Milla- Milla and the Chocolate Factory

Wen me and my female went to the cholit furey I got to taste lots of lolees and cholits.

We saw the man making hard licrish.

My mum gave me $5 to spend.  I bought a pink pig, a freckle and candy.  I still have the candy.  Dad and Harvey have some chocolate left.  Mum and Maisie gobbled theirs up!

Harvey - Ball after ball

I liked my day at Adelaide oval. My family and I went to Adelaide oval to watch QLD vs SA in the cricket.  It was a test match.  Queensland won the toss and alected to bat.  I went in the Don Bradmen musiem.  I got to hit with a golf ball and stump against a water tank just like him.  Don Bradmen was the best batsman in the world.  Bradmen was never taught how to hold a bat.  

I enjoyed my day with my family.  Now I would like to visit the SCG and Etihad.

Maisie-German Town

You don't have to go to Germany to experience what a real German town is like! Yesterday we went to Hahndorf which is the first town set up for non-British people. Of cause British people live there now but there is still a lot of original buildings. It was interesting learning about the history of the town and everything. The captain of the voyage was Captain Dirk Hahn and 'dorf' in German means village or town so the people named the town after the captain. 

I would love to live in Hahndorf because it is so neat and pretty. I saw some of the biggest roses I had ever seen in my life! I have noticed there are a lot of flowers in SA. 

Today we went into Adelaide and did some shopping and caught up with Anna. Anna gave mum a home cooked meal and mum went on and on and on about the meal and even made dad get a photo of her and Anna and the home cooked meal! I can't believe adults get so excited over vegetables! I can't wait until I am an adult so I can make my own food.

Ps- Notice anything different about the photo below ( I got my ears pieced in Adelaide as part of my birthday present!)

  

Dinosaur Trail Video

Cluck on the link below:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=NvMwFs8vzzo

Paradise Video

Red Centre Video

Harvey- Sarsaparilla Spider

Today we drove to some towns in the hills at the bottom of the Flinders Ranges.  There were lots of rouens.  Rouens of little stone cottages.  Mum and Dad really liked today.

At one town we had spiders.  I had saspereler and licrish ice cream.  It was very yummy.

I fought with my sister in the car.

That night we went out for dinner.  I had a coke and a mini pizza.

Maisie-Life Underground

Talk about something different for a change... We camped underground at Coober Pedy!!! 

The first thing I noticed when we entered Coober Pedy were all the mounds of dirt. They are like all the little balls crabs make that you see on the beach. We also saw heaps of signs warning people not to walk backwards in case you fell down a hole. 

The campground claimed it was the only underground camping place in the world!! I didn't believe the statement, I was almost positive there was another underground place in Coober Pedy let alone the whole world! It was 40 degrees above ground and 25 degrees under ground. We didn't even have to put up our tent we just slept on our mattresses. The lady warned us that during the day even if you turn the cold tap on it can be boiling. We went for a tour of an opal mine and I learnt heaps. Because we were so far south and in daylight savings, it only got dark at about 8:00pm! We enjoyed playing hide and seek underground because  it was really quite dark and there were all the passages that linked up. I thought it was pretty scary. Milla said she felt like she was in a jail. There was this TV room but the TV didn't have any kids channels so we were stuck watching the news for half an hour while dad did some photo editing. 

Milla had this massive tantrum because mum couldn't get Derek (Her bedtime toy) from the pod and this man snored really loudly all night. Harvey drank heaps of coca cola and during the night did this massive wee in the 'wee bucket'. It went on for so long.  I thought it would echo and wake everyone up. I wanted to stay another night but the next day was a Sunday and nothing would be open plus it was going to be 42 degrees!!!! 

Harvey- Big rock ahead

                 

We drove in amazed at what we could see before us.  Uluru is a very very big rock.  It is 350m tall.  It goes 5-6 km under the ground.  It is 10km around it.  I know this because my mum ran around the rock.  We went on the Marla walk.  We learnt about all the different caves and animals and the aboriginal way of life.  

There are lots of flies. Too many for me to handle.

We have seen a few mini twisters.  I get very scared.  You see lots of red dust and leaves swirling around and around.  I was worried that I was going to get sucked up and was worried our tent was going to blow away.  It threw our clothes across the campground.  It was like a game of hide and seek trying to find our clothes.

