left a bit later than usual just to get into the CSIRO labratory. The CSIRO is a science and education buildings where you roam around in a world of science and experiments. We saw real scientists and labratories. When we first stepped in the building we saw lots of posters with facts and scientific research that kids did in a competition. We soon saw things about the human brain, heart, chemical experiments and much more. My favourite part was the JAFFA machine where you create energy and you get a free JAFFA. We also went to BORDERS Bookstore and I bourght PERCY JACKSON AND THE LIGHTNING THIEF.

Day 105 - September 3

Today we went to Cockingtin Greens and they had excact replicas form towns, houses, and palaces in diorama form. The first one I saw was an excact replica of there house. We saw mines, palaces, towns, houses, aliens and much much more. They also had pools and mini trains that I kept chasing round and round. Soon we had along half an hour drive to the space station where I had lunch at the great hot dog cookers HARD ROCK CAFE. I showed space rocks and massive dishes that were conected to CSIRO and NASA

Day 106 - September 4

Today we went to Borders Bookstore and I bought the second Percy Jackson book and I read it in Borders for about 2 hours. Mum was shopping for her beauty supplies while Harrison and I were reading in Borders Bookstore with Dad. When we got back I couldn't keep my head from not being buried in my fascinating book that I FINISHED THE DAY THAT I BOUGHT IT!!! The weather was ultra ultraBAD.

Day 107 - September 5

Today Dad wanted to go to the War Memorial so we let him because it was Father's day. The first thing we saw was the writing on the wall where a 14 year old boy's name was because he went to war and died in action. We also saw Simpson and his Donkey's name and we even saw sculptures of them. I saw a machine gun. We also saw the Fallen Unknown Soldier. We saw replicas and the real thing of almost everything. We went through three parts and they were World War 1, World War 2 and peacemaking.

Day 108 - September 6

Today whilst we were driving we decided to stop at the famous Bathurst, holden vs ford track around Mount Panorama. We got pictures with some statues before racing across the track with A CARAVAN. We raced this track twice seeing the beautiful rolling hills from the moutain tops. Soon we saw the BLUE MOUNTAINS with a blue tinge tingling through the mountain sides. When we reached our place I read again.

Day 109 - September 7

I never thought I would find anything as hard to climb as Uluru but today I struck it. I could have woken up the whole neighboorhood as the family put up with the moans that meant ''Braiden doesn't want to get out of bed''. Soon we went on a leisurely bush walk through the sounds of nature. We could hear the rush of water getting louder and louder as we enjoyed the serenity of a nice quiet morning. Soon we struck a nice waterfall that mind blowed me because of how nice it sounded with the crickets chirping and the cockatoos screeching in the backround. We soon headed towards a lookout which looked wonderful as I could see all mountains with the blue tinge in the escarpments. We saw other lookouts that were the same thing but from a different angle. Soon we struck the 900 stairs of the giant staircase. I couldn't hide the jelly legs that I had from how steep the mountains side stairs were. Soon we went on the world's steepest train and it was basicly 70 degrees steep. I felt like superman as long as I was on that thing. I loved it.

Day 110 - September 8

Today we went to the Blue Mountains Scenic World. I was reading my book for three hours before I went and kicked the football with Dad. Soon we left to go on the rides at Scenic World. The first ride we went on was the world's steepest train where it was a 52 degree drop down the cliff. I had a very tickilish gut feeling going down the train. It felt a bit like I was going to throw up but I wasn't. We went for some bushwalks before we took the slow and steady cable car up up and away to the top of the cliff. When we reached the top we went on the slow and steady glass floor skyway which I fell in love with in the first two seconds. It was awesome.

Day 111 - September 9

Today we went to the Queen's secret chamber.....well it seemed like it anyway. We had about an hour drive through the wonders of the Blue Mountains till we arrived at Jenolan Caves. We could see something that looked like a ocean...... though it was actually the Blue Mountains and that's why it is called the Blue Mountains. All you could see was blue. When we got in the first chamber of the caves the only way to describe it was it looked like a Queen's secret chamber. Every now and again you would hear a....drip...drip...drip...which was creating the columns and straws. We passed through lots of chambers. Some were very spacious but weren't as beautiful. The spacious ones had rocks that had fallen down and in the less spacious ones you could use your own imagination a bit more. Some straws connected and made it look like a whole theme park. I loved that day full of caving.

Day 112 - September 10

Today we squeezed, crawled and slid on our belly through cracks, crevices and hollow rocks. We had a tight sqeeze through a few crevices and I felt like tomato sauce being squeezed onto the plate. We got a lot of bruises, grazes and cuts as we entered the first chamber called the Obituary. We felt like explorers lost in the desert as there was red dust everywhere. There were signitures sprawled all over the walls and some of them were from the 1800's. It was surprisingly large as the the cracks and crevices were very small. We repaeted this process a couple of times with smaller places and larger ones. It was the dirtiest I've ever felt but it was a lot better than climbing Uluru.

Day 113 - September 11

Today we went to the caravan show. It was an hour until we reached Penrith and then we went to the caravan show.
At the caravan show we looked at lots of great accessories like torches, tables and clothes lines. All the caravans looked better than our one beacuse they had not been lived in. Soon we went to something that looked like timezone and was as fun as time zone. It was an alright day.

Day 114 - September 12

Today was a rest day and Harrison and I basically played all day. We climbed in and out of a fallen down tree that CRUSHED steel. We played a game of fighting monsters. I also read my book and did some of my creations. Im looking foward to watching Junier Masterchef. Tomorrow we are going to Wentworth Falls.

Day 115 - September 13

Today we went to the land of fresh, clear running waterfalls. I thought it wouldn't be too long a walk but it was 3 hours. The waterfalls were magnificantly spectacular and freshly running. We forgot to bring food or water but I just drank the crystal clear, fresh mountain water. I also solved the problem of the food becausee I brought SHERBET. I felt like I was gonna feint as I stumbled into the restaurant where I had beer battered fish with a spider as my drink. We also went to the lolly shop where I bought goop.

Day 116 - September 14

Today was a rest day. I woke up and started reading before Dad told me to get ready because we were going to the movies. When we reached the cinema called Edge we saw a pine tree from the dinosaur days. The pine was called the Wollemi Pine. We soon watched the movie about the Blue Mountains and the Wollemi Pine. It showed the Blue Mountains in the olden days with tourists and explorers doing lots of dangerous things like rock climbing with NO harnesses. We also watched the Sorcerers Apprentice before I started reading again.

Day 117 - September 15

Today we had a long drive to Sydney. When we first met Sydney all I could smell was the disgusting smell of POLLUTION. We headed out to Manly for the day and I got an ice chocolate and I HAD to get my haircut. :( We walked around the MALL and I bought a book called Dragon Keeper. I like my haircut and I'm looking forward to watching Wipeout Season Three. I am also cooking fish today and getting a new app.

Day 118 - September 16

Today we went to Sydney and the first thing we did was go to the Sunrise Studio where we were on TV. We got all the tv star's autographs and then we left to get to BONDI. We reached Bondi half an hour later and we went and got delicious beachside fish and chips. We spent a bit of time at Bondi while Harrison and I built traps for people to step in. Bondi was just like a normal beach with a bit more people. We soon went to Sydney Tower where we saw lots of small ants (people). We went on a skywalk outside while jumping on glass hanging over the edge over 200 metres above the ground. The harness was very uncomfortable but I survived with the rating of the day being GREAT.

Day 119 - September 17

Today we went to the Powerhouse Museum as well as LUNA PARK. At the Powerhouse Museum there was lots on fashion, olden day games and music. My favourite part was the whole exhibit on AC/DC. It showed all the songs and the people in the band. There was lots of music and photos. My favourite part was the acdc as they are a a awesome band. We also went on some CRAZY rides that were so FUN at LUNER PaRK. I went on rides that took me upside down with no seatbelt just a bar. Harrison also went on some cool rides and we had dinner at luner

Day 120 - September 18

Today we had a bit of a sleep in as the musical that we were going to watch didn't start till 2 in the afternoon. We had a 1 and a half vehicle driving till we reached the Capitol Theatre. The musical was wonderfully set up and the characters did their part very well and I LOVED THE MUSICAL. We had dinner at Pizza Hut and I loved it.

