Dream World

on the second day of Gold Coast, we went to a theme park called Dream World.

there, i could make one of my dreams coming true.

i finally took a picture cuddling a koala.

if i don't take a picture with a koala, i coundn't say that i came to australia so i was very happy.

after making my dream come true, we walked around to go on rides.

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on the park, there was a part where we could see and touch animals.

it was like a very small zoo.

there, i saw baby chicks(not girls, actual birds) and fawns. they were very cute.

we also saw very big tigers. tigers were very clever in jumping and climbing trees.

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then, we went to crazy rides in the park.

i was very scared to ride on a ride which was like a viking, but we were not on a boat. we were exposed to the air. (this one in the picture→)

i thought that i would fall down and i was very scared. but i had fun on that one.

the next one, i felt sick...i knew that i felt sick on rides that turns around but i thought i could try that one. that was a big mistake. i really felt bad after getting on that ride and couldn't even go to the one i was looking forward to.

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we also went to the splash mountain but we didn't expect to get so wet. the splash mountain here is like a shower! so we got very wet. it was very funny coz many people went on the ride with their bikinis or swim pants.

after getting on the splash mountain, the weather became cold so our clothes wouldn't dry. we were lucky not getting cold.

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in spite of feeling sick, i had so much fun that day.

before we went to the backpackers that we were going to stay that night, we decided to buy something to takuji. he is studying in south africa now.

we bought 4 bands and kept one each and sent one to south africa.

the money that we bought the bands will go to a charity to save tigers.

i hope he liked it.

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when we arrived at the accomodation, since it was easter, the girl of the front was wearing a bunny ear and a bunny tail. so we decided to call her bunny in japanese.

we called her bunny till we left the backpacker and we even will call her bunny when we talk about her later. actually she's from canada and her name is Veronica.

hApPy EaStEr BrEaK

today i'd like to talk about the trip i made to gold coast.
On the 15th of April, i took a plane and flew to gold coast where my friends ayumi and mai were waiting for me.
I was very excited coz i could meet my battle mates after a long time and i could go to themeparks and beaches to get out of the cold melbourne.
I was very sleepy because it was so early in the morning.
My plane departed at 7am, which means that i had to be in the airport at 6am, and it means that i had to leave home at 5am, which means that i had to wake up at 4am.

anyway, when i got in the airport of Coolangatta in gold coast, a there was a problem.
my suit case was broken for the second time. i went to the JET Star airways counter and claimed on my broken baggage and they gave me a ticket to get a new one when i get back to melbourne. i was kinda lucky coz i got a new suit case.

after that, i went to Surfer's Paradise by bus where Ayumi and Mai was supposed to be waiting for me. When i arrived there, they were on their way to the Bus Station where i was waiting for them. When we found each other, i was nervous and happy at the same time. i was still a bit nervous on our way to the beach because we met after such a long time but soon we could get used to each other coz non of us had changed. i wonder how nervous i would be when meeting the other friends in japan or who are studying abroad...

it was a very hot sunny day. I had fun in talking with them and swimming. I got a sunburn in the first day and my face was very black!! poor ayumi and mai who got their back burnt and it got very very RED.←this red.

at that night, we went to Ayumi's homestay house and cooked dinner to her hostmother.
We decided to cook Okonomiyaki and Inari zushi.
We had so much fun in making dinner. It was like a cooking lesson.
The Okonomiyaki went very well but the Sushi was not good...the rice was to wet. But that was OK coz everybody ate it(sorry for making you guys eat such sushi...)

before we went to sleep, we planed for the next day.
we decided to go to a theme park called Dreamland.
however, there were no connecting bus to go to Dreamland. We had to wake up very early or wait at the bus stop for one hour!!
So we decided to call a taxi and searched for the taxi number on the internet.
The taxi company homepage was very funny. They played a weird song very loud and we laughed all the time. It was very funny.

The next day, we went to Dreamland. I'll talk about it later.

Formula 1 Grand Prix 2006

in the 1st and 2nd of april, i went to see the F1 in melbourne. i always watched it on tv and never thought i was able to go and watch it directly.
at first, i was thinking about buying a ticket. it was 68 dollars. it's expensive but i thought it worth it. however, i didn't have to buy it. my hostfather is a tour guide, and he was doing the tour guide for the F1. so he let me use the pass to get in the circuit for free. i am so lucky! i could watch 2 days of F1 for free.
it was very exciting. the cars ran so fast that it was very difficult to get a photo of it.
and the cars were very noisy. i thought my ears would explode. but it was exciting and fun. i was very happy in watching the F1 in spite of the crash in the Ferrari car.
it was an exciting race because many cars crashed. one of the cars got fire right in front of where i was. the race ended up in Renaul's pilot winning, the second was Kimi Raikonen from Mercedes and Raul Shumacher from Toyota. I wanted Felipe Massa from Ferrari to win but he crashed in the first lap lol
after the race finished, everyone could walk in the circuit so i went there and took pictures. in the end of the day, i was very tired but i had a good time in both days of F1. it was a rare and great experience in my life to go see the F1.

