Shanghai Here I Come

Not long now until I head off to China. I am pretty excited; it has been pretty boring here at the moment. My last trip was camping at Easter. Big changes since I last mentioned China, the education department have knocked back schools taking two teachers so Leigh got the flick. 

Whilst I went 2 years ago, I’m sure lots has changed. In fact, I am hoping that we go up the new Shanghai tower. It’s the second biggest building in the world and has the highest observation deck. Shane’s looking forward to going on the Maglev train and actually going 431kmph. Last time we missed the last one and had to settle for 300kmph, Shane wasn’t happy. There are a few teachers in the same boat so they will be making sure they make that 431 train. 

I think there will be a lot of meals at Yangs Dumpling house which is just near our accommodation in Peoples Square. The kids seem to like breakfasts the most as they have a few more familiar things for them to have. 

Another difference this time is that airline. We are flying Air China, which has caused a bit of unrest amongst the travellers because you can only take 1 suitcase. Thank god Milana is there otherwise I might get tossed in the bin as Shane purchased a lot of junk last time. 

Well I can’t wait.

I'm Off To China Again

Well I can finally announce my exciting news.  I’m off to China again next year. Milana has got confirmation that she has been selected to go to China as a representative of her school as part of Bendigo’s Overseas Learning Experience (OSLE). She is super excited about the trip, although thinks it is too long until departure time. So we are heading off in June next year and not only is Milana going, but Shane is going as a teacher from his school, although Milana is worried he might cramp her style! What’s even scarier is that Shane’s friend Leigh is also going. Who is the brainiac that let those two go to China together. Lets hope that Leigh isn’t in charge of directions. 

This is the same trip that I went on with Shane last year. We spent a few days in Shanghai, which was an amazing place and a few days visiting sister schools in Suzhou. Suzhou is around 100kms North-West of Shanghai.  More than 60% of its area is actually water and it is nicknamed Venice of the East. 

Only 181 days until we go!

 

Some Exciting News Coming Soon.

Oh I have some exciting news coming. I'm going overseas again next year. Whilst I've been to this place before, I'm looking forward to it even more this time because some extra special people are coming along for the trip this time. You might get a clue where I'm going from the picture. 😀✈️. 

Magnificent Phillip Island

Phillip Island is a fantastic place and we love going there. We had a good run down to the Island, sometimes you can get stuck in traffic and it can be a bit of a drag, but I love it when we go over the bridge at San Remo, it makes the trip worthwhile.

It’s the first time we’ve been down there for a while when it’s been holiday time and you can notice difference, there was a lot more people around. People looked at me funny as Sebastian like taking me around to see the sights. 

When we arrived it was just before it was pelican feeding time at San Remo. I had to make sure Sebastian held on tight because I was worried one of them would mistake me for their lunch. We also saw a huge stingray under the jetties. 

We headed down to the Nobbies for some beautiful views of the rugged coastline and the blowhole was pumping out some great sprays. We even saw a few penguins that were sheltering in their boxes. We also did some rockpooling around the rocks at Surf Beach and Sunderland Bay. The sun was shining and it was hard to keep Sebastian out of the water.

Another first this trip was walking to the shipwreck near Kitty Miller Bay. SS Speck was sailing from Peru to Sydney in 1906 when it hit the rocks. Not much is left but it is a great little walk.

We went on a cruise to Seal Rocks. This was the first for all of us. Even though the Captain said it was a calm day, you really noticed the rolling waves once you hit Bass Straight. There are over 30000 fur seals out on the rocks. The inquisitive ones love to come up to the boat for a closer look. Kylie liked this because she got a few close up pictures. The only bad part was the smell when you got to the rocks, but you soon got used to it. The whole trip took 2 hours. Check out the Seal Rock Cruise website. www.wildlifecoastcruises.com.au

As usual I got dragged around to lots of coffee shops, including the Silverleaves General Store and of course Mad Cowes (our favourite breakfast haunt) www.madcowescafe.com.au We went to Café Blue Bamboo. They had the biggest coffees we had ever seen. 

It was another great trip, wish we could have stayed longer.

A Visitor From New Zealand.

New  Zealand has lots of mountains. New Zealand is very close to Australia. New Zealand has volcanoes, it has earthquakes too. New Zealand has a sky tower in the city called Auckland. New Zealand like's cricket and rugby. In New Zealand there is a mountain higher than the clouds. In New Zealand they do wood carving. My mum and dad have been to New Zealand before. My mum and dad have seen wood carving in New Zealand before. The sky tower is 328 m tall.

The Peak

Sebastian says:

Today I went to the Peak. We had to take a tram up there. There was very good view up there. It's so  big and it is so steep. We could see lots of tall buildings below, birds and Eagles in the sky and th the harbour. Then we went back home and had a good day shopping.

Boris says:

The Peak is so steep that when you come down, you have to sit backwards so that you don't fall out of your seat! The steepest point is 27 degrees... The average gradient of Mount Alp d'Huez, the famous climb in the Tour d'France is just 8 degrees. 

In the olden days, they used to carry people up in carriages on poles that men lifted. Imagine that! We got lucky today with a clear day. Often The Peak is lost in the clouds and you cannot see that far. 

London to Dubai to Hong Kong

Today we took  two planes one to Duabi and one to Hong Kong. Hong Kong is very busy. Milana and I had a good experience. It is very colourful when it's dark. We went to MacDonald's for dinner. I felt very sick on the plane. I did a lot of stuff on the plane.