Results tagged “Video”

...but he says they paid him in bananas! Not fair for the best commercial of the evening!

Today, we were up at 7:30, but moving a bit slowly. It was 9:30 by the time we showered and packed and walked to Lasseter Casino Hotel for breakfast. Then it was back to the room to finish packing, checking out and heading on.

We went to visit Alice Springs Desert Park. This was a spot recommended by both of our tour guides while we are in Alice Springs and since we had been able to rearrange our flights from a mind-numbing 12 hours of flying and layovers to a mere 1 1/2 hours of flying, we had time on our hands to go visit it.

The bad thing is that in the end, we only had a couple of hours to visit and we could have easily spent four hours in this botanical garden/aviary/zoo. While there, we saw and learned about beautiful and useful desert plants from the sandy regions, woodland regions, and river regions.

They have a plant called a Desert Rose which looks a lot like our Rose of Sharon back home.

Then they have a Dogwood that looks nothing like our Dogwood tree!

We saw numerous birds and a few kangaroos. Many of the birds have iridescent wings or brilliant plumage, but they were hard to catch in photographs.

Friday, September 25, 2009. We got up at 5 so we could be ready to hop in our Maxi Taxi by 7 a.m. We had to get the Maxi Taxi so all of our luggage fit in (it is like a van). The gentleman who picked us up was very interesting and he and Daniel talked the whole way to the airport. Small wait at the airport as we once again had to get the special waiver for being international travelers so they wouldn't charge us an arm and a leg for our excess luggage.

Our flight from Perth to Ayers Rock was uneventful. They really do like to feed you on Qantas! On a 2 hour flight, we received pretzels, drinks, then a meal (pasta salad, roll, toberlone candy, cheese, crackers, tea or coffee and water). They also give you complimentary headsets and the tickets here are cheaper to fly about than at home...go figure that one out!

Anyway, we got to Ayers Rock and got our rental car all sorted out, filled it up with luggage, then headed to the ATM and grocery store. We picked up a bunch of water, some afternoon snacks/supper, and a map. We also added to our magnet collection!

Next we drove to Ayers Rock/Uluru. Uluru is the Aboriginal name and much like places in America that are sacred to the Native Americans, Uluru is sacred to the Aborigines. Our plan was to drive up, take a few photos, then head on to Alice Springs which was where we had rooms. This would give us a chance to drive through the Outback. We couldn't believe it when we arrived at Uluru and discovered it would cost us 50.00 to get in to see it up close! That's 25.00 per person over 16 years of age! So, we pulled out through the exit, Daniel took a couple of shots from afar and we rode on down the road.

Today we were up at 4:00 a.m. Nothing new there, eh? Our taxi arrived to pick us up at 5:45 a.m. and took us to the Clarkson Train Station. We gave him the last of our cash and expected to get more money from the ATM at the Train Station, but alas, there was no ATM at the train station and the nearest was a 25 minute walk away. No worries, mate, we'll just use our debit cards to get tickets from the machine. Unfortunately, the one problem we have run into here is that while our cards will work fine if we use them with a signature, we cannot use them as debit cards except at an ATM. Very frustrating. The lady at the convenience store couldn't help us because she could only give us cash if we could use the debit card feature. The person who should have been at the ticket counter was off taking care of other business in the station. We had to get to Perth by 7 or we would miss our tour bus.

There was a button on the box next to the ticket machine that said press for information. It rang when I pushed it, but no one ever answered it. I tried pushing it three or four times. A lady walking by asked what our troubles were and we explained, she went on her way. Meanwhile athe ticket agent arrived. We explained our dilemma and told him we would need to buy our tickets directly from him. He went into his office and came out and handed us complimentary passes. We were not expecting that, but apparently, he wasn't set up to sell tickets there. Or at least couldn't do it with signature debit cards. We made it on the train with a couple of minutes to spare. As the ticket agent was signing our passes, the lady came back, she had taken money out using her debit card at the convenience store and was going to loan it to us! Can you believe that? We were astounded. We have been so amazed, time and time again on our trip here at how pleasant, helpful and accomodating Australians are. We took the train to Perth, and once we got off there, our lady friend showed us the correct direction to head in. We arrived at the tour bus pickup right at 7:00 a.m.

Then, it was on to the bus to Rockingham for the Swim with the Dolphins trip. This was something that Katrina had chosen for this trip that she really wanted to do. And she was very excited. During the 40 minute drive to Rockingham, the guide told us what would be happening during our time on the boat and what to expect when we were in the water. It was obvious that she and all of the others on the tour had a true love of the dolphins and what they were doing with these tours where people were allowed to see dolphins in their natural environment.

