Penguins with Good Company

Monday July 6, 2009

The title of my day sounds like a good movie or book title doesn’t it? I had such a great time today. It felt like I was really hanging out with my real family back in the states. David and Heather are such awesome people and really made me feel at home. They were funny and kind and teased each other and were just great.

I slept in till 8, ate breakfast and did some reading. I am almost done with the book. I think I need like 2 more hours and then I will have it finished.

David came to the door at 9:30ish and we were off on our excursion. David and Heather’s daughter Joanne came with us. It was good to hang out with a younger girl today as well! We stopped in Lang Lang for some Vanilla Slice and it was really good. Its nothing like what I had before. This Vanilla Slice tasted like vanilla and was creamy custardy. I am glad we stopped there. We then drove through some hills and farming communities. My brain started to slow down and relax. We stopped a few times to take pictures. One of such places was the Chocolate Factory. We didn’t do the tour, but there were some penguins made out of chocolate that I took a picture of!

For lunch we ate at a burger shop. I had the Colossal burger that had everything a normal burger has, including avocado. I had to take a picture of David’s burger because it had beet root in it. That’s a more Australian thing to have on your burger. We walked the Jetty (also known as a pier) then got in the car to drive to the Grand Pri where there are motorcycle and car races. It was an interesting track, but I think I would enjoy the Footy more than the motorcycle sport!

We traveled on to where the penguin parade was. It cost $20 something to actually watch the penguin parade, but it only cost $4 to get into the museum part, and personally, I didn’t think the museum was worth $4. There were a bunch of stuffed penguins everywhere. I did get a picture of a penguin in its burrow, but that was about it. There were two gift shops and a café. We spent about 25 minutes there then left to go to the Nobbies Center. We looked at the mini information center then walked around outside where we saw the two nobbies and got some close encounters with some penguins—all for free! The walk was very cold, but the scenery was great! The company was even better. We stopped inside for a hot drink (a cuppa) and then a wonder through the gift store.

On the way home we stopped at a huge koala and a surf wave to take a picture. We came home and went to David and Heather's house. I have never been at their house before. I met their cocker spaniel dog who was so scared of me! He would look interested in me, come up to me, then run back. He was a funny dog! Soon enough, he became more used to me and once I started petting him, he didn’t want me to stop. Their house is decorated with these really cool paint splatter art. I have tried paint splatter art before, but it has never turned out so good. David and Heather’s son made the pictures for an art project, and I just thought they were so neat!

For dinner we had pizza, and I was craving pizza! I then showed them pictures on my blog. They found it very humorous to see things that I had taken pictures of things that they live with on a daily basis, that they never thought were out of the ordinary or unique. As I was preparing to leave their house Heather told me that “ You must be ready to flake out.” I have no idea what that meant. The first thought that popped into my head was that I needed to go do some pealing of my skin – skin flake or something like that or flick myself in the head. I had no idea! Flake out meant to collapse or fall asleep fast or crash because of exhaustion. So are you ready to flake? I am about to flake right now after such a long day of touring! That sounds so funny! Read that out loud: “I am about to flake out right now.” It made for a good laugh!

I was brought home about 9:00. After talking for a little while with Jeff and Rosemary, I worked on my pictures. I got some good ones and can’t wait to share them with you. I know this week is going to go by fast, but that will be ok with me. I am excited to be home again.