I enjoyed throwing a boomerang and a spear.  Not surprisingly I was very good at both.  It is all in the wrist.  When dad threw his boomerang, it came back and hit someone in the line.  He was ok.  

Milla- The Bush

This is the place where you can watch the sunset over Uluru. It is the same place where Princess Catherine and Prince William had their photo taken.  And I did too.

We went to a special place where you can do activities and watch some dancing.  We listened to some people talking about their bush tucker.  I got to hold a witchetty grub and it really tickled.  

We went on a walk in a gorge and I collected desert flowers.  This purple and white flower is a Mulla flower.  It is nearly the same as my name.  

Harvey- An oasis in the desert

                

A few days ago my family and I went on a bush walk.  I was the leader.  I made sure there were no snakes or dangerous creatures on the track.  I also made sure we didn't get lost by following the orange markers.  Firstly we went high up onto the cliff.  Then we came back down.  After that we turned around and walked back through the gorge.  It was called Trephina Gorge.  It was very hot and sandy.  The gorge had no water in it.

A few days later we found a gorge with water in it.  This gorge was called Ormiston Gorge.  We had a swim.  It was freezing cold water which was good in the desert because it gets very hot.  I built a Boeing 747 in the sand.  

By milla - the huts

 

This is my hut.

My mum swoloed a fliy.

I wanted to sleep in my hut.  We made a whole city of them.  And paths and we got our own rooms.

My dad saw a dingo.  

The next day nannie and pop came to Alice Springs. We met them at the airport.  It was very exciting to have them here.

I am looking forward to Maisie's birthday with Nannie and Pop.

Maisie-Luxury at Last

 After camping on nothing but red dirt we definitely deserved a night in a fancy hotel. Nannie and Pop flew in from Brisbane yesterday and we met them at the Alice Springs airport. We had lunch in a park and took them up to the lookout. Then we checked in at Double Tree (the hotel we were staying in for the night) and unpacked in our rooms. I was in room 105 with Nannie and Pop and Mum, Dad, Harvey and Milla were all in 109. I had my own double bed as there were 2 double beds in each room. We had a swim in the massive pool which was just what I needed. Then we had a shower (which was the best shower ever) and went out for dinner at The Juicy Rump which was just down the road (there were actually restaurants in the hotel but they weren't open). I had a lovely sleep and woke up only to find more luxury...a buffet breakfast!!! I had a pasty, croissant, sausage, hash brown, bacon and apple juice, not to mention I also could have had scrambled eggs, bake beans and toast but I was too full. We are now in the car driving to Kings Cannon Resort which if you were wondering is not a hotel ): I am getting  very excited about my birthday!!!!!!!

Milla - the garden rose

When me and my famaly went to the sun set.I fand a flower.the nam of it is sturt's desert pea.

We went on a rim walk.  We walked all the way around the top.  We walked a long way.  

Maisie-The Kings and Queens of the Canyon

We woke up at 4:45 in the morning, before the sun had even risen! We were all feeling adventurous. We had packed everything the day before so we got going at about 5:00! We drove 10km to Kings Canyon! It was very very dark and the moon was still up. We did the Kings Canyon Rim Walk which was 6km and took 3-4 hours. We walked all around the rim and crossed the canyon near the Garden of Eden. It was really magnificent. There were some really cool lookout spots where you could see right down to the bottom of the canyon. We even saw some tour groups on the other side. They called cooee to us and we tried to cooee back but the wind was blowing the other way so they couldn't hear us. Mum suggested we call "I bought a Jeep" like the add. We also saw these two people standing on a rock ( probably at one of the lookout spots ) right in the distance. Nannie thought they could be proposing! Right at the end we saw this amazing wall that had stripes of black, white and orange. When we finished the walk we got a photo standing next to the sign that described our walk and went straight back to the campsite to have a swim. I am glad we started the walk early. It was 39 degrees that day.

Sky full of stars video

Harvey- Territory in the Territory

We are now in the Northern Territory.  I got to kick my football from Queensland into the Northern Territory.   It was very windy, so for the first 4 times I hit the sign.  

 

In the Northern Territory you are allowed to drive at 130km/hr.  It doesn't feel fast because everything looks the same.  The roads are very straight and flat.  I see shubs and grass out the window.  Mostly we see caravans and road trains on the road.  

