I'm totally in Australia you guys.  And it is awesome.  Also winter?  We saw the Southern Cross~
Picture time~!?  Mostly beaches xD;;

This is from an overlook on a mountain/state park called Arthur's Seat.  There's a large iron chair there!  For some reason that's a very popular feature to have at over looks: giant chairs.  There was also one at the top of Mount Dandenong.


Here's a number of pictures from a beach!  Actually two beaches, but I don't remember which ones are which. 






There are these really pretty birds called Rosellas!  They're pretty common o-o;; Like cockatoos!  They're just like, hanging out in people's yards!  This lady we talked to said, "Oh, the cockies.  They're bullies.  They run all the pretty birds away."  And we were like, "-__-;;  You have to pay six hundred dollars for those in the states..."


We saw Kookaburras!  They sound like monkeys =O  Here's two pictures stuck together.


And here's a really awesome rainbow.  (Actually two; there's a much smaller, fainter one to the right).  It ends in the water!  And it went all the way across the sky.  I have some pictures of the rest of it, but we were too close to take one picture of it all, so it's in bits and I don't have the other pictures prettied up.


Anyway, we've been doing a lot of driving >.o  The steering wheels are on the right!  It's pretty stressful apparently, according to my mom.

So the city we're in, Melbourne, is on a really wide bay with a tiny opening they call "The Rip."  We went down to the tip of one of the peninsulas that are like mandibles surrounding the bay, and there's an old military fort there built around 1890.  It's really beautiful there (I didn't have my camera), but all the stories the little recording told us on the tram ride up to the point were really horrible: on one of the first ships to land there, half the passengers died of typhus; then there was a shipwreck of another ship, and fifty-seven people died.  There's a cemetery on the peninsula with eight graves from that shipwreck, but only three were identified.  And a few years ago, a former Prime Minister disappeared while swimming.  There were other things too, but I don't remember them.  Also at that place, there was a pretty well-worn tourist trail, but on most of the un-tracked land there were barbed wire fences and signs that said something like "DANGER: UNEXPLODED AMMUNITION.  DO NOT TOUCH ANYTHING."  Apparently the area was used for weapons testing?

But yeah.  Also, prostitution is legal here!  There's a huge section in the phone book for it.  (Under "E" for "Escorts.")  I took pictures of some of the ads XD
Some have terrible drawings:

  

Some have terrible photographs:



And some have terrible names:



Of course, as you could probably tell, some could have gone into other categories as well.  Also, there were a surprising number of Escort Agencies advertising themselves as having transsexuals.  I may have already taken some pictures of those ones, but I haven't gotten around to editing them down to size.  (I think we're planning on taking a phone book back with us, anyway.)

Anyway, sorry about the giant, picture-filled entry, but I think it was totally worth it.  See ya ;D

Words to live by: When I was a lad, I ate four dozen eggs ev'ry morning to help me get large, and now that I'm grown I eat five dozen eggs, so I'm roughly the size of a barge.

So we've gone to this lakeside cabin place for our family reunion, and I must say, it is the sketchiest place I've ever stayed in.  My brother said, "I don't know, I kind of like it.  It reminds me of my last dorm room in college."  Not only is comparing anywhere to a college student's living space not a compliment, his last dorm room was literally a converted cheap motel room.  But it's kind of interesting?  Also, there's randomly no telephone despite a sign taped to the door listing emergency numbers and also advising us to call from a landline if possible so as to allow 911 to locate us.  We have satellite T.V. and an air purifier, though, because apparently those are more important than phones...

20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, though, is probably the most awesome book I've ever read.  I'll try not to repeat all the good bits to you guys like I did to my mom and brother.  But... left to his own devices, the narrator of it, Monsieur Aronnax, would probably enter into a polygamist marriage including himself, Captain Nemo, and all plant and animal life contained in the Earth's oceans.  Because those are by far his favourite things.  ...Except for sperm whales.  Captain Nemo hates them.  So much.

Of course, I might be being a bit harsh on the Monsieur Aronnax.  Left to my own devices, I would probably enter into a polygamist marriage including myself, Captain Nemo, and Hector.

A-anyway...  One of my teenager relative's friends rode my eleven-year-old cousin's bike off of the boat pier earlier while I was out on the lake in a canoe.  I don't think they ever got the bike out...  The guy, Richard, was fine, but then later he burned himself on a firework...  He was probably still fine after that, but dang.  Arguably not as stupid as the people (who were staying in a different cabin and, thank goodness, not related to me) who were down on the dock last night lighting bottle rockets and either throwing them off the dock or just holding them until they went off.

And so went my Fourth of July weekend.  Happy America Day, everyone.