Day 121 - September 19

Today we had a rest day. I slept till about 6 o clock in the morning and I decided to read as nobody else was awake. I read my book again because I didn't know where the keys were to the car where my knew book is. When Dad woke up he startled me beacause he just came up and said ''having a good morning Braiden" and I thought he was asleep. I stayed in my bed reading until at 7 in the moring and then I decided to get my blog done so I didn't have the hassle of it later. I also played my ipod a bit before I rode off towards the playground. I also rode my scooter around the park just for fun but I came in because it was starting to get dark and it would soon be sundown which meant night was coming.

Day 122 - September 20

Today we had a four drive to meet our camping friends at Seal Rocks. By the name of the place, you would think that Seal Rocks would have seals sitting on the rocks everywhere, but there are none. When we got there, we set up and talked to our friends about our iPod touches, as they had some too. We also played soccer for a bit and it was a good day. Tonight we are going out for dinner with our camping buddies.

Day 123 - September 21

Today was a terrific day as we were able to hit the water and even wear a singlet and thongs.
We went to the beach today and we boogie boarded catching medium sized waves so you wouldn't get dunked and you wouldn't get pummelled. We also dug in the sand and made massive sand castles. We still didn't see any seals though we did try and catch some seagulls.

Day 124 - September 22

Today we built the tomato sauce palace out of sand but the water kept wrecking it.
Today we had to go to a little town called Forster and we had fish and greasy chips. I liked my fish that I cook better than the really greasy one. We also had fun on the Bunnings playground and we had to go to WOOLWORTHS. :(

Day 125 - September 23

My top three memorable moments on this trip was climbing Uluru, Climbing Kings Canyon and seing the birds at Kakadu.
My top three funniest moments on this trip was me accidantly calling tourists terrirosts, harrison saying Im giving the tree life as he peed on it but Dad said it called the afterlife.
My top three favourite things on this trip are Adventure Caving, Uluru and Kakadu.

Day 126 - September 24

The things I didnt like throughout this trip was grocery shopping, the woomera military museum and eating cereal over and over again also watching g force.

The things I did like throughout this trip was being at the beach and boogie boarding.

Day 127 - September 25

The things I've missed most on this trip has been my friends, going to wet and wild and my awesome guitar teacher.
The things I haven't missed on this trip has been maths, homework and home.
The objects I've missed on this trip has been my pillow, my trampoline and my pool.

Day 128 - September 26

Today we had a long drive to our location for the last week of this trip. The drive was spectacularly horrible. I read a book and also played my magnificant awesome DS.
When we got here I watched some tv and played my DS and also read a book.

Day 129 - September 27

Today we went boogie boarding in a nice warm magnificent spectacular lake. I also for the first time..........................................................................I certainly caught a wave on a..............................................................................surf board. I had so much fun surfing even though I got dunked a few times.
I also read and read my book!

Day 130 - September 28

Today we surfed and surfed again. Today Dad took us out to the deeper waters where the waves were bigger and on the way we got pummelled. We caught massive waves but I stopped surfing when the surf board smashed into the back of my head. I also played in the lake and read and did the usual stuff.

Day 131 - September 29

Today was a day of windy and cold weather. We mostly stayed around the caravan as the beach would be way too cold. I read my book and I got a new app called Stick Skater. We also went down to the lake and it was horrifying on the way back as we had the wind on us and it was really cold. TOMMOROW IS OUR LAST DAY OF THE TRIP.

Day 132 - September 30

Today was our last full day so we decided to make the most of it by going...........................................SHOPPING :(. We went shopping and I wanted to buy an iTunes gift card but I decided to do it on Saturday. We also had lunch at an RSL club hoping there would be bingo for kidsb but there wasn't. Late in the afternoon we floated downstream from the river to the ocean and we went to a lookout.
I can't wait to get home and lay on a proper bed and watch..............................................CARTOON NETWORK!