Travel

A snake not behind glass

chris — Sun, 09 Nov 2008 22:06:26 -0800

The Healesville Sanctuary is a branch of the Melbourne Zoo, out in the hills to the east. There one can find plenty of Australian fauna and flora without having to head out into the bush to find it. We headed up there on Sunday of my first weekend in Belgrave, a week after I'd arrived in Australia. I've got a decent selection of photos from there in the gallery, so have a look. The highlight of that day would have to have been one of the snakes that we saw.

Day-to-day vacation

chris — Sun, 09 Nov 2008 22:01:27 -0800

My time in Belgrave has included two full weekends, and some of the family activities I've been partaking in have included a trip to the Healesville Sanctuary (more on that later), an couple of visits to local parks, and a morning at Grant's Picnic Ground, just a half-mile or so up the road.

Victorian Times

chris — Sun, 09 Nov 2008 21:45:06 -0800

G'day again from down undah! Yes indeed I've been in Australia for 15 days now, mostly here in Belgrave, about 25 miles east of downtown Melbourne at the end of one of the public-transit train lines. I've been visiting Larkin, one of my sisters from my New Zealand host-family of 25 yrs ago, and her partner Andrea, and their three-year-old twins Finn & Poppy.

Words from far away places

chris — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 23:46:43 -0700

Well, hello there, from here, which is far away.

Real animals and Fake dining

chris — Sun, 13 Apr 2008 11:32:20 -0700

Finally I'm taking time at the coffee shop this morning to add another day or two to the DisneyWorld saga.

So after two days at the Magic Kingdom, we decided to spend friday at the Animal Kingdom, the newest theme park at Disney World. I think of all the surprisingly cool, and even impressive things I experienced this week, the Animal Kingdom park was high on the list.

Thursday: More Magic and Princess Mania

chris — Sun, 02 Mar 2008 12:37:44 -0800

A couple things about the Magic Kingdom, one up, one down: On the upside: even though its clear that there's subtle marketing going on everywhere, and things are arranged to help you spend more money, I never found that aspect to be overwhelming and annoying. Yes, I saw it, but it wasn't glaring or obnoxious, and it was easy to ignore it. The shops and the street vendors all blended into the surroundings pretty smoothly. All this was another reason why the whole week was much better than I'd feared.

Wednesday: Intro to the Magic Kingdom

chris — Sun, 02 Mar 2008 12:33:38 -0800

For those who're familiar with Disneyland in California, the equivalent at Disney World is the Magic Kingdom, which is very similar, but bigger. It has a main street lined with 'in-character' shops, leading to a circle in front of Cinderella's Castle. Around the circle are the various "lands" - Adventureland, Frontierland, Fantasyland, Tomorrowland. Each land can take half a day or more to explore. We started in Adventureland, where we wandered throught the Swiss Family Robinson's treehouse.

Ok, so I lied

chris — Sun, 02 Mar 2008 12:28:16 -0800

I know - its been like nearly a month, rather than the week I 'd promised. Fortunately when I make non-blogging promises to individuals, I'm much better at keeping them!

A week in another world (part 1)

chris — Sun, 03 Feb 2008 12:34:59 -0800

A little less than two weeks ago I flew out of Oakland Airport headed for one of the few places on earth I've really never wanted to go in my adult life. Now that I've been back for five days, I'm happy to report that Walt Disney World in Florida was not nearly as unpleasant for me as I'd feared. Its gonna take me a while to get my impressions all written down, so I'll do it in chunks.

Still thinkin of the Playa

chris — Wed, 17 Oct 2007 20:47:26 -0700

I finally edited three of my video clips from Burning man down to size so that you can download them in less than 12 hours through a normal network connection. You'll find them at the end of the Burning Man 2007 photo album. I guess now that its been over a month since I've been back, I should let y'all know what I thought about this year's little party in the desert.