Life in Melbourne, Australia: Yes... I AM Back!

Hello!

(I'm going to have to make that a self- portrait some day, don't you think?) Yes, I just got back from Sydney a few hours ago. I'll basically tell you how the whole journey went.
First we went to this little cabin in a place called Mallacouta (is that how it's spelled?). We stayed there for two days and then drove on to Sydney, where we basically stayed there the rest of the time.
Now, onto details.
On the way to Mallacouta we stopped at this tiny island which was literally 200- 300 meters away from the mainland (it was separated by the ocean and we had to take a ferry). I think it was famous for koalas or something because Mom was going like "We have to find a koala, we HAVE to find a koala!".
We did after a few minutes, but I couldn't take any pictures because he/ she was high up in a tree and the zoom on my ipod sucks. So. We drove on a bit more (and we saw a kookaburra, but before we could take pictures it flew away because some guy with a giant truck drove past) to the beach. There we stopped to have lunch, where a giant crow (have I ever said the crows are huge here? They are so scary!) watched us for food. I don't have a picture, since I didn't have my ipod then (but don't worry, there will not be a shortage of pictures, there will be more than thirty of them!). When we finished that we got up and went for a little hike. I saw lorikeets (I think some Galahs too), and we also found another section of beach, which I liked better because of this:

I rather loved the pebbles on the beach, and took a few pictures before I got it right, but this might be my favorite picture of all the trip. Just because I really like it.
So anyways, after that we went back to the car, but right before we go in somebody says "Look! Black swans!".
So we run back to the beach and there they are. We had seen some earlier at the port, but it was really calm there. But there, on the waves in front of the beach it was really choppy, and they're just floating there. I promise you, I DID try to take a picture, but even with zoom they'd have been unnoticeable.
So we finally piled into the car, ready to drive all the way to the cabin, when Mom declares that she hasn't seen enough koalas and makes us take a different route back to the port. I guess it was a good choice because we saw literally five of them. Four of which I couldn't take pictures of, but this one (look down, technical difficulties)... Was literally just a few feet above our heads, so I managed (also, this is continued from yesterday because I had to go to bed). Then we went back off the island and went to the cabin. Probably the most exciting thing that happened around the cabin was that there were these kookaburras that, well... "laughed" every night. It was so freaky! They sounded like a mad dude was in the camp. But anyways. When we weren't in the camp the first day we went to this mountain called Genoa Peak and climbed it. It was really annoying because there were tons of mosquitoes there and if you stood still you'd have to like swat them all away. Unfortunately for me, I got ahead of everyone a lot so I had to stop and wait for them. Especially on the way down. I'll show you some pictures:

I took pictures of all the different kinds of flowers that I saw. At least all the ones that I COULD photograph.
This picture is an ocean view from almost the way top. The rest was basically all forest. It's a big forest.
Then after that (we really only basically stayed there one day) we went to this beach side town called Eden. There we heard about their whale- watching and I found this guy:

This is Jimmy, and he is my sulphur- crested cockatoo!
Dad said that there were a lot of cockatoos in Sydney, we had seen a field full of them driving there, and anyways, he's SO CUTE! I love him. And look at him with his buddies:

So cute! The crow (or raven, not sure) is named Claw, and the eagle is named Baldy. It is really funny because all of them were each purchased exactly two years apart: Claw I bought in the Grand Canyon in 2008 as a souvenir of all the crows/ ravens were flying around, Baldy I bought in 2010 at Snowmass (a skiing resort) because I just couldn't resist, and of course Jimmy was bought right now, in 2012! What a coincidence! And take a look:

What you are taking a look at is their wingspans- each is longer than the other! You can barely tell with Claw and Baldy, but Jimmy's wings are noticeably longer! It is hilarious.
Moving on: so the next day we go back to Eden again to see if we can go whale- watching... in the end we couldn't because there was too much wind and it was a bit too tumultuous out at sea. So we leave Eden and go and drive to Sydney.
Sydney was awesome. I got to see the Opera House, the Sydney Harbor Bridge, the Botanic Gardens, and The Rocks! Pictures:

(I'll tell you how I took these pictures later)

The bridge is that way!

Okay, that's better.

Last glimpse of both bridge and Opera House! My parents lived in Sydney for eight months in (1998 or 1999?) and to get this view all they had to do was walk a bit down the street. Yeah! Seriously! They showed us their old house and everything!
Um, yeah. I also had a tour inside the Opera House, which was epic!

Here is my souvenir. Yes, it is a bookmark. Yes, it is gold- plated. I am never going to use it (I always manage to lose my best bookmarks...)... it will be eternally on my souvenir shelf- which suits it just fine!
Anyways... The Rocks is this place where there is a market where a whole bunch of things are sold. Mom found the exact place where she had bought some special plates we have, and we also met the artist that painted a little jug with a family of cats on it. There I also found one of my favorite things in the world: fossils! I couldn't help it:

These are two ammonite halves. I've always wanted a thing like this. I remember the last time I want to Grandma's house... she has some fossilized bugs like this one, and I asked her where she got them. I forgot where it was, but it definitely wasn't somewhere I could go to anytime soon.

Anyways, I do have a bit of an obsession with what I call "rocks". I have a geode, peacock ore, normal ore, tiger eye, mica, fake gold, etc. I do love my rocks.
I also discovered these beautiful aboriginal- style drawings, my favorite being a peacock. I would've liked to draw something like that.
Anyways, you want to know how I took those pictures of the Opera House? I went whale- watching! It was really awesome, but I couldn't take pictures because, as you know, zoom sucks on ipods. We saw a mother with her calf... the calf was named "Jackie W." and the mom was called "Emily W.". And I could tell which was which! It was totally awesome, and I loved it. The ocean was a beautiful color:

It looks a bit more blue in the picture than it actually was, but you get the idea. It was beautiful!

And wholy pink jeep limo (we saw this on the way back)!

This is a sitting horse fail that I did on the way back- I had no reference and I got it all wrong!

I know you can't see this very well, but this is a drawing of this mold (on the left):
I didn't have a reference for that either, so I think I did pretty well for out of memory.
And boy, that horse's coloring is stunning (now I'm going to want to draw it like the other two billion pictures I have lined up)!
And the last drawing of the day:

This was actually drawn a few years ago, and given to my sister for Christmas. Imagine how mad I got when I found it under a car wheel, just abandoned. It's mine now. And a lesson to whoever wants to give something to Cat or Monkey: never give them something you care about. Ever. Something similar actually happened to my friend: she gave my sisters a drawing she really cared about and a few days later I had to save it from being thrown into the trash can. Anyways, my reference picture: