Animal lovers: Vegetarianism and Cubbing.

This is our British wildlife. Why do we want to destroy it?

I'm sure it's no secret that the vegetarian/vegan movement is gaining momentum. I stayed out of it; I'm a fussy eater and I've tried going vegetarian before with little success, but I sympathise with the cause. I'm an animal lover, and although I'm not against human beings eating meat as a species (we're not herbivores), I am really against the farming industry as it currently stands. I'm not talking about independent, family run free range farms, who look after their animals and slaughter as humanely as possible. I'm talking about the market driven factory farms.
I'd like to point out that it's not the industry that's to blame for farming as it currently stands; it's us. We demand cheap meat and animal produce in such vast quantities that the only way to keep up is to factory farm. Let me make this clear: If the demand stops, so does the supply. Despite that, however, the industry are the ones with the power, and if they'd do away with their own greed, that would be a step in the right direction as well.

This brings me onto my main issue: Fox hunting. Today, I found a casual advert for a children's pony. It stated that this little pony would be a great first hunter for a child or teenager, and it was ready for cubbing now.

If you don't know what cubbing is, let me take a minute to explain. Cubbing takes place at the end of summer, through the beginning of autumn, before the main hunting season begins. It's used as a period to train young hounds to hunt, catch and kill. The target is fox cubs.


This is Danny. I loan him. We're against Fox Hunting.

Picture this: An experienced, mature hound, chasing a cunning, mature fox. The hound knows how to kill quickly and cleanly (even if it doesn't) and the fox knows how to evade capture and hide (even if it can't always do so). This is a normal hunt; sometimes the fox gets away. Sometimes the kill is quick and clean.
Now think about this: An excitable, young hound with no idea what he's doing except following a great scent to a frightened and confused baby fox. The kit is chased away from its mother, its sett and its litter. It doesn't know how to hide; it's never seen a dog in its life. All the dog knows is it's prey. This might be the first fox it's ever hunted, and that baby will get caught and that kill will not be clean. This is cubbing and it's wrong.

We eat meat because it sustains us and we're an omnivorous species. Eating meat serves a purpose, even if it's not strictly speaking necessary. Why do we hunt foxes? For sport. For pleasure. For fun. Tell me that's okay, or justifiable. Give me a good reason for this practise to continue.

I've been at war with myself today; as I mentioned above, I've tried to go vegetarian before, but I've found it difficult. Well I'm going to try again, not because I think one person will make a difference, but because I'm an animal lover, and if fox hunting is wrong, so is the cheap meat industry. I might not be a very good vegetarian; I might still eat fish and I might struggle not to eat meat. But I am against animal cruelty and that means I'll buy free range everything and dolphin friendly, line caught fish. I'll boycott the battery farm industry because I can't in good conscience use eggs from caged hens.

Animal cruelty has to stop being a thing. This goes for all the big game sport, and the pleasure hunts that happen in Africa. This goes for sport fishing, where you catch the biggest fish you can find and compete, and let it suffocate while you celebrate and brag to your friends. This goes for factory farming, where terrified animals are herded into the slaughter house, their senses assaulted by the sound and smell of their herd's blood and panic. This goes for battery hens, and baby cows and pigs who are ripped away from their mothers at barely an hour old and last of all, this goes for fox hunting.

I can't call myself an animal lover and yet turn a blind eye to these practises. This is my pledge to try and make it stop. Please help.

Emma.

Australia

There is so much I want to say about Australia, and sitting here in the airport, waiting to leave, I am genuinely trying hard not to cry.

I feel like I am part of this country now, and I'm leaving before I'm ready. I have had such an incredible time (keep your eyes peeled for my last blog post which I forgot to upload, concerning my last trip to Queensland) and I have spent seven amazing months with wonderful people. 

Since I've been here, a lot of things have changed back home, and I'm anxious to get back and work out what I'm going to do with my life, but looking out the window at this great big Australian sky, there's nowhere I'd rather be. The feeling of Australia, as many travellers will tell you, is contagious. There are so many beautiful things and fantastic people and amazing places that even after seven months, I feel like I haven't done enough.

The past few weeks, since I've somewhat run out of money, I haven't been doing more than hanging out with my favourite people (and horses), but even that has left me content and happy. Leaving here is breaking my heart.

