Animal of the week #6: Pademelon

Pademelons look like mini kangaroos with a mouse tail. They look cute and magical when they hop across the fields of Lamington at night. Pademelons live in the rainforest and eat the fruit of the stranger fig tree. - Clio

Lamington

A couple of days ago we went to Lamington National Park in the Lamington plateau for 1 week.  We stayed at Binna Burra (place of the beach tree) Mountain Lodge, and we got to stay in safari tents.  They were huge. We did lots of hikes, the longest we did was a 12 KM. When we were hiking, we saw the cave were the native people cooked food.  We also saw in the rainforest giant vines that you can swing on. On the 3rd day we had a campfire. The bus ride was 1 and a half hours long. On the way home we stopped at Burleigh Head at the Gold Coast to swim in the waves. P.S. My birthday is on sep.27, 5 days.

CRICKET!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Cricket is a ball and bat game played between 2 teams of 11 players on each. One team bats tries to score runs, while the other team bowls or pitches trying to restrict the amount of runs and get the batter out.The goal of the game is to have more runs than the other team.The longest batter at bat was for 5 days!!! Cricket is very popular in Australia, New Zealand, Bangladesh, West Indies, India, and England.

Animal of the week #5: Eastern Water Dragon

This is a picture of Emil and an Eastern Water Dragon.  We see them near water.  They live near water because they can swim and hold their breath for 90 minutes.  To swim, their tail moves from side to side like a shark's. There is a monument to the Eastern Water Dragon at the Brisbane Botanical Gardens. I hope to go see it.

Aussie Election

Today's post is on the Australian election. It is very different from our election. We have Republicans and Democrats.  But in Australia, they have Labour and Liberal. Also, you don't vote for the person, instead you vote for the party. This election, the Liberal Party won, so Tony Abbott is the new Prime Minister. Nobody liked either party leader.

To demonstrate how the Aussie election works, we'll have an election. You will be voting for a new blog subject. If my Mom is elected, she will do an environmental fact of the week. If my Dad is elected, he will do a photo of the week. Remember you vote for what they are doing not for the person. Please leave your vote in the comments section. Just like an Australian election everybody has to vote. In Australia if you don't vote, you will be fined ($20-$170 AU)! So vote!

Animal of the week #4: Wombat

Wombats are marsupials. They are fuzzy-wuzzy and grow to 3 feet long. They eat grass and burrow underground. Like the koala, the wombat pouch is backwards, so the dirt doesn't get in the pouch when it digs. I saw this wombat at the Lone Pine Sanctuary. I hope I get to see more.

Sea slugs and sea cucumbers

Today's post is on sea slugs and sea cucumbers. Sea cucumbers are echinoderms. They look like

pickles that are in the ocean. Did you know they breathe and eat through their anuses? The oldest fossil is 400million years old. Sea slugs are nudibranchs,which are a type of mollusk. They are commonly found on choral eating plankton. Think of them as snails with no shells.

To see a funny video on sea pigs click

Sea Pig video