We loved our lovely 3 bedroom Mindarie Villa and we all would have liked to have stayed there longer. Katrina, who is practicing to be a real estate agent, sets you up with a walk through in this video.

We were up again at 4 a.m. That gave us some time to do odds and ends and shower and get ready for the day. The Bezants came by around 8:45 after dropping Charlotte off by school (she had a big test). Then we had a lovely breakfast at The Dome restaurant (an Australian chain). I tried vegiemite. I understand it is an acquired taste...since I can't get it back home, I don't think I will work too hard at acquiring it!

After brekky, our tour guides drove us into Perth. Steve was able to take the day off and it was delightful to have a running commentary from our friends as we saw some of the sights in this area. We visited Kings Park. We enjoyed some fantastic views of Perth and the Swan River. We also enjoyed seeing a variety of Australian flora. And we watched part of a rehearsal for a play called Wildflowers. There was to be a big wildflower festival this coming weekend.

Here is the video I took of parts of the rehearsal. Katrina and Alexis in particular enjoyed watching the flowers and the bee.

Here is my video I put together from yesterday.

And here is Daniel's video he put together yesterday. Note the free advertising for Crabby Mike's in Myrtle Beach!

I had a hard time getting this video uploaded last night, but it finally went through!

My video of Bondi Beach

Daniel compiled a video of our trip to Australia. It is unedited (what do you expect from people who have had no sleep?).

Well, it has taken awhile for me to write about the last two days of our trip, mainly because I have been busier than an ice cream man on a hot summer's day. But that's a different blog post...maybe;)

On our last day in Chicago, we (all four of us this time) grabbed a bus and headed to the Museum of Science and Industry. We had not been able to see this on our previous trip in Chicago and had heard it was definitely the place to visit. We were particularly interested in seeing the Harry Potter exhibit.

We left our room at about 9 and ate at Houlihan's for the breakfast buffet. Awesome omelets. By 10, we were on the bus. Unfortunately, our bus had a technical difficulty on the way there (some access panel on the side hadn't been locked down, so it was popped out and posed a hazard to driving. We had to wait about 30 minutes for a supervisor to come and lock the panel so we could continue on our way. At least it gave us a chance to chat with other passengers!

We decided to see Wild Oceans, the Omnimax presentation and got tickets for the Harry Potter exhibit. Now, let me tell you, we love Harry Potter, but we were not happy when we found out that the cost of the tickets just for that exhibit were between 15 and 18 dollars each! You already pay about 20.00 for entry to the museum, and then they have several other exhibits where you have to pay extra to see them (for instance, seeing inside of the U-505 or visiting the Smart House). But all complaining aside, we really enjoyed our visit and wished we could have stayed longer, but I developed a migraine headache in the afternoon and we had to go.

Well, today we slept in a little, then we headed out at about 11:00. First we ate lunch at McDonald's, then we headed for the subway/El. It was our first time ever riding it and we were excited and nervous.

After about an hour which included figuring out how to get our passes for the subway and the ride, we arrived at our transfer point - the Rosemont Station. Then we got on a bus and headed to Woodfield Mall. And lastly, we took a trolley and were delivered to the front door of LegoLand Chicago Discovery Center.

It was really cool and you see photos of the amazing sculptures we found there by visiting my flickr page.

We saw a miniature Chicago made with Legos:

We rode through a medieval castle in a dragon car:

Yesterday we went to visit Shedd Aquarium...in the rain. Yep, we have hit some major rain here in Chicago. In fact, looks like it will be raining again today...

But, since we drove and have the Xterra, we are prepared. I have rain ponchos stored in the back! After breakfast, we found our bus stop and headed to the Museum Campus. We were delighted to be riding on a Clean Air Hybrid Bus which was recently purchased by the city of Chicago with stimulus funds...our tax dollars at work! It should make a huge difference in the air quality here in Chicago as well.

We spent the day at the Shedd Aquarium enjoying the sights of the lovely fish.

It's always fun to see the videos and get moment by moment action...so here are three from yesterday! Enjoy!

The last week has flown by.

My 43rd birthday was last Friday. My hubby and children sang Happy Birthday to You at midnight while we were driving from Illinois to Virginia. I slept for a couple of hours that morning, but there were birthday calls to attend to and I have a hard time sleeping during the day. So I opened loads of lovely cards that had come in the mail, enjoyed reading birthday messages on Facebook, and began the unpacking process. Katrina and I got most of the stuff unloaded from the truck, but the lock on the u-haul had become jammed during the drive here. We ended up having to get bolt cutters to deal with that particular situation.