From here, I'll be travelling to Singapore, and will undoubtedly have a wonderful couple of weeks seeing the sights with Tom, so for that reason, I am staying positive. I am also looking forward to getting home to my family - seven months is a long time!

Still, it was so hard saying goodbye to Courtney and her gorgeous dog, Diesel, my lovely friend Lauren, and of course, my aunt and uncle, who have put up with me all this time. On top of that, Thursday was my last day riding, which meant I had to say a difficult goodbye to my wonderful riding teacher, the lovely people I've been riding with, and last but definitely not least, the beautiful quarter horse, Bailey, who I have fallen completely in love with.

In a way, this was my hardest goodbye. Bailey and I spent several weeks working together, fixing each other's problems. She is an underworked, naughty young mare, and she spent at least half her time trying to buck me off. But she never had me off, and leaving her, knowing she's for sale for far too much money was a real worry for me. I'm not sure where she'll end up, and while I know I can always come back to my friends and family here, Bailey probably won't be around when I get back.

So, in short, although I'm excited for the adventures ahead of me, I'd still like to stay a little longer and spend some more time with the lovely friends I've made. I'm not ready to say goodbye.

Hello Autumn



Last day at St Kilda with Tom.

 

Hello Everyone,

Things have quietened down here, as my time in Australia is drawing to a close. I've been feeling a little down, and the weather is starting to feel the same. The temperature is dropping and we've had a bit of rain. It still looks beautiful here, and I think we'll be in for a very colourful autumn.

Since Tom went home to Singapore a few weeks ago, I haven't really been up to much, since I'm trying to preserve the rest of my money for when I join him there in a month or so. I've still been keeping pretty active though; I've been helping out at school, which means spending lots of time with my favourite Carpet Python, Boston, as well as all the wonderful kids.

I'm sure most of you have noticed the various cancer awareness campaigns flying around, one of which is The Great Shave. One of our kids, Scout, got involved and raised over $2000 dollars shaving all her beautiful blond hair off! She's a great kid, and also a great barista, considering she's only thirteen years old. I love spending time at school with all of the kids - I don't know how I'll cope when it's time to go home.

The rest of the time, I've just spent catching up with my great friend Courtney, who managed to hurt herself on Wednesday pretty badly. She's possibly torn a muscle, so she's been getting around on crutches. I've been helping her get around, feed the horses and the dogs, and make sure she's relaxing as well.

On Thursday, I went riding at Melton for the first time in a few months, which was great. I'm still sore today, but that just means I got a good workout! I rode a palomino pony called Bailey, and fell in love with her, even though she spent most of the ride bucking. She was a lovely horse, and I genuinely didn't feel afraid on her, even when I was half way round her neck! She didn't seem like she was trying to buck me off. Maybe she was just seeing what she could get away with, or maybe she was a bit sore, but either way, by the end of the ride, we had a good partnership. I'm looking forward to riding her again, anyway.

Lauren and I catching up
over Max Brenner

Last weekend, I caught up with my lovely Lauren, who I haven't seen since before Christmas, and we've got plans to spend some time together next week as well.

So, not much has been happening here, but I'm still enjoying myself, and mostly just looking forward to our trip to the Gold Coast in a couple of weeks. I'll be keeping busy until then, and I'll update everyone after that.

Thanks for reading my slightly boring update, and I hope you British folk have enjoyed your few days of sun.

Take care, all,

Em

Last day of Summer

Ever feel like you're being watched?

 

Somehow, we've got to the end of Australia's summer season. I can't believe I've been here for over four months now, and I've only got two left to go. February has gone by in a bit of a blur; I've been so busy this month. Before Christmas, I was usually up to something maybe three days in a week. Now, I look forward to just getting one day to sleep in.

This month has been most notable because Tom's been here, which has actually worked out great for both of us. Even though we drive each other crazy sometimes, we're also pretty likeminded, so we've made good travel partners. Most recently, we took a trip to Brisbane.

I was so happy to be back in Queensland! The heat hits you like trapped steam waiting outside the plane doors, and it's so much greener up there. Although Victoria possibly has more variety of wildlife, Queensland has a higher abundance. On the way back to the complex from the airport, we found some awesome looking orb spiders, and in the centre of Brisbane, we spotted a pair of gorgeous Curlews (a bird Tom and I have grown fond of) and tons of little water dragons running about the place. We also kept an eye on the river for Bull Sharks, since they're happy in rivers and creeks as well as the sea, but we didn't spot any.

