Harvey's Adventures in the Land Down Under

Parasailing

2012-01-31T22:33:00.002+11:00

Mum bought me this awesome adventure for a Christmas present, and I got to share it with a friend. It was a bit windy and scary but we got great views of Sydney Harbour!

New Year on the north coast

2012-01-05T08:12:00.002+11:00

Mum and I stayed at a holiday house with friends in a sleepy coastal town. The town is kind of famous for its old-fashioned cinema where the projectionist's son, Baz Luhrmann, went on to be a movie director and made Strictly Ballroom, Moulin Rouge and is now filming the Great Gatsby in Sydney.

The town is also where the entertainer Bob Hope made a crash landing in 1947. He had to stay in the town while his plane was being fixed and did a comedy show in the local town hall.

There were lots of boys my age to hang out with. We went to the movies and saw The Adventures of Tintin.

We went to the skate park.

We played our guitars and sang.

We went to beach a lot, boogie boarded, made sand castles, and played beach cricket on New Years Day.

Mum and I drove into the main town one day and found this place called Extreme Velocity. where they put you in a wind tunnel to "fly".

Quad biking on Xmas Eve

2011-12-25T08:03:00.002+11:00

We headed a couple of hours north to the Stockton sand dunes. There is so much sand here that they export it to Hawaii and Dubai!

What is totally awesome is that you can ride quad bikes on the dunes, and you only have to be at least 8 years old! I drove a 150cc by myself.

We rode about 20km all up and stopped to look at a shipwreck.

Where they park the bikes, they have an area called the Sand Pit where you do whatever you want on smaller 100cc quad bikes, like wheelies and jumps. Some of the guys riding them are totally crazy!

Summer holidays

2011-12-25T07:36:00.003+11:00

Now it's the start of the long summer holidays. This year, we had a whole week to wait before Christmas (usually it's just a few days) so mum took and my mate Oscar to the Blue Mountains for some bushwalking and caving adventures.

Me and Oscar risked our lives on the skyway, and going down the scenic railway which was used to carry coal up and down the valley.

We also explored the biggest underground caves in the world, which were only discovered when authorities were searching for an escaped convict!

Piano christmas party 2011

2011-12-04T07:52:00.002+11:00

School captain for 2012

2011-11-28T16:28:00.003+11:00

You are looking at the school captain for 2012. Here is the election speech that won me the top spot:

I could not believe it...

2011-11-24T15:58:00.002+11:00

...Australian Idol winner Stan Walker was performing at a shopping centre that mum and I went to. I got to get his autograph and have a picture taken with him.

And boy, can he sing!

Cockatoo Island 2011

2011-11-11T07:38:00.003+11:00

Here are me and my Mother's Group mates. We go "overseas" every year and meet up at Cockatoo Island to camp out for a night.

This year, they had a new swimming area at the island, which we tried out.

They also had a street art festival on while we were there.

They also had skateboard ramps that you could skate on while you were watching the street art. But the best bit was the XBox section, where they had a whole bank of Xboxes and screens where you can play XBox Kinect. It was open until 10 o'clock at night!

Dance concert

2011-11-01T21:23:00.003+11:00

I forgot to write about my dance school concert, where I was in two tap numbers.

This is backstage at the theatre and me getting ready for the senior tap routine.
For the junior tap number, I had to dress as a pilot.

Real Steel

2011-11-01T21:20:00.001+11:00

Back in the school holidays, I saw the movie Real Steel at the iMax cinema, which has a HUGE screen. It made the robots seem larger than life.

Halloween

2011-10-31T22:50:00.003+11:00

Today is Halloween, so me and my friends went trick-or-treating.

I scored lots of chocolate with my Edward Scissorhands outfit.

I even did my own make-up!

Weird cakes

2011-10-20T10:17:00.003+11:00

On Masterchef, there is a guest pastry chef called Adrian Zumbo who is famous for his crazy cakes. We bought some technicolour macaroons and a "pear cake" which is shaped like a pear and had green chocolate on it. It was made up of two profiteroles, one big one and a smaller one on top with cream and pear inside. Mmmmm.....

October school holidays

2011-10-20T09:53:00.003+11:00

In the holidays, I went to the Illawarra Fly Treetop Walk. It's in the bush in the middle of nowhere and they have built a really high tower and bridges so you can walk among the birds in the trees.

And speaking of being high, I also went to Stanwell Tops on the way down where they do hanggliding. I have to wait another 4 years before I can do it, but you can see them setting up behind me in this photo.

New shoes, new gloves

2011-09-22T21:34:00.002+10:00

I got some new additions to my wardrobe, some shoes from Dad...

...and new gloves from Mum. Guess who I will be dressing up as for Halloween?

Bridge Climb back in April

2011-09-19T10:04:00.003+10:00

My mum should have scanned my Harbour Bridge climb photo ages ago. Anyway my friend Lachie and his mum Wendy beat us to it and sent us these. Thanks Wendy!

Piano concert 2011

2011-09-06T00:28:00.003+10:00

I decided to reprise the outfit I wore for my piano exam earlier this year, and wear it for the piano concert. It got an extra round of applause. Do you think I look like a Beatle with my moptop and drainpipe jeans?

As it happens, I played 'Eleanor Rigby' for my performance. Did I mention I like the Beatles?

Chile & Brazil

2011-07-02T01:29:00.012+10:00

Me and mum got to see a lot from the air when we left Australia because we spent 26 hours up in it. Because of the ash from the volcano in Chile, we had to fly around New Zealand to get to Chile! We saw that Chile is really flat along the coast because it is on a fault line where two plates meet and cause earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. Then the land gets folded into mountains behind the coast where it’s been crunched by the tectonic plate. That’s why Chile is good for skiing!

We are staying in a hilly old area of Rio de Janeiro, where you ride a tram to get up the hill.

From our street you can see the statue of Christ the Redeemer in the distance. You will have to zoom in to see it in the photo below! In the photo with me in it, he is in the clouds somewhere.

We are volunteering at a local community centre teaching English to kids and adults. The manager took us on a tour of the community where he grew up. It has tripled in size and now people are building homes on the hill. This is me pretending to be the statue on top of the hill. I was feeling pretty miraculous when I lifted this rock!

I am taking Portuguese lessons every day. I don’t speak much, but me and the kids still play and have a lot in common, like music.

Ever heard the song 'Copocabana'? It's about this place! I'm standing on the Barry Manilow song. It's a big beach where they play lots of Brazilian football, which is trying to keep the ball in the air with your feet, or playing volleyball but with a football and your feet! They also make awesome sandcastles.

They teach Capoeira at the centre where we are teaching English. Capoeira is this cool way of training for fighting, but it is more like a dance because there is music and singing while it is going on. When we went to the local market, they were kind of busking while doing it.

There is a tram museum not far from us, In Portuguese, the tram is called the "bonde" (you say it like "bonji"). It's got old bondes on display, and stuff from old bondes, and old stuff like photos of Rio from ages ago.

We visited the Tijuca Forest, the world's biggest urban forest. To get there, we got to ride in an open-top jeep. This is me breathing in the fresh air riding along Ipanema beach.

We climbed up into the hills around Christ the Redeemer, and saw him from all different angles through the trees. The amazing thing about this forest is that it has all been replanted. The original native forest was chopped down for coffee plantations, until they realised they had made a serious mistake after some big landslides.

We saw all the landmarks from the movie Rio, including this Chinese pagoda lookout (Vista Chinesa) which had an awesome view.

Ever heard the song 'Girl from Ipanema'? It's about a place in Rio, a beach right next to Copacabana. On Sundays, they close half the road so it can fit all the people riding bikes, skateboarding and roller blading. Here's me doing an Abbey Road shot, except on the Avenida Vieira Souta. Me and mum hired some bikes and rode around the lake.

Around where we are living in Santa Teresa was a bit open arts festival where artists opened up their houses and invited people in to come and look at their work. We went to an old ruined mansion which has been converted into an arts centre.

There are monkeys (macacas) living among us. You see them in the trees, and walking along the electric cables. Here is one that is stays at a nearby hotel.

Well we finally went to Christ the Redeemer. Spot the tourist!

Christ the Redeemer faces Sugar Loaf Mountain, where we went the next day. You have to go up in a cable car. We actually saw people rock climbing up the mountain!

Once you are up there, you are face-to-face with Christ and looking over Copacabana beach, Botafogo Bay and Flamengo beach. Here I am with my grandparents who met up with us in Rio after touring around South America.

Gold rush!

2011-05-24T09:21:00.002+10:00

At school, I had to do an assignment about Australia's gold rush in the 1800s. I decided to 'interview' a Chinese gold rush miner from that time. A lot of Chinese came to Australia to mine for gold, and that is how some settled here.

Going outback

2011-05-01T18:11:00.002+10:00

Beatlemania!

2011-03-13T15:10:00.004+11:00

I am really into the Beatles and their music. Can you tell?

I got the power

2011-03-05T17:47:00.002+11:00

Me and mum went to an old power station which was opened up for people to come in and see.
It hadn't been opened up for decades.
It was a big old coal-powered station.
I don't know what they are going to do with it, but they better do something soon because bits of the ceiling are falling in!

Happy Birthday to me

2011-02-22T22:46:00.005+11:00

I have just had my first double-digit birthday! To celebrate, me and my friends went to Tree Top Adventure Park to swing amongst the trees 10 metres high in the air. It's like an obstacle course above the ground with lots of flying foxes. Don't worry, we were strapped in harnesses with double safety clips at all times.

Then I also had a celebration on the ground with my cousins Orlando and Skylar. And my mum took me and my friend Andy out to a teppanyaki restaurant where they throw food at you!

Happy Chinese New Year

2011-02-22T22:44:00.001+11:00

Kung Hei Fat Choy!

Happiness, Long Life and Prosperity!

Roadtrip to Melbourne

2010-12-31T16:16:00.018+11:00

Me and mum hit the road after our housesitting gig finished. First stop was Jindabyne in the Snowy Mountains, except it is now summer. This is me being silly in front of our motel which fronted onto the lake, which is really a dam.

Old Jindabyne town is at the bottom of the lake. They had to rebuild the town once the lake was flooded!

We drove through the Snowy Mountains and actually saw some patches of snow which hadn't melted. We made our way to Victoria and to the town of Glenrowan, made famous by the bushranger and highwayman, Ned Kelly.

Ned Kelly and his gang had a shootout with the police in the town over 200 years ago. Me and mum had a pretend shootout after dinner at the inn, as it was like a ghost town in the evening. The main street was empty and quiet.

I bought a very useful and tasteful Ned Kelly mask as a souvenir.

Melbourne New Year's Eve is very different to the Sydney one. I went to see it at a park where lots of families were having picnics and Guy Sebastian was performing. The fireworks (not as good as Sydney) went off in the middle of one of his songs and over the skyline.

The next day we went for a bike ride along the Yarra River for about 3 hours. When we returned the bikes, we went along the Southbank for a walk.

On the way, we discover the Eureka Tower, the tallest building in Australia. It is taller than Sydney Tower and theQ! building on the Gold Coast.

It was also the tallest place in Australia to send a letter Here is me sending postcards from the highest postbox in Australia!

This is a taste of what it is like to be so high up, with nothing separating you from the ground except some chain mesh.

From the tower, we were looking at St Kilda, where we were planning to go the next day. I couldn't see the cake shops on Acland St using the binoculars.

When we finally got there, we strolled along the beachfront and watched the many kiteboarders on the water, and then stumbled into Melbourne's own Luna Park for some serious tummy shocks.

Here I am on the rollercoaster with my uncle Cam:

We spent a day in the Melbourne Docklands where they had glow-in-the-dark mini golf!

They also had a fun park with theme park rides. I've been getting more and more brave with the rides I go on. Mum's too scared to go on most of them with me.

They also had an Olympic size icerink at the Docklands for Australia's winter sports athletes to train in. One of the rinks was named after Stephen Bradbury, who won a gold medal in the speed skating when all the other skaters in his race fell over.

We had lunch on the Colonial Dining Tram, which is an old-fashioned restaurant tram that takes you around the city while you have lunch. It was very posh.

I went to a museum with my cousin Jasmine, who lives in Melbourne. We hung out, went to the movies, and wandered around the old cobbled lanes in the city.

Here is me lazing by the Yarra River on a hot summer's day wearing my "I love Melbourne" t-shirt.

We left Melbourne and headed to Phillip Island as part of our return trip to Sydney. A lot of Melbourne people go down there for their holidays. We went to a koala conservation centre, where we laughed at the way koalas sleep in the trees. And yes, I photographed their poo!

The island is famous for motorcycle grand prix racing. We didn't get to go on the track, but I got to do the next best thing, play on the longest slot car race track in Australia!

Oh, and I nearly forgot about the penguins which Phillip Island is also really famous for. But we went to see the Penguin Parade on a wet night. It should actually be called the Penguins in the Pouring Rain Parade. We got wetter than the penguins trying to watch them waddle their way out of the sea.

We saved some of the best things till last. We went on a helicopter ride over the island. Here is a picture and video to prove it!

Then we went to the island's chocolate factory, which was better than Willy Wonka's. It had model villages made out of chocolate, a one tonne block of chocolate, and a chocolate waterfall!

Next stop was Thredbo, where we took the Kosciusko Express up the highest mountain in Australia. It was my very first time on a chairlift!

The last part of our adventure was caravanning on the Shoalhaven River, where I did some tubing and boogieboarding.

Catsitting

2010-12-31T10:22:00.001+11:00

We have been looking after a friend's place while they have been away. They have 2 cats called David and Chester who need looking after. You can see that I really spoilt them and let them sleep in the bed!

ABBA World

2010-12-26T23:26:00.003+11:00

Me and my dad went to the Powerhouse Museum to see some special exhibitions. One was about spies, and the other was about ABBA. Here is me disguised as Benny in ABBA.

The ABBA exhibition was cool because you could audition to join the band.

You could also appear on their album covers.

A musical Christmas party

2010-12-15T08:02:00.003+11:00

Instead of singing carols, we play them at my music school's Christmas party.

School concert

2010-12-15T07:45:00.003+11:00

Jump!

Ghost tour

2010-12-15T07:36:00.003+11:00

A couple of weeks ago, I went on a tour of the old Manly quarantine station. This was used in the days of the first fleet when ships would come into Sydney Harbour. Everyone on the ships had to be checked for diseases and those who were sick had to be separated from those who were healthy. Some people died from their illnesses while in quarantine and they reckon that is why the station is haunted.

This was the gravedigger's cottage. The graves were dug on a hill. And the sandstone bedrock meant they weren't very deep, so often graves would be dug up by dogs - yuk!
The views are so lovely from the quarantine station, no wonder the ghosts don't want to leave!

Tennis Champions Down Under Tour

2010-11-19T08:16:00.003+11:00

Mum took me to see some veteran tennis players out at Sydney Olympic Park. They were playing at the Ken Rosewall Arena, the same court that I have played on!

This is Pat Cash, an Australian who won Wimbledon. He does awesome volleys! He was playing against Wayne Ferreira.

We also saw John McEnroe, who has an awesome bad temper. He was totally losing it with the linespeople. It was funny to watch. He ended up winning against Mats Wilander, who mum was going for. Not bad for a 51 year-old. But then the next day had to play Pat Rafter, an Australian who has won the US Open and 15 years younger than him and got smashed.

Annual Cockatoo Island Campout

2010-11-19T08:00:00.002+11:00

My mothers' group went to Cockatoo Island again this year. We had a bit of rain but that didn't stop us from having a good time. Cockatoo Island was once used for naval shipbuilding and repair, that's why we are sitting on cannon on the island!

We also had our usual treasure hunt and Kris Kringle activities.

The Australian Tennis Centre

2010-10-19T22:52:00.002+11:00

Me and some boys I play tennis with were invited to have a lesson at the Australian Tennis Centre at Sydney Olympic Park. These are the courts where the players warmed up for the Olympic Games in 2000 and the international tournament that is played here each year.

When we were leaving, we noticed that the centre court stadium was open but noone was in there. We climbed over the front row barrier and started playing. I felt like I was famous!

Spring school holidays on the south coast

2010-10-09T16:04:00.005+11:00

To get to the south coast, we went via Goulbourn, a big country town which has the Big Merino. A merino is a boy sheep, as you can see from its backside! The inside of the sheep is a museum about the wool industry.

We stayed at a holiday park right on this beach. As you can see, the beach wasn't at all crowded even though there were lots of kids and families about.

This is Barlings Beach at sunset with the mountains in the background. We saw a puffer fish and lots of bluebottles washed ashore.

Then we went to another holiday park in Narooma, where my friend Lachie joined us. We built a bathtub in the sand.

There was plenty of sand to build stuff with, as there was hardly anyone on the beach here too! Mum rode her mountain up and down the beach on the hard sand.

Narooma has an island of the coast (which you can see in the background) which has the last manned lighthouse on the east coast of Australia.

The lighthouse was needed because there were lots of shipwrecks along the coast. The cemetery at Mystery Bay has graves of sailors and pirates who died in the shipwrecks.

I also got to go go-karting, but I was an inch too short to drive the go-kart myself! Mum had to drive it with me as passenger.

We went to Pebbly Beach and South Durras, which is famous for the kangaroos that live in the bush near the beach. There was only one kangaroo when we got down there, but the ground was covered in roo poo. Watch the video to see what happens next...

Annual piano concert

2010-09-13T14:40:00.002+10:00

This year, I was the feature act at the piano concert because I was the very last person to perform! I remembered a lot of the songs some of the younger ones were playing in their groups. I played a piece called "Intrada" (or Entrance).

Book week

2010-09-13T14:34:00.003+10:00

As I am reading my way through the Harry Potter series, this year I went to the school book week celebrations as Harry himself.

Here I am levitating on my Nimbus 2000 broomstick.

Kids dressed up as other great literary characters, like Will Smith from Men in Black.

District Athletics Carnival

2010-09-13T14:28:00.002+10:00

At the school athletics carnival, I came 2nd in the 100m final for boys my age. (I also came 3rd with my team in the 4 x 100m boys relay.)

All the school finalists who came 1st and 2nd got to go and compete at the District Athletics Carnival against other schools in the area. There were kids there who were already competing at a national level, so they were really fast!

You can hear my fan club in the background. Guess which one is me!

Big time bed hair!

2010-08-18T10:23:00.004+10:00

These days, I am sporting a moptop to keep me warm in the winter. Mum got me to cut my hair in China, but it wasn't enough to stop the bed hair from happening.

Snowy mountains

2010-07-11T21:56:00.004+10:00

Me, my mum and cousins went on a bus trip to the snow.
My cousins mostly tobogganed. I had a couple of hours of lessons. Here is me learning how to do a pizza shape with my skis, so you can stop and turn.

After you learn to do that, then you can go on the "magic carpet", which helps to get up the hill so you can ski down.

Crazy casinos

2010-07-03T00:58:00.002+10:00

Macau is the Las Vegas of Asia, so there are lots of casinos.

Mum and Aunty Penny went to the Grand Lisboa, which is one of the oldest ones in Macau.

We all went to the Venetian, which is supposed to be exactly like the Venetian Casino in Las Vegas, which is supposed to look like Venice in Italy. It had paintings on the ceiling inside, including ones that looked just like the sky!
Inside, they had canals where you can do gondola rides. We went on one where the gondolier sang opera as she drove the boat.

Macau

2010-07-03T00:50:00.005+10:00

About 45 minutes by ferry across the harbour from Hong Kong is Macau. We stayed with a teacher called Miss Dalvi, who let us spend a day in her classroom. I made lots of friends that day.

They have outdoor gym equipment outside the school, so people can keep fit without having to pay lots of money to join a gym (see the Grandma swinging side to side in the picture below!).
As it was the last week of term, the school held a sleepover. There were lots of activities, including an art class where we made kaleidoscopes. We got to watch movies until late and I didn't go to sleep until 3am!

Hong Kong

2010-07-02T18:48:00.008+10:00

This is the 2nd time I have been to Hong Kong, but this time, I flew over with my Aunty Penny. Mum was already there for a few days for work.

We went to places I had never been before, like Ocean Park, which is built high up on Hong Kong Island. There are 2 parts to it, the bottom half and the top half. You have to go on a cable car to go between them.

We went on a scary rollercoaster ride which felt like we were going to fall down the hill and into the water. We were too busy screaming to admire the views.
Near Ocean Park, we went exploring and got lost. Luckily, we were near the water and were able to flag down a sampan (like an old Chinese junk) which took us around the harbour.

We saw boats which people lived and worked in. We also saw a huge floating restaurant.
Somewhere I had been before was Hong Kong Disneyland. Here is me having my head eaten by Stitch.

We went to the Animation Academy where they taught us how to draw Goofy. This is the drawing I did during the class.

Vivid Sydney

2010-05-29T23:15:00.002+10:00

We went to Vivid Sydney again this year, the annual festival of light.

This time, they let up a whole street of buildings with projections onto the walls. The projections made the Sydney Opera House look like the sails were moving, but it also made the buildings come alive with colour while telling us the history of the building and the era when it was built (during the early days of colonial settlement).

Crazy hat & sunglasses day

2010-05-29T23:09:00.002+10:00

We had a fundraiser at school where we had to wear a silly hat and sunglasses for the day, and donate a gold coin for the privilege. I wore my mum's sombrero from Mexico, and a pair of sunglasses from Ireland! I got a prize for the craziness of my hat and sunglasses.

Happy birthday, Buddha

2010-05-29T21:10:00.004+10:00

Buddha's birthday is to Buddhists what Christmas Day is to Christians. So every year, there is a big festival in Darling Harbour with vegetarian food stalls, gardens of peace and group meditation.

This year, I went with my mum on Mother's Day, and helped her carry bags like a gentleman and a good Buddhist.

My 2nd tennis trophy

2010-05-04T00:38:00.002+10:00

For the 2nd term in a row, I have won the tennis comp I play on Friday afternoons. This term, I had a different doubles partner. So it's fitting that I got a different kind of trophy this time round too.

Animalia

2010-04-20T18:41:00.003+10:00

The Easter school holidays involved chasing a lot of animals. We went down to Kangaroo Valley and picked up what the Easter bunny had left behind.

We groomed and rode Heather the Shetland pony with a bad case eczema!

We went to Mogo Zoo and got up close and personal with a Sumatran tiger...

...and fed the deer and kangaroos too.

South Coast

2010-04-20T18:33:00.005+10:00

We went on a couple of trips down the south coast and stopped off at some awesome spots like Gerringong, Batemans Bay, Malua Bay, Congo, Tuross Heads...

Narooma...

Kiama...

We stayed in Moruya (an Aboriginal name meaning "place of the black swan") in a little country town hotel.

Playing scrabble

2010-04-20T18:31:00.003+10:00

Check out the letters I got in a scrabble game!

Chinese New Year

2010-03-07T18:40:00.002+11:00

I was in the Chinese New Year parade again this year, after missing out last year. It is much more fun being in the parade, than watching it on the sidelines.

This year, I flew down the main street with my lion head and heelies (like roller skates) on, high fiving the crowd. I was the only lion dancer on wheels!

My birthday

2010-03-07T18:27:00.002+11:00

The theme for my birthday this year was spying and espionage. My cake was written in morse code and was in the shape of a keyhole.

At the party, we made secret weapons like green slime, time bombs and creaming soda explosions... all handy ammunition for a secret agent.

My aunty Penny took me to the Ice Bar, where it is minus 5 degrees celsius.

Here I am getting a drink at the bar to warm me up.

They also had an ice car that you could sit in. Bbbbrrrr-oom!

Harbour sail

2010-02-14T00:06:00.002+11:00

At the place where my mum works, they have a yacht you can hire. It comes complete with a skipper to teach you how to sail and to sail the boat for you if you don't want to know anything about boats. I did get a turn at steering the boat, but it was good to enjoy the harbour views of the Bridge and the city from the water.

We sailed around different bays, and got to sit at the front of the boat dipping our feet in the water as we rode over waves. We saw lots of different types of boats, including 8-footers, ferries, speedboats, kayaks, luxury cruisers and parasailers.

Housesitting

2010-02-02T21:40:00.004+11:00

Over the summer holidays, me and my mum got to mind my friend Oscar's house.I became a real beachboy, going to different beaches each day. People had campfires on the beach, and with the leftover charcoal, I wrote my name on the rocks.

At low tide, we could walk right out really far, almost to where the boats were.
There were also some good walks where you could see Sydney Harbour, parasailing and old beach huts.
My friend Oscar also has an awesome trampoline in his backyard.
It was like having a holiday without leaving my hometown. Isn't that called a 'stay-cation'?

Christmas kayaking

2009-12-31T23:43:00.003+11:00

My friend Oscar's mum got a kayak for Christmas. This is me testing it out on the water. It's a special kayak which has foot pedals, which makes it easy to power along in the water. You can also use the traditional paddle. I wasn't afraid of going out on the harbour by myself.

Christmas lights

2009-12-31T23:39:00.003+11:00

I didn't get to go see many Christmas lights this year, but the ones I did see were really good. These were all houses next door to one another!

Christmas decorations

2009-12-18T08:04:00.003+11:00

This year, I decorated my rooftop garden with a 'sleigh' that I constructed with chairs and crates. The blue, green and white chairs are the reindeer. I am sitting in the black chair driving the sleigh.

The crates at the back are where you can store presents, and the sleigh is held together with tinsel.

Cockatoo Island 2009

2009-12-18T07:47:00.004+11:00

Me and mum went camping at Cockatoo Island for a night. We do this every year with the Mother's Group, except we might go to a different island next year. It was a bit different to last year. They changed the tents. There's a house you can stay in if you want. And more people know about it now.

The most awesomest thing this year was that we didn't have to catch a ferry to the island. Instead, my friend Jaya picked me and mum up in her speed boat from near where we live! We went so fast across Sydney Harbour, it was really bumpy because we were flying across the waves and wakes of other boats.

We had Christmas dinner in the outdoor dining room, a treasure hunt with a pinata at the end. This is me bashing the pinata.

When we woke up the next morning, we saw a whole heap of people swimming around the island...weird!

My tennis trophy

2009-11-12T07:43:00.004+11:00

This is my first trophy.

I play in a tennis comp on Friday afternoons after school. It goes all term. I have a doubles partner and we play other pairs in 4-game sets.

After playing all the other pairs in the comp, the scores are tallied. Me and my doubles partner Christopher got the most points and we got a trophy each.

My friend Izzy's birthday

2009-10-21T23:03:00.003+11:00

For her 9th birthday, my friend Izzy got to take 6 of her friends (me being one of them) out for the day. We got to go ice skating, bungee jumping and tightrope walking.

Then we went back to her place and ate cakes and lollies. All up a top day out.

Making catapults

2009-10-15T21:52:00.004+11:00

I went to a workshop on medieval warfare where we got to make catapults.

We made catapults out of rubber bands and plastic spoons. We used rubber balls as ammunition. We got to wear helmets and goggles and fire the catapults at each other. The aim was to destroy castle walls.

Rubber balls flew everywhere. We got to make a mess and later burn stuff with magnifying glasses.

Crazy hair day

2009-10-15T21:49:00.001+11:00

My school had a crazy hair day to raise money for charity.

Do you think my hair looks crazy?

I have silver hair like my grandad!

Piano concert

2009-10-15T21:41:00.002+11:00

This is the first time I have performed solo at my music school's annual piano concert.

Indoor climbing

2009-09-29T17:27:00.004+10:00

For my friend Oscar's birthday, we went to an indoor climbing centre. It was the first time I had ever been.

I got to the top of some of the walls. But others were too high and scary.

I used a bag with chalk powder which you can rub on your hands so they don't get sweaty.

Zac Power

2009-09-29T17:24:00.002+10:00

Zac Power is a character in a book. He is a boy spy and comes from a family of spies. For Book Week Parade at school, I dressed up as him.

Athletics carnival

2009-08-14T23:01:00.008+10:00

I competed in my school athletics carnival for the first time this year as you have to be at least 8 years old to race. I came 1st in my heat for both 100m and 200m, and overall 3rd against all other 8 year olds in my school according to times.

This is me in the 800m, which was very exhausting, but I came in the top 10 out of about 30 boys!

This is me in the 4 x 100m relay in the green shirt (my house colour).

Scamp and me

2009-08-01T23:05:00.004+10:00

In Tamworth, I made friends with a dog called Scamp. He let me carry him everywhere.

He was very happy not to use his legs, except when playing football as you can see in this video:

Owl spotting

2009-08-01T11:09:00.003+10:00

I saw a real-life owl on the farm in Tamworth. Here is a video of it.

Tamworth

2009-07-31T23:59:00.004+10:00

When we got to Tamworth, we stayed at Lachie's cousins' farm. Each of his cousins had their own horse!

Every day, Lachie and I would walk up to the barn to get some feed and carry it over to the horses.

The horses have to be brushed each day to get the dirt off their coats.

And best of all, we got to lead and ride the horses.

Tamworth is also Australia's country music capital. It has a big country music festival every year, which is why it has a big golden guitar that you can visit. This is us standing underneath it.

Road trip

2009-07-31T23:50:00.003+10:00

Me and my mum went on a roadtrip to Tamworth, which is Australia's country music capital. On the way. we passed through a lot of country towns:

My friend Lachie and his mum also did the roadtrip, but drove their own car. Lachie brought his walkie talkies and gave me one, so we could talk to each other while our mums were driving. It was really fun saying 'over' (each time you finish saying something) and 'over and out' (when you want to finish the conversation).

In one of the towns, there was a cafe called Harvey's. We went and had a hot chocolate in there.

Winter in the Blue Mountains

2009-07-29T10:57:00.003+10:00

This winter, they have set up an ice rink up in the Carrington Hotel in Katoomba. This is me trying to stay on my feet!

My friend Martin and his mum and brother came up and had a skate too. We also went for a bushwalk and on the Skyway, Scenic Railway AND the Cableway on the same day.

WWE Raw

2009-07-26T23:58:00.003+10:00

We went to see WWE Raw at Acer Arena at Sydney Olympic Park. It had some of my most favourite wrestling stars like John Cena and Triple H and Hornswoggle.

A big monster truck was parked outside. But I think it would be heaps better to see the Crusty Demons (dirt bike riders).

Just outside the arena is this cool fountain.

Before the show, we went to the Armory to see an exhibition and climb on top of the bunkers!

Illuminate

2009-06-08T21:44:00.004+10:00

We went back and saw some of the things we missed last weekend at the Vivid Sydney festival. At the Sydney Opera House, there was a light graffiti installation called Illuminate.

It's not graffiti on the wall. You take a torch and stand in front of a camera, and wave the torch about while a picture is taken very slowly.

The torch makes light shapes. You can spell out words in the photo or just make scribbles. Or you can make a light saber.

Vivid Sydney

2009-05-31T10:24:00.006+10:00

Vivid Sydney is a big light festival on at the moment, with lots of different art works that use light.

Mum and I walked around the Rocks and the Circular Quay looking at them all. It was lots of fun.

One of the artworks projects light onto the Sydney Opera House and makes it look like reptile skin. Mum says one of the artists is actually a famous musician called Brian Eno who was in a band called Pink Floyd.

At the end of the night, we caught a bicycle taxi back to where we parked the car. It's better for the environment but lots of people were staring at us!

Here is a video of some of the stuff in the exhibition.

School band

2009-05-31T10:21:00.007+10:00

I am in the junior band at school. We only formed at last term and I am in the percussion section. That means I can play any instrument from the keyboard to drums to glockenspiel. We had our first public performance and I played the big bass drum. Here I am standing at the back.

Buddha's Birthday

2009-05-31T10:01:00.003+10:00

Just like Christians celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ at Christmas, Buddhists honour the Buddha's birthday.

There was a big festival in Darling Harbour. All the food was vegetarian.

And there was dragon dancing too (of course).

A lazy Sunday

2009-05-03T22:18:00.003+10:00

My mum and I had a lazy Sunday going to the open day at the local fire station.

I got to see inside the station and slide down the pole the firefighters use when they're called to an emergency.

I got to sit in the driver's seat of the fire truck.

I even got to play with the oxygen masks.

I played with the two-way radio and the sirens.

Then we scootered over to Darling Harbour, where we watched some street performers. One was a guy who could make gigantic bubbles. They were so big you could put your head in them. And he could make them float off into the air.

A cool restaurant called the Grotto Capri

2009-05-02T22:09:00.002+10:00

We went to an awesome restaurant called the Grotto Capri. It's where they filmed a show called Underbelly which my parents watch.

The inside looks like it is underwater, sort of like Bikini Bottom where SpongeBob Squarepants lives.

My dad just turned 40!

2009-04-28T23:03:00.003+10:00

Luckily it's been school holidays on my dad's birthday. He turned 40 today. We had a nice lunch by the water on Sydney Harbour.

I gave my camera a workout capturing jellyfish in the water...

...and when we walked through Hyde Park, I snapped St Mary's Cathedral in black and white.

Doggy in sunnies

2009-04-26T23:06:00.003+10:00

When we were driving down to my friend Lachie's place, we pulled up at the traffic lights and the car next us had a dog hanging out the window wearing special doggy sunglasses. He looked so cool.

Royal Easter Show

2009-04-12T22:29:00.004+10:00

Over the Easter weekend, we went to the Royal Easter Show. We slept overnight in a nearby hotel so we could stay late into the night. I got my picture taken with John Cena and Rey Mysterio and a WWE belt, and I got a WWE showbag.

In the evening, we saw a couple of shows, including a freestyle motocross show with guys on motorbikes doing awesome somersaults and stuff like that. One of the guys is in the Crusty Demons show. Then there was a laser and fireworks show, and live music.

Actually, the Royal Easter Show is supposed to be an agricultural show, so there are lots of farm animals on display. The farmers also show off the food they have grown by making pictures out of food, like the fish made out of apples and the exhibition of grains below.

Cross country carnival

2009-04-10T19:50:00.004+10:00

This year, I was old enough to enter the cross country carnival at school because I am now 8 years old.

We had to start at the local cricket oval, and do a lap, before going out and running 2km around the park.

By the end, I was tired and sweaty. Even though I had to run against 9 and 10 year olds at the same time, I beat most of my 8-year old mates!

An accident in our street

2009-04-10T19:37:00.003+10:00

I was walking home from my tennis lesson with my mum, when we saw a car flipped over on its side. It had taken a right hand turn too quickly, crashed into a parked car and turned over. All the people in the street came out to have a look. There were fire engines there making sure the car didn't catch fire. The driver was so shocked he threw up on the pavement. My friend Angus' dad saw the whole thing so he had to tell the police what he saw.

Rugby League

2009-04-10T19:31:00.003+10:00

We have different kinds of football to England. We have soccer, and I have been to see Sydney FC play at the Sydney Football Stadium. But we also have rugby league. Some players from the Wests Tigers came to our school and gave us a goodie bag which included free tickets to their Foundation Cup game, also at Sydney Football Stadium. I went with my friends Andy and Lucas. That's me in the blue shirt shaking the mascot's hand. Andy is in the striped shirt next to me.

My Saint Patrick's Day Award

2009-03-24T17:46:00.002+11:00

My teacher gave me a Merit Award for "writing a fantastic limerick on Saint Patrick's Day". Here's how it went:

There was a smart girl called Jill
Who randomly went up a hill
She hit her smart head
On her father's good shed
And then fell down a steep hill

My WWE birthday party

2009-02-15T17:59:00.007+11:00

I've become a big fan of WWE Raw and Smackdown. My favourite wrestler is Jeff Hardy, so I dressed up as him for my party.

A pro wrestler called TNT came to my party. This is what he looks like. He's not as mean as he looks!

He and some members of his Detonation Crew taught me and my friends some wrestling moves.

TNT even let me hold is championship belt and present it to the winner of the match between Adam Traffic and Fully Loaded. Mr Traffic was going to give me a fine for not being a good enough wrestler. Fully Loaded challenged him to a match to defend my honour! There were some awesome fight moves.

Afterwards, we all ate a piece of my homemade wrestling birthday cake.

Sydney International tennis tournament

2009-01-26T11:46:00.003+11:00

We went to Sydney Olympic Park to see the men's finals (doubles and singles). I got to sit in the umpire's chair on one of the warm-up courts.

In the men's doubles finals, one of the teams were twin brothers. They were wearing the same thing and you couldn't tell them apart.

The men's final was between Jarko Niemenen (Finland) and David Nalbandian (Argentina). I got Jarko's autograph at the end of the match.

On the night, they officially named the venue the Ken Rosewall Arena, and the tennis legend Ken Rosewall was there to open it. I got his autograph later too!

Mountain pizza

2009-01-08T18:25:00.002+11:00

The mountains would be a quiet place if it weren't for all the tourists in the holidays. At my favourite pizza restaurant, they give the kids a bit of dough. You can make what you want and then they cook it for you in the pizza oven. Well it so busy on the night we went and I was getting so hungry, that I made mine into the pizza I was having to wait so long for...

Bolt

2009-01-08T18:19:00.003+11:00

Bolt the movie came out on New Year's Day, so we went to the cinema in the mountains to see it. The cinema now has 4 screens! And there's hardly any adverts before the movie. If you don't get there on time, you miss the main feature (like what happened when we went to see Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa). For this movie, we got there early, and they kept repeating the same ads over and over until it was time for the movie. They can do things a bit weird in the mountains.

Fireworks on New Year's Eve

2009-01-08T18:14:00.003+11:00

We didn't do fireworks in the city this year. Instead, we escaped to the Blue Mountains and went to the local golf club. The night sky is darker up there and so the fireworks were awesomely vivid and seemed really close, just as good as the ones on the harbour. They even showed up on my mum's camera phone.

Blue Mountains on Boxing Day

2009-01-04T11:14:00.003+11:00

We went up to the Blue Mountains for a week. I took my PlayStation and nearly finished my Batman Lego game (all 30 levels) in between entertaining visitors and going for bushwalks.

I did a really long bushwalk, going down the Giant Staircase, walking along the bottom of the valley, then coming up the Furber Steps. I nearly beat my mum who took the Scenic Railway coming up!

The big tree is a turpentine tree which is one of the biggest and oldest trees in the Blue Mountains.

A very merry Christmas

2009-01-04T11:02:00.002+11:00

We drove around the city to see the best Christmas lights.

There were some awesome ones, even in the Blue Mountains.

On Christmas morning, I checked outside and found evidence that Santa had been: his reindeer had eaten the carrots I put out for them.

I got a lot of what was on my Christmas list. Some of my favourite presents were my Batman Lego Playstation game, my Kevin 11 car, my test tube alien, and my dancing Wall.E speaker.

Biking around the bay

2009-01-03T21:46:00.005+11:00

I managed to ride my bike for 7km around the bay.

On the way, I did some birdwatching and photography.

We stopped for a drink towards the end, but it was still tiring.

Sydney FC

2009-01-03T21:32:00.002+11:00

The week before Christmas, we went to see Sydney FC play at the Sydney Football Stadium. The club is owned by the actor Anthony La Paglia, but the team wasn't very good. They got beaten 4-1 at home, and one of them was an 'own goal'! I was more interested in the football songs than the game: there was some very loud singing going on.

Star Wars exhibition

2008-12-15T20:39:00.009+11:00

Sydney's Powerhouse Museum has got an awesome Star Wars exhibition on right now. I went with my friend DJ, who is also a major Star Wars fan.

There were lots of Star Wars nerds there, nearly all boys. You can tell they are a bit nerdy if they know all the names of the different characters. For example, here's me with a Sandperson.

I also saw a Wookie, a Jawa, R2D2, C3PO, a Droptrooper, and Luke Skywalker's landspeeder.

What kind of car does a Jedi Master drive? A To-Yoda! (And I met Yoda too at the exhibition.)

Camping at Cockatoo Island

2008-11-22T07:44:00.007+11:00

When I was a baby (8 weeks old), my mum joined a local Mothers Group. All the babies and mums are still friends and last weekend we went camping at Cockatoo Island in the middle of Sydney Harbour. Here we are, and you can see our tents behind us:

We had lots of fun running around the island and going from tent to tent. We also had an early Christmas dinner which we ate outside with sausage sandwiches cooked in the camp kitchen and Xmas crackers:

The island used to be a prison. So some of the buildings were a bit scary, because they were old and need repairing. One of them didn't have a roof, and you can go into the rooms where they used to lock up prisoners:

You can see some more photos from the camping trip here.

Halloween 2008

2008-11-08T17:13:00.006+11:00

We went a really good Halloween festival at a local school. There were all sorts of witches and zombies there. They had a thing called the Monster M.A.S.H, where you were taken on a ride on the 'ambulance' (they push you around the school playground really fast in a wheelchair). Then they put you on the operating table and ask you what you would like amputated.

I told them I needed my brain removed, so they put a bandage on my head complete with blood and pus!

Plus there was the Bridge of Doom which you had to cross without being eaten by crocodiles. Thank goodness I survived!

I also had my own Halloween Dinner Party with a few friends like the Grim Reaper, some vampires like myself and other assorted monsters. We certainly scared a few residents into giving us treats!

Mask on:

Even scarier, mask off!

Another hill in Hong Kong

2008-10-04T19:00:00.002+10:00

They like a hill in Hong Kong. To get to it, you have to cross the harbour on a ferry (a bit like Sydney).

Then you have to catch a really steep tram up the hill. On the top of the hill, you can see all of Hong Kong.

Hong Kong has lots of markets, and people eat outside a lot.

We went to a seafood restaurant where you can see all the fresh food (before it is cooked) alive in tanks outside. You could see the crabs, fish and prawns swimming around.

Kung Fu Panda was here

2008-10-04T18:53:00.004+10:00

Have you seen the movie Kung Fu Panda? If you have, you can probably remember the bit where he tries to climb loads of steps up to a temple? Well, in Hong Kong they have something just like that. It's a big Buddha on a hill.

There were over 200 steps to the top, and like Kung Fu Panda, I was tired after the first five!

I also wanted to learn the ancient art of tai chi, so I joined a class taught by a man who was just like Master Wu Gwai in Kung Fu Panda.

Famous people from Hong Kong

2008-10-04T18:49:00.004+10:00

This is me with Bruce Lee. He was famous for his kung fu.

And here is me with Jackie Chan. Funnily enough, he is famous for kung fu too.

Hong Kong Disneyland

2008-10-01T01:36:00.005+10:00

On the way back from England, we stopped in Hong Kong for a week and spent 2 days at the newest Disneyland. We stayed in one of the Disneyland Hotels, and got to stay up late as the park was open until 11pm! I could have supper at 9:30pm and swim in the pool until 10pm too.

Everything in the hotel had Mickey Mouse ears on it, even the shampoo bottles, the lift buttons and train windows. See the picture of me on the train below? Look closely at the things you hang onto when you are standing up.

There were 3 lands, and my favourite one was Tomorrowland which had the Space Mountain ride.

Legoland!

2008-09-23T23:33:00.005+10:00

When I went to Legoland for 2 days, it was so fun. My best ride was the Jungle Coaster and the Driving School (where the car looks like a Lego piece). There was a maze and you had to find your way through it. It actually took 25 million pieces of Lego to build Legoland. On a ride called the Space Tower (see the picture above), I had to pull my weight plus the chair and my dad. It was hard! On the log shoot, I got soaked. Then I got to go to the best bit: the Miniland. You got to see some countries of the world (built in Lego). You also got to see the London Eye. Then I had to go home.

If you look at all the pictures below (and the spider in the photo above), you'll see that everything is made of Lego.