bEaCh Ⅱ

today I went to the beach again. but today i went to a cleaner beach. this is the 3rd time that i go to the beach here in australia. this time, i went to a place called Frankston. It's the final stop of the train line. It was a hot day and not much people were there because it's wednesday. i don't have classes on wednesday so i went with friends who don't have class on wednesday too.
we thought it was gonna be a long way but we actually could get there in about 1 hour. we could go further but one of my friends had to come back early so we decided to stay there. it was a very calm nice beach. the water was so clean. it was like a pool. but since we got there still in the morning, it was that hot so we felt that the water was cold. neway, we waited till it gets hotter to go swim. i felt very good because the weather was so nice and i was very sleepy with the warm temperature and the sand.
after lying down a while, we played with the sand and then finally i decide to go swim. the water was still a bit cold but it was ok. after that we took pictures like tourists.(we actually live here)
i took a picture of my own shadow. and then,since we were hungry and it was lunch time, we decided to have lunch. i ordered fish burger with chips. i thought it was a bit expensive coz it was 10 dollars with a drink. but when the burger came out, i thought it was huge. i think i'll get fat again soon...ne way, after that, we looked around a big bayside shopping mall. i really couldn't buy nething coz i didn't have money but it was fun walking around and talking in the shopping mall.
after that, we had to come home. everyone slept on the train coz we were tired. i didn't get a suntan but that's ok. i might get some next month coz i'm going to goldcoast to see my friends.

the Commonwealth Games Opening Ceremony

yesterday, i went to see the opening ceremony of the Commowealth games in Melbourne from the Yarra river. The Commonwealth games is like an olympic games but only countries which belong to the commonwealth nation.
The countries that were or still are colonized by Britain.
I am so lucky to be here in Melbourne this year because the games will be here and that's a very rare thing to happen.and even more luckily, my hostfamily has a ticket to the athletics so i can go see it!!! i'm very lucky!

anyway, i couldn't get a ticket for the opening ceremony in the arena because it was tooooooo expensive!!! the cheapest one costed ＄420!!!!
Scott and his little students would say HOLY COW!!! for this price lol
so I decided to watch from the Yarra river. Yarra river is like a Yodogawa in japan. i heard that there will be fireworks so i wanted to go.

when we arrived at the Fliders st. station, there were full of people. Flinders st. is like the Osaka station in the loop line. there is where yarra river is.
when i saw all the people there and the helicopter flying around and the big screen, i got very excited. the view of the city was beautiful because of the sunset and even after dark because of the illumination.

at 20:30, the expected show began. it was very exciting when it began with the count down. and i could see the queen Elizabeth on the screen. a boy speaked to her the people in the arena sang Happy Birthday to the queen Elizabeth. when they had to say her name in the song, they said "dear Majesty" she was very cool and really looked like a queen. I liked her attitude lol

during the show, the baton came from a boat on the river, and was carried to the arena by many Aussie footy players. i could see it closely.
and a part of the ceremony was on the river. so i think that watching it from the river worth the same as watching in the arena. there were fireworks from everywhere!!! from the fish sculptures on the river and even from the buildings. it was very beautiful and exciting!!!! i had a great time watching the fireworks. but again, i remembered about the people that i miss a lot and wish they were with me watching it. I have to stop that habit and forget about them!!!lol
joking joking♪

Great Ocean Road

hi! today I went to a place in Victoria called the Great Ocean Road. It was a tour from the uni. it was just 5 dollars!!! isn't it amazing?? i can go on a trip to such a famous and good place with transportation and snacks and sweets with just 5 dollars. that's so cheap. Swinburne International rocks lol



neway, i was afraid of the unpredictable weather of melbourne coz 7:30 in the morning, which was the time to go was cold and cloudy. but as soon as it got later, the sun began to shine.
as the bus went on, gradually we went out of the city and got on a road with nothing in both sides. australia has nothing out of the city lol
nothing but sheeps and cows. then, i remembered the song of Canada which Scott taught us. i miss scott...

neway, most of the day we spent in the bus coz it was so far away from the city. we had lunch in a place called Apollo Bay. i really wanted to swim there but there were no time. we could only eat and take pictures. but i had a good time there coz it was hot but the wind was cool. and i felt very good just putting my feet into the water.



after that, we went to the main ivent. the Great Ocean Road. have you heard about the place? it's a famous place in Victoria. I really wanted to go there because i've seen in guide books and the pictures were beautiful.
when i got there, i was very impressed with the beautiful view.
at the same time, i missed the people that i left in japan and the people who are spread around the world. i wanted to be there with them.
one day, i hope we all can go somewhere together.
so i was happy and sad at the same time.

then, our trip was finished. i was so tired that i slept half of the way home.
i wanna go there again but with more time.

tHe bEaCh...

hi. on Monday, i had class only in the morning so i went to the closest beach to my uni. it wasn't a clean beach. and it wasn't big either so i was a little upset. and the weather was sunny, but the wind was cold so we couldn't swim. i could only put my legs into the water.
at first, we had pizza and potatoes. the potatoes were very thick!! i've never seen such huge potatoes. then, since it was a bit cold, we decided to play with sand. we were like little kids lol first we played bury each other in the sand. the sand was heavier than i expected. we also mad a sandcasttle. we did a good job. instead of making a European style casstle, we made a Japanese style casttle. we consider it our Osaka casstle. the beach was in a place about 1 hour from our uni, but i think we had fun. except the cold wind.