I was in Brisbane for a couple of nights, and my main reason for going was, of course, Australia Zoo. Steve Irwin has been an idol of mine ever since I first watched The Crocodile Hunter. The man was incredible, and I was truly heart broken when he died. I'm a fierce defender of his, and of what he stood for, and I think the world is a little bit worse off without him. Because of this, I would have been so disappointed if I hadn't made it up to his beautiful zoo.

And it was beautiful. What a wonderful place! It's unlike any other zoo I've visited, and I've been to a lot of zoos. There is so much love and devotion to the animals there, and although it is of course somewhat commercial, it isn't over the top and the animals aren't treated like commodities. The enclosures are fantastic, and the bonds between keepers and animals are incredible.

Tom holding a baby Alligator and getting nicknamed Batman. Best day of his life.

The attention to detail in every corner of this zoo was amazing, and I really enjoyed the tributes to Steve, dotted around all over the place. Near the crocoseum, there were walls and walls of newspaper clippings, photographs and condolences from fans. Behind one glass cabinet, there were books laid out with heartfelt messages of sympathy, as well as bits and pieces from Steve's life. I pretty much had to walk away at this point, because it really was making me tearful.

On a slightly more positive note, there were also great sections dedicated to education; teaching visitors that predators like crocs and sharks aren't our enemies and we don't have to attack them the whole time.

The croc show itself was really great. I was excited to hear names that I recognised from back when Steve was still around; notably, Grahame, Aggro, Charlie and Murray. Murray was the croc we saw in action, and he was a rockstar out there.

Murray backing his keeper into a corner.

Although it was a bit short, it was everything I'd expected it to be; an awesome spectacle, with the crocs stealing the show, as it should be. However, we couldn't help thinking how amazing it would have been if Steve had been there, still doing what he loved to do.

That seemed to be the theme of the day; the place was incredible and the animals were truly wonderful, but we were just a little bit sad the whole way round. Then we found the Tigers.

Don't get me wrong, I loved the crocs; they are amazing animals and they're so beautiful and intelligent, but the tigers completely blew us away.

They had a beautiful enclosure; nice and big with plenty to entertain them, and we were told they rotated them, so they weren't all on display the whole time. When we arrived, the tiger on display was so chilled out, which was nice to see, since at Melbourne zoo, they spend their whole time hiding. Shortly after we got there, two keepers came into the enclosure, sat down and had a chat. Yep. Just sat there, in the tiger enclosure.

After chilling with the tiger for a while, they took her out. So basically, they walked over to her, put a leash on her and she walked out with them, chill as anything. Like an overgrown dog. Then they brought Kaitlyn in.

I think I fell in love with this girl before I even saw her. Kaitlyn gave birth to two tiger cubs six months ago, and the keepers told her that, because of the bond they've had with her ever since she arrived, they were able to take care of her throughout her entire pregnancy without once sedating her. We're talking about an apex predator here, one that most people would run as fast as they could away from her, and even when she was pregnant, territorial and moody, they never needed to put her to sleep.

Like the crocs, she put on a great show, but this was less of a predator vs prey spectacle. This was a big cat out with her friend, chasing him around because he had a carton of milk, not because he looked tasty. The only thing that let this show down was the people crowding around the glass and ruining my shots! I'll let the pictures speak for themselves, because really, there are no words to describe how fantastic the Tiger Show at Australia zoo was.

Kaitlyn and her keeper.

An awesome show of what Kaitlyn can do, slightly ruined by reflections on the glass.

Checking Kaitlyn over while she's distracted by milk.



Waiting for someone to throw her 'stick', the hoof of an antelope or deer.

During the show, they didn't bring the baby tigers out, but near the end, the keepers advised us to come back near the end of the day. We spent the next couple of hours revisiting some of our favourite areas, like the Kangaroo and Koala close encounter walk through, as well as making our way to the few enclosures we missed - the zoo was huge!

Then, at about 4pm, we came back and we weren't disappointed. These 'babies' were as big as my dog, but they were adorable. If I hadn't run out of room on my memory card, I'd have spent the rest of the day there, but I can at least share the photos I did get.

Playtime

Complete adoration.

Bad Kitty.

Playtime!

I don't know what more there is to say, except that I am one hundred per cent going back to Australia Zoo. What a wonderful experience it was. I know it's cheesy, but this place was filled with love and passion. The animals were comfortable, happy and well cared for. I didn't get the overcrowded vibe I find at most zoos, and I didn't feel like the animals were constantly being gawked at. It was relaxed, well organised and well managed, and absolutely worth the trip to Brisbane.

In a few weeks, Courtney and I are taking a trip to the Gold Coast, and I believe Australia Zoo is somewhere in between there and Brisbane, so I'm taking her back there. Any animal lover or Steve Irwin family should go, no doubt about it.

Even if it's just to see these little guys. Everywhere.

A tiny water dragon, just chillin'.

Brisbane was so awesome, and I can't wait to get back to Queensland. It's not Cairns, but it's still beautiful and well worth a visit. Until then, I'll enjoy the last few days of summer and look forward to March.

Take care and thanks for reading,

Em

Victoria on Fire

Guess where we've been?

Hey guys,

So a few weeks ago, I blogged about the fires during the 40 degree week. Well, they're back. It's been pretty tense in Victoria this weekend; on Sunday, we got fire warnings for Gisborne, and we could see the smoke out the back of the house. It was pretty scary, but we were prepared to jump in the car and go if needed, and we were expecting a wind change. Unfortunately, when it came, although it pushed the fire away from us, it stoked fires towards Riddells Creek and then Mickleham.

The Riddells Creek fire scorched most of the land along the freeway, so things are pretty black around here, but they got it under control sometime during the night. However, three days later, the Mickleham fire is still roaring across the state. The house toll has mounted to somewhere around fifty, now, but thankfully, as of yet, there are no lives lost.

Today, Melbourne and its suburbs have been veiled in an eerie blanket of smoke; the wind has died down and the haze has settled in all the valleys and dips, hovering over the city and its surrounding towns. It's weird, but it made for a pretty beautiful sunrise this morning on our way into school!

The dry heat was quite a contrast to the weather conditions in Sydney a few days ago. Tom, who's in Australia for a few weeks from Singapore, and I took a quick trip to the tourist capital of NSW for three nights, and we had a really great time. We really just wanted to see the sights, so although we would have liked to stay longer, three days was pretty good.

We arrived midday Monday, and the weather was beautiful. We checked into our hotel, which was a bit of a hidden gem considering the price; it was a basic, but comfortable room at a great price, and the staff were really helpful. We got hold of a map, and they showed us the best ways to get around, suggesting a train or bus into Darling Harbour. However, considering the price of our train tickets from the airport, we decided to brave a walk into town. Turns out we made the right decision. Even though we got lost a couple of times, the walk was really easy and it only took about 20 minutes, so we did that everyday.

We were pretty blown away by Darling Harbour. Yes, it's tourist central, but it's so beautiful and lively. I joined the tourists and got my camera out, especially when we saw little moon jellyfish in the water!

The beautiful water at Darling Harbour



And these guys were just everywhere!

 

We squeezed in as much as we could on the first afternoon, because we were concerned about the weather for the following days. We decided to go straight to the aquarium (after stopping for a traditional Maccas lunch) and we were really impressed with the effort Sydney Sea Life Aquarium are putting into Shark Conservation. Have you heard of shark fin soup? Millions of sharks are killed every year for this, and trust me when I say it is neither quick, nor painless, nor sustainable. Beautiful, harmless little sharks are plucked from the water, relieved of their fins, which is like someone cutting off our arms and legs, then tossed back into the water, where they either drown or bleed to death.

Tell me this isn't gorgeous?

What's worse is that, while these lovely little reef sharks lose their fins for use as food or medicine, there are some boats out their stalking, capturing and butchering Whale Sharks, the largest fish in the ocean and the least harmful one there is, just to use their fins as decoration outside restaurants. As far as I'm concerned, this is barbaric behaviour, and can only be called human, since no animal would do this to another animal.

The good news is, that aquariums like Sydney Sea Life are educating the masses, and trying to put a stop to this awful practice. This particular aquarium has about 15 different species of shark, and since Tom and I are losers, we were really excited about that.

Staying on the topic of sharks, we later went to Sydney's IMAX theatre, which is apparently the largest in the world, to see the 3D Great White Shark documentary. I'm not big on 3D as a rule, but it was a beautifully made film, and I felt really privileged to be able to see it. I would recommend it to anyone in the area; it lays rest to an awful lot of false rumours about the supposed man eaters.

As the sun was setting on Monday, we grabbed a water taxi round to the famous Sydney Harbour for a drive by visit, and although we didn't get off and walk around, we were stoked just to see the iconic bridge and the opera house (pictured above). It was a really beautiful evening and we polished it off with dinner in a really nice pasta restaurant back in Darling Harbour,

Tuesday brought the rain with it, so we spent most of the day exploring Darling Harbour, and we also took a trip to the zoo. Sydney have been really innovative with their space; at first, we thought the sign for the zoo was just advertising it and the actual place was somewhere else. Turns out we were wrong. Sydney Wild Life Zoo is cleverly and carefully built into a building no bigger than the neighbouring Madame Tussauds museum, yet still holds an awesome range of Australian animals, including Snakes, Tassie Devils, Kangaroos and one of the largest salt water crocs in captivity.

I won't bore you too much with more zoo talk, but since I got to hang out with a python who was two or three meters long, I think it's safe to say we were, again, pretty damn impressed.

Wednesday's weather was slightly better, and after a bit of confusion regarding public transport and which bus we should get, we made it to Bondi Beach. I think this possibly ranks in my top ten favourite days.

 

I watch the show Bondi Rescue, so I was so excited to be here. I think I drove Tom mad, since I spent most of the day stalking life guards, blushing, and taking photos of surfers. I got to say hi to one of my heroes; one of the life guards from the show, we made friends with a couple of awesome surfers, and we walked from Bondi to Bronte.

Tony Audin, catching waves.

By the end of the day, we were pretty worn out, but more importantly, we were very sunburnt. This baffled us, since the day had been mostly cloudy, but we learnt the hard way that in Australia, the sun doesn't have to be out to get burnt.

All in all, we had a really awesome time in Sydney and I'm so glad I went. Even though I love Victoria and want to stay here forever, I really wanted to do the tourist places, and Sydney was definitely worth it.

This week, I'm heading up to Brisbane to meet up with Tom again, so expect a post dedicated to Steve Irwin and his zoo very soon!

Thanks for reading, (if you got this far) and take care, guys!

Em

Catching Lightning

Thursday's sheet lightning

 

Hey folks,

As many of you might know, Victoria got HOT last week. I've been simmering through five days of soaring temperatures, which bottomed out at 29 degrees during the coldest hours of the night. We had a relatively cool start on Monday, at only 36 degrees, then the mercury began to climb. It didn't cool down until Friday afternoon, when 44 degrees became 30; the cool change blew in about 6pm and we were all relieved.

Still, I actually really enjoyed the week. The scorched ground seemed so Australian, and even though we were worried about the fires springing up around us, it was a great show of humanity, with hundreds of volunteers stepping up to support the CFA and helping to protect people's homes.

Bush fires out here can be started so easily. In my opinion, the most common cause is as simple as flicking a cigarette butt out the window; even though we're on a total fire ban, people still smoke in their cars. When the grass is nothing more than hay, it only takes one spark to set the fields alight.

Another cause became apparent most nights last week; dry lightning. As dusk drew in, we started to hear distant rumbles of thunder, and we watched the clouds stumble over each other to crowd the evening sky. At first, there was only sheet lightning, staining the clouds purple and lighting up the sky. Then, over the hills, the forks lit up. The first night, we just watched and listened, and felt the thunder shake the house. But on Thursday evening, I ventured outside with my camera.

Several years ago, a flash storm in Greece struck up one night while we were eating dinner. It was the first year I'd had an SLR, and I was lucky enough to capture a Rip in the Sky, featured here. Since then, I've never had my camera on hand during lightning shows, so I've never been able to confirm whether it was talent or sheer luck that caught that image. So on Thursday, I stood outside, watching two spots in the sky for lightning.

After thirty minutes of holding up my camera, my arms were aching and I was getting pretty frustrated. I'd caught two mediocre flashes of sheet lightning - nothing to brag about - and I decided to give up and go inside. Five minutes after I sat down, however, the sky began to light up with electricity. I grabbed my camera and ran back outside.

I'm so glad I did; my second attempt proved more fruitful, if not bountiful, and I was ecstatic to capture this beautiful bolt across the big Australian sky.

Lucky Catch

I am now able to conclude that catching lightning is hard work, it hurts your arms, gets your feet wet when the heavens open and makes you paranoid about getting electrocuted!

Last week, despite the heat and the worry about bush fires, was great. I'm proud of my photo, even if it's not perfect, and it's nice that things have cooled down a little now! Victoria is exhausted and a little charred, but the CFA have worked tirelessly and quickly and saved as many people's homes as they could, so they have my heartfelt gratitude.

Stay cool, everyone, and I'll be back soon,

Em

Happy New Year

The Grange in Adelaide

I'm a bit late with this seasons greetings, but since I'm one of these travelling types now, I'm sure you can forgive me.

Happy New Year, everyone, and I hope you've all had wonderful Christmases, Hanukahs, Yules and whatever else you celebrate. It's been a busy month for me and as it always does, the time is flying. Christmas was a hot one here, and unfortunately, my uncle was working, so we had to wait for him to come home. We had a lovely day anyway, and we all spoilt each other with an excessive amount of gifts and plenty of food and love. We're still working through our Christmas stash. Slowly.

In the short period between Christmas and New Year, I managed to fit quite a lot in. My auntie and I took a trip into the city to catch the third day of the boxing day test match, and thoroughly enjoyed the cricket. I'm an Aussie supporter, as my love for cricket was only discovered four years ago in Cairns; to me, it seems natural to support the team that caught my interest.

It was another very hot day, but the atmosphere was fantastic and even though we were sticky and sweltering, we had a really great time. ALL the boys put on a great show.

 

 

After the cricket, I hopped on a plane to Adelaide to visit my lovely friend Jacquie, who before now, I haven't seen since we were both in year nine together. I spent New Years with her and her boyfriend, family and friends, and we spent the night on the Grange Beach, somewhere between a dozen sets of fireworks and the ocean. It was a beautiful warm evening, and we swam until it got dark, ate cheese and crackers, home made chicken burgers and hand picked cherries.

 

The New Year gang, minus me

As the sun went down, I grabbed my camera to get this shot.

 

The night was perfect, since I'd been worried about how I'd celebrate New Years. I'm not much of a party girl, but I don't like to sit around and ignore it. As it happens, Jacquie recently stopped drinking, so it turned out we were the perfect match!

 

While I was in Adelaide, Jacquie unfortunately had to work a fair bit, but we made up for it by spending plenty of time on the beach, eating great food and watching lots of Disney movies. Throw in a couple of hysterical games of Trivial Pursuit and you've got the perfect recipe for a great Radelaide holiday.

 

I'm back in Melbourne now, and although the weather was a bit miserable when I first got back, it's certainly heating up now and it looks like we're in for a great summer. In the last two days, we've been to Melbourne Zoo, which was awesome, and St Kilda beach for a few hours. Let's keep the review short; you'll get bored of my zoo stories otherwise.

 

I was so excited at both Adelaide and Melbourne zoos to see that they had Gila Monsters.

 

 

These are one of only two venomous lizards in the world, and also one of the first dangerous animals I ever learnt about. I've never seen one in the wild, so to see four, two at each zoo, in the space of a week was mind blowing. I love these things.

 

Melbourne Zoo also had the most gorgeous baby Asian elephant running about in the sun, three big male lions scrapping over lunch, and a lovely brown bear, to name but a few of the sights. Adelaide Zoo only topped this with their two Giant Pandas, who were magnificent, but I felt a little sorry for them (and the rest of the animals), because they never get a moment's peace!

 

Yesterday, we topped off the week with a stroll down St Kilda beach. Here in Melbourne, it's considered to be a less than perfect beach; my cousin warned us to watch out for needles in the sand, but when we got there, I thought it was lovely. It's a city beach, so yes, it is surrounded by roads, cars and industrial areas, but the water was lovely and clear, and the beach was packed, so it can't be that bad!

 

As beaches go, I rate this one pretty highly.

My auntie bought me lunch, and we sunbathed for a bit, got a little burnt, and paddled along a sand bank. It was a lovely way to spend a sunny day. Today is a bit hotter, and we're planning to spend most of it just relaxing, but we've got quite a bit planned for the next month.

I've booked my trip to Sydney for the beginning of February, my auntie and I are planning an overnight trip to Brisbane (to visit another zoo), and my friend Courtney and I are talking about heading to the Gold Coast for a few days.

Anyway, that's my adventures to date, and as always, I'll keep you updated as often as I can.

Thanks for reading, guys,

Stay cool!

Em