The last 4 days we have been seeing lots of termite mounds.  They are browny red, like the colour of the dirt.  Occasionally you will see a dressed up termite mound.  They look like people.  

Maisie-Digging In The Dirt

I am not the kind to get all dusty and dirty but I couldn't resist when I was told we could find a fossil that was 100 million years old! For the past few days we had followed The Dinosaur Trail through Winton, Hughenden and Richmond. 

In Richmond we went fossil hunting in 38 degree heat! We used some of dad's sand pegs but everything was pretty much broken up on the surface so we didn't have to do much digging. Dad found a shell fossil and a bit of a fish fin and Harvey found, what the curator thinks, could be a turtle bone. All of them were 100 million years old. Soon it got even hotter so we had to go.

We stayed the night at Mt Isa. Mt Isa claims to have the largest city area in the world. After dinner we drove up to the lookout and saw a beautiful sunset over the mine. Then later that night we heard the explosions in the copper mine. It was like thunder rumbling through the town.  

Milla- Monsters in the Outback

Yesterday me and my female went on a Dinosaur Trail in Winton.

This dinosaur is Banjo.  His bones were found just down the road.  His foot got stuck in the swamp and he couldn't get out.  He was found in the swamp with a big dinosaur called Matilda.  

Banjo ate meat.  Matilda had a long neck and could reach up to the top of the trees to eat leaves.

I touched real fossil shells from when the dinosaurs were around.

They wrap the bones in alfoil, then newspaper and plaster, so they don't break.

Did you know that emus and all types of birds come from dinosaurs?  We saw an emu running beside the car.

Harvey-captain Harvey here

We fired up our 4 mighty engines and set off for Longreach.  As we drove into Longreach, the first thing I saw was the big 747-200's tail.  I was so excited!

We checked in at the campground and had lunch next to the jumbo.  It was very hot and very windy.

I bought a few things from the gift shop with my own money.  By doing jobs on the trip, we get pocket money. 

We went on a tour around 3 planes.  The Catalina, a 707 and the mighty 747 jumbo.

I liked going in the cargo bay and the cockpit.  I liked the cockpit the best.  There were thousands of buttons.                   

I loved standing in the engine.  It was bigger than I thought.  

This jumbo has 18 wheels.  One tyre costs $3000.  

I want to be a pilot when I grow up.  I'm glad we drove all the way to Longreach.  

PS- did you know that in Longreach all the streets are named after birds?

Maisie-Goodbye Beach, Hello Outback.

Goodbye thongs and hello cowgirl boots!  Yesterday we said goodbye to the beach and set off  to the outback. We saw a number of very large mines and temporary cities with rows of cabins for the miners called Dongas.

We passed some really long coal trains heading back to the coast where the coal is loaded onto ships and exported overseas. It made lots of sense because we visited Shoal Point in Mackay and learnt about the whole process.

 

We found ourselves stuck behind a huge semi trailer called a road train but soon came up with a game to keep us amused. You have to make as many words as you can out of the words "road train" without using any letter twice. We came up with twenty-nine words.

 I am writing this blog in the car and we are playing a game where we must be called the name of the first creek we cross for the rest of the day. I am up today and we just crossed a creek called "Gap Creek", so my name for the day is "Gap" which isn't too bad because the next creek we crossed was called "Blackboy Creek"! 

By Milla- I love Snorkelling

I went snorcling with my family in the grate baria reef.  My sister got blud on her foot cos she scrapt in on the coril.

On the wite sand island I helped my mum clean her rings.

Maisie-I Will Miss The Beach

Did you know that Captain Cook thought he discovered the Whitsundays on a Sunday but he actually   discovered them on a Monday. That's a pretty cool fact but it's not as cool as what I'm about to tell you. Yesterday we visited Whitehaven Beach the no.1 beach in Australia. The sand was 98% quartz as the beach was formed by a volcanic eruption thousands of years ago. The sand was so white it reflected heat so your feet didn't get hot! The water was so clear and I even saw a little striped fish. It was very relaxing.

Next we went to Hamilton Island and had a scrumptious lunch at the Marina Tavern. I loved how everyone drove around in buggies instead of cars. The bus took a long time.

We swam in a resort pool and that was quite refreshing. I was sad when we had to go back on the boat and would have liked to stay for longer. Here is a cool picture of me outside a French shop that dad took while we were waiting for the bus.