Jack and Katrina each had a gift for me that they had sneakily won at the fair. Jack presented me with a Wonder Woman doll and Katrina gave me a cute stuffed bunny and dog. Katrina also presented me with breakfast in bed and made some toll house cookies and put a candle in one for my birthday.

Friday night, we were in bed pretty early...all tuckered out!

Saturday was movie watching day. We began watching the miniseries Taken. This is the Spielberg extravaganza from about 7 years ago. I didn't get to watch all of it when it first came out because I was too dang busy with a 6 year old and a 2 year old. So, we bought it on disk and started watching. There are 10 2-hour episodes. We finally finished watching it today. I found it very intriguing but the ending left me unsatisfied. I wanted answers. Ironically the point of the whole thing was that we are all searching for answers and that is part of life.

Sunday, we attended church in the morning, did some unpacking in the afternoon, then headed to Roanoke to meet Bruce, Ryan, Charles and Joann. Daniel took us all to the Outback Steak House in honor of my birthday. It was most yummy and Bruce gave me the beginnings of a trollbead bracelet. I hadn't heard of troll beads, but Bruce said they are the big thing in jewelry right now. If you haven't heard from them, think a new take on charm bracelets. I like these a little better though as the charms don't hang down and get caught on things. He bought me a bracelet and a two beads - one a blue bead with a gold stripe in it and the other is a lion (I am a Leo). I spent about an hour yesterday perusing their site and making a wish list of the other beads I would like to have. The guys are happy to have this help when it come to gift time!)

After we ate dinner, Charles told me he wanted to take me to see a movie on Friday and we would talk later in the week about it.

Okay, the last four days, including today, have been busy, so I have fallen a wee bit behind. Time to catch you up.

Tuesday morning, the kids did some school work before we headed to the State Farm Water Park. Last year, we were given passes one day to the State Farm Water Park, it is for State Farm Employees, not contractors, and their guests. We were really tickled to get to go, but the day we ended up being able to go was so cold (last July) that I sat there under a towel most of the time. The kids of course were fine with the chilly, misty day, but it still dampened the experience. So we asked if we could try again this year. They were kind enough to extend us passes for one day, and we got to enjoy three hours of lovely warm water, before thunderstorms closed the park. The kids had fun with the two diving boards, two water slides, lazy river, splash area, and swimming areas. I played a lot with Katrina and I read some until we had to go.

Once we returned to the apartment, I did a little packing, then got showered and ready to go to Daniel's going away party. We left the children with strict instructions for them to spend the couple of hours in separate rooms and not bother each other (they have a terrible tendency to pick on one another and argue). We met at a local pool hall and about 10 people that Daniel has worked with came by for a couple of hours more or less. We played some pool, chatted, shared a couple of drinks and some food. Got home and did a little more packing.

I was sent a link to this video. At first I started watching it, and I thought it was a little inane. But as I continued watching, I began to smile. It is a marvelous testament that around the world, there are people who will join in a project and have some fun.

We live on such a wonderful planet full of wonderful and loving people. Too bad, that we spend so much of our time focusing on the bad. Thanks for the smile, Matt (and your cast of thousands!)

Wow, I knew that ticks were bad...but they don't just take it out on us humans...they hurt bats too! This bat orphanage/hospital is in Queensland, Australia. Perhaps it will be a place we will see on our tour next year!

Check out this video at National Geographic

Who knew bats could be so cute?

If you haven't seen the "I Pledge" Video, take a few moments and watch it now. Go ahead, I'll wait....

I found out about this video when my husband forwarded me an article that expressed concern over the references to 'serving' President Obama and over "Obama worship".

I watched this video and I didn't see it the same way as the author of the article. While I am bothered very much by the fact that these people seem to be pledging their allegiance to a person instead of to their country (remember how that worked out for Germany?), I tend to look at the positive side of things.

I wish that more people had pledged to stand behind President Bush instead of attacking him from Day One, but if people are ready to stand up now and take responsibility and reach out to their fellow human being, I say we should not beat a dead horse, but we should look at this as a great leap forward for a better tomorrow.

Many in this nation have become so wrapped up in their own self-importance, that they forget to look out for their neighbors, their friends, people on the street and even for family. Yet, we see when tragedy strikes (be it a tornado, a flood, or a terrorist attack), these same people pull out all the stops to help those affected. Wouldn't it be amazing if we didn't wait for the disaster to strike, but if instead, we each made it a priority each and every day to do something positive in the life of another human being? Can you even begin to imagine the possiblities!

Go check out this video for some amazing creatures like the one pictured above (which is a comb jelly).

And here you can see more photos of these interesting new creatures that have been recently found. Beautiful, aren't they?