The Travels of Kate

I will now lead you on a guided tour of the Porter house!

Come on in!

Here is the front room, when entering by the main door.

The computer room is next door. And there's my uncle! Hello, David!

We don't usually enter by the main door though. We usually enter from a sidish door, so here is the room you see when you go in from there. It's the main living room, with the TV and such.

Next is the kitchen!

Now we'll just walk down an adjourning hallway.

This is sort of Michael's room. But there's so much stuff in there that there's no actual room for a bed, so he now sleeps upstairs in my former study.

I've never opened this door, so I have no idea what's here.

Now we'll just turn down another hallway off to the side. Here we can go left or right. What will we choose?

Left! Here is a room of Roz's.

Right! Here is a somewhat under construction bathroom.

The toliet is in its own adjourning room, and you know what is special about Australian toliets?

The way you flush! You just push a button. One button for half flush, one button for full, depending on what is required. Quite a smart idea, really.

Now let's go upstairs! Here is a cupboard under the stairs.

Here is the entrance to the stairs. Or if you go straight, there's another room, I think where David stores some paintings and art supplies.

Up we go!

Here are are! Upstairs! To our left is Jordan's and Nick's rooms, along with my former study/Michael's bedroom.

To our right is Eloise's and my rooms, as well as the toliet and shower.

And here we are at my room! YAY!!

This concludes our tour.

All right, time to actually go to the Shrine. Visiting the Shrine was the main purpose of our trip today, anyway, as my uncle David had an exhibition there for ANZAC day.

Here is the Shrine.

Flowers and notes from ANZAC day, earlier that week.

A monument.

The eternal flame and I. It's been burning ever since the Queen herself lit it in 1954.

Once inside the Shrine Welcome Center, we immediately saw David's display. I don't think you were supposed to take pictures, but I did anyway. But I took quick and not particularly good ones. Still, it gives you an idea.

We then walked through the Shrine, where, again, I don't think you were supposed to take pictures. This time I was good and did not. But I did take pictures when we got outside to the very top. The view was spectacular. I took many pictures, none of which do it justice. You can see all the way out to the ocean in the first one. Just lovely.

And so was the Shrine.

Since this entry was less picture-heavy than my last, here is a random picture that doesn't fit anywhere else. Sometime during the following week, while at uni, I passed the juggling club. They were cool, so I took a picture.

Only a week left before I go home! And it's strange, I really can't shake the feeling that I'm going come for Christmas. I mean, I know that Christmas isn't for a good while yet, but it is winter here (even if it's extremely mild compared to a Tennessee winter), and I'm halfway through a school year, so..it seems like it should be time for Christmas. I've been wearing my Christmas socks. Some of them are quite seasonably appropriate! Like my ones with the snowmen that say "Let it snow!" And it has been snowing here, up in the mountains. So, really, it's all very confusing. But anyway, seeing as a week from now I will be on a plane somewhere over the Pacific Ocean, I really ought to get on with updating! Getting up to date with this blog is definitely on my to do list for the next week. Along with preparing for and taking two exams and finishing a paper and packing and shopping and such.

So, let's see. We are up to...the gardens and the Shrine of Remembrance. Ah, yes. Well, this post will probably make me seem incredibly egocentrical, as there are just so many pictures of me! Well, I justify it by saying that everything photographed was worth a photo, but it could get boring to just see picture after picture of statute/tree/pond etc. So, I'm just in the pictures as a bonus to hopefully make them more interesting. But there are definitely quite a few photographs. I think I may have to split this into two posts. Let's call this: Part I.

For starters, here is André and I on the tram, making our way to the gardens.

When we got there, we visited Edward VIII. He's off in the distance on the horse.

Then I made a video of this neato clock thing. But we didn't really pick a good time to go, as they were replanting it. Usually it's pretty and flowerful, but here it's just dirt. Oh well.

Then I tried to take a picture of a cool bird, but it didn't work.

But then I got it to work.

Here's me with some gardens.

Me with some statues. I'm standing in what's supposed to be a pond, but it's not, because of the drought.

Look, it's my photographer!

He's supposed to be surrounded by water too. But, due to drought, he is not.

I went to keep him company.

Small Kate!

Statues.

Ah. Well, that makes sense. No ponds.

Kate in a tree!

André makes an appearance.

More.

This was probably the best statue of all. His name is Genie.

Queen Victoria and I.

Looking towards the city.

A pond!

Quite autumny!

A new pet?

We have a lot of Greek immigrants here.

Finally, a pretty overhanging thing.

And that was just the highlights! But I think that will do. Now I shall go grab some dinner, but when I return, we shall visit the Shrine of Remembrance. Stay tuned.

So, it just so happens that the only Grand Union in the Southern Hemisphere is a mere ten minute tram ride up the road from where I live. I know, you're probably thinking "Grand what?" It's a tram thing. I think it basically means that the tracks go in all four directions at this intersection. Well, André had to see it, of course, so off we went. I took a picture. Awful lot of wires overhead!!

After that I wandered over to the park nearby and made some friends!

The end!

On ANZAC Day, André and I decided to visit the Flagstaff Gardens. I don't really remember why. Oh wait, yes I do. It had to do with something the trams were doing differently because it was a holiday and André wanted to check it out. Anyway, we went and I photographed and was photographed.

Here I am at the entrance sign:

Here I am with a really weird thing. I'm still not sure what it was.

Here's my hand with a leaf that I thought was cool at the time, because I photographed it, but looking back at the photo now, it really wasn't all that interesting. Oh well.

I guess this isn't a good place to be at night.

The City Circle Tram. One of my favorites.

The gardens and I:

Me showing off how cool I am because my socks match my shirt really well.

A monument thing.

The Flagstaff, for which the gardens are (presumably) named.

Finally, a statue, just for good measure.

And that was the Flagstaff Gardens!