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Hybrid Thoughts

2/26/2006

New Year's Juggler

I'm back home. Over my jet lag (took 15 hours of sleep to get over it) and done reading all the emails I missed. One of them was a helpful message posted on my blog when I asked how to post videos to a blog. So here's my attempt to post the New Year Juggler juggling jello shooters. And yes, he's trying to pick it up with his foot at the end.

Create your own video at One True Media

2/22/2006

Last Post from Down Under

In 24 hours I'll be on a plane heading to one continent and then another. The following day I'll catch a plane to the fourth continent in two days and my final destination. In between I plan to meet a fellow blogger whom I only know from the blog world. That's if he ever reads my email and answers it... [addendum: received an email while typing this blog. It's a date!]

This is the last vacation for me and my husband for a long time to come. We spent quite a bit of money on this trip-of-a-lifetime (and a lot of it on gifts). We don't regret the expenses, but we are definitely going to have to keep our jobs for a while longer.

I'm sad for many reasons. I'm not excited about returning back to work, particularly about seeing some people. I'm not excited about returning to the cold and freezing winter. I'm not excited to return to my messy home. I'm not happy about leaving this wonderful country.

I'll be back, Australia. Take care of your precious animals and wonderful people.

Sydney, Australia Wednesday, 11:58pm, Feb. 22, 2006.

The menu at an Australian restaurant

Slightly blurry due to flash, but if you click on the image you can get it enlarged and view the details.

2/21/2006

Seen on the road in Australia

The side of this van was painted all over with the Flintstones! I wish I had taken a photo of it from the side, but check out the website to get an idea about these vans.


2/20/2006

Been there, done that

The trip of a lifetime is rapidly coming to an end. We only have two and a half more days in Australia before flying back home. This vacation has been absolutely fantastic and I would strongly recommend this to anyone who can afford the time and money to come to Australia.

We've been to Sydney, Blue Mountains, Nowra, Uluru (Ayers Rock), Melbourne, Phillip Island, Great Ocean Road and Canberra. Sydney wins hands down as most favourite city in the world. Uluru wins hands down as most beautiful natural place to visit. (Keep in mind I LOVE rocks!!!).

Favourite animal - the koala wins hands down, with the Fairy Penguins



Platypus and Parrots coming in close behind.

Favourite Australians - my family ! (duh)

"Favourite" cellphone company - sore subject, to be mentioned in future.

Favourite meal in Australia - veal schnitzel and waygu meat hamburger (delicious!).

Best hotel/B&B we spent a night - Uluru.

Recommended public bathrooms to visit - Queen Victoria Building in Sydney.

# of photos taken so far - 2000+.

Worst mistake we've done on vacation (ever) - no, it wasn't the two times driving on the right, but the stupid decision NOT to cover ourselves entirely in 30+SPF suntan lotion in the Australian sun. We paid dearly for it.

Are we ready to get back home - absolutely NOT. I cannot stand the thought of returning back to my workplace nor co-workers. I would have loved to just stay here. Forever. Find a job here. Start a new life. Again. It's time for a change.

Mybrid [Sydney, Australia 11pm]

2/12/2006

I'm madly in love!

How can I not be with this adorable creature...

Meet Henry, a two-year old Koala and the most adorable thing on earth! And yes, I got to pet Benjo and Dorothea who were next to him. This has been a fantastic vacation so far, and it only starts TODAY! Flying out to Uluru in three hours (it's Monday morning here).

2/08/2006

Marsupials and Dragons

So apparently Koalas sleep 23 hours of the day and eat the rest of the time. I didn't get to hug the cute marsupial, but I did get a photo with a snoozing one and a hungry one. Thank dog, it didn't cr@p on me like it did on the tourist in front of me.

I got plenty of photos of Kangaroos, but failed to get good photos of the nucturnal creatures, since they were high on caffeine and constantly moving. Damn platypus wouldn't float still for the ten second night-time shot in my camera. Whatever caffeine they gave the nucturnal animals, they drained from the koalas, kangaroos, chimpanzees, and komodo dragon. Those were sitting in place like statues and refused to cooperate with tourists carrying video cameras.

I fell in love with the Komodo Dragon. Would LOVE to raise one in my backyard. Though I suspect the neighbours won't appreciate it.

There was a wonderful exhibit of birds - noisy and large. I thought about CultureShock and his post about fear of birds. I may have to email him some of my photos from this exhibit. I considered calling him just so he could hear the wonderful "screams" of these birds. But the 16 hour difference wasn't in my favour.

Odd thing about this zoo is that it seems to be a gathering place for all the misfits of nature. We saw so many amputated, scarred, injured animals that it was as much comical as it was tragic ("and over there you'll see the fishing cat who lost his leg"..."and the fiberglass cover on the turtle will fall off when he heals"..."and the lizard lost its tail in an accident"..."and a lawn mower got the scales off this lizard."). Apparently, this zoo accepts all injured animals and nurses them to health. In the meantime, they show them to tourists and let the tourists touch them and feel these poor injured creatures.

But overall this zoo was absolutely fantastic and definitely tops all zoos I've been to in my life (about a dozen).

Tomorrow we head out to the Blue Mountains for some time away from the city. It's 11pm here, I better catch some sleep.

2/06/2006

G'day Mate

London was awesome, Australia is even better! There's only one slight problem - these people drive on the wrong side of the road. One would expect it to be fairly simple to get used to look to the right first before crossing the street, but unfortunately, this has become quite a task with one way streets where you actually have to look to the left first. Very confusing. But someone was brilliant enough to mark the road with "Look Right" and "Look Left" at every crossing.

I expected very hot weather in Australia after hearing of New Year's temperatures which were up in the 45 (celsius that is!). But I landed into freezing 25 celsius and had to borrow my relative's coat to stay warm. It's finally warmed up a bit yesterday when my husband arrived, and I enjoyed a t-shirt day.

We had our first Australian Excursion to the Sydney Tower, where we had spectacular views of Sydney from above. Today I get to fullfill my wish - I get to hug a Koala bear at Taronga Zoo. After that, I can go home happily ever after. So far I'm up to 512 photos. But I'll save it all until I return.

It's 7am (Feb. 7) and we're on vacation, so it's time to hit the road and stop wasting our time inside the house.

P.S. Had a wonderful birthday party with my rellies in Sydney. Got an Emu Egg and awesome photos of Australia to hang at home. I hope I manage not to break these on the way back to the U.S.

2/03/2006

Happy Birthday Mybrid!!!!!

All together now:

Happy birthday to you!
Happy birthday to you!
Happy birthday, dear Mybrid!
Happy birthday to you!
And many more!!!!!!!!!

We all pitched in and got you this for your birthday:



Enjoy!