My Samoan Heritage - Easter S

My Travel Wishlist - Chloe

Chloe ~ Chile 

I would like to go to Chile because my mum was born there. Chile is in South America the capital of Chile is Santiago. The things that i will love to do in Chile is visit family i have never met and the weather in chile. At the top of Chile it's very hot, coming down to the middle is like the warmest type of weather and at the 

right bottom is winter there is a lot of snow there.

 I would like to go to Torres del Paine national park. It is a very beautiful place to visit. This spot has greenlands, rivers, lakes, mountains. I would love to do hiking here. It’s more than 100 kilometers north of the city of Puerto Natales in southern Patagonia.

Tourist Experiences Around Australia - Chloe

1. My family and I go to the Blue Mountains every year to have lunch there and look at the towns. My Mum and Dad sometimes walk to the 3 sisters to get closer to it but they say it's a long painful hike, they rather just go look out sight and see them and take some pictures. 

To be honest I don't like the Blue Mountains. It's not that interesting to me and I saw it alot when I was a little girl. My parents have to wake me up really early so we can spend the whole day there. It's actually boring when you see the same stuff over and over again but my parents like it. 

2. In 2013, my mum,dad and I went to Melbourne to see my auntie and uncle. It took 14 hours just to get to Melbourne. I slept most of the way but I felt car sick. We stayed for 2 weeks and I got to hang out with my 2 cousins ( Katie and Jack ). It was actually very fun to go with them and see every one. Every year my aunt comes to Sydney and sees the family and spends 1 month with us. She comes every May and November, she loves to spoil people when she comes and she makes my dad do things in the house.

When we were in Melbourne we did a lot of driving and going to different places. It was so boring but fun. Melbourne traffic is the worst. We stayed in the same spot for 2 hours. I fell asleep in the car and we got home 3 hours later. 

3. My mum, dad, 2 uncles, 2 aunties, 7 cousins, Auntie Kathleen and I went to Brisbane, Queensland. was my favourite place to go to. I had so much fun there we only stayed for 2 days but it was so fun. We went to Dream world, Movie world and Sea world. We didworld we did a lot of things. We werethings we were there for hours we went home when the park was closing. Thatclosing that day was the best day of my life. We went that year because that was the last year my auntie Kathleen was living. It was so fun to hang out with the family a little bit of fighting but it still was fun.

 

I remember going to the city in Brisbane. It was an unforgettable night. I don't like cities but it was very beautiful. I loved how we got to see different shops, looking around the place going to the beach and looking at the waves. We just spent a lot of time there and sadly we couldn't stay for long as we had a plane to catch.

4. Hunter Vvalley is my favorite place to go!!. I learnt a lot of things there. I learnt to swim and to not drink alcohol and never to swim in a pond and to be nice to people. One time we went there to surprise my mum for her birthday. It was fun. We took her too; wine tasting things, chocolate factory, pools, Italian restaurants. 

We took a lot of car drives. It takes a while to get there but we don't really mind. I sleep, watch a movie or play I spy. 

5. Coogee is also one of my favourites. My mum and dad took me to Coogee alot when I was little. When i was there people were having a lot of fun, partying and singing songs. I taught a girl how to dive, I also walked to Bondi beach and then we went on a bus home and my legs were dead. I went to a restaurant to have a family dinner and I met an artist. He was very kind so I did a drawing for him. We also went to the beach and diving under waves. My dad took me there for my 9th birthday. It was fun. I love the beach, markets and the people.

 

Australian Experiences - Lidija

~ Experience I ~

In 2017, I went to the Gold Coast with most of my family and spent a week there. We mostly went swimming and stayed in a hotel, but on the days we went out, we went to the theme parks and would stay until they shut. It was really fun and me and my sister would go on all of the rides.

~ Experience II ~

Last year, me and my family took a random holiday in Brighton Le Sands just to get away. We stayed at a hotel and there was a pool so we mainly spent the whole time swimming.  And the beach was right across from the hotel so we would go for walks on the beach. We would just walk around a lot and experience a new suburb in its finest.

~ Experience III ~

Me and my Nana went to Melbourne for a 21s birthday party. It was really fun and I got to see a new place. It was a lot more urban and brought up than Minto, NSW. There was a lot of construction undergoing that part of Melbourne and I stayed at my uncle's house. It was overall amazing and I loved the area and the people. One thing that highlighted the trip was the mall, it was huge and had a wide variety of stores. It also looked very urban.

~ Experience IV ~

We went to the Big Banana in Coffs Harbor. We went on the rides and attractions. There was nothing over the top, mainly just slides or a thing called the toboghan. It was like a ride that you sit on and have to press the brake every time you turn a corner. It was pretty cool and fun and anyone could go on it.

World Experiences - Krystheena

01 : Nara, JAPAN [Typical Sightsee-er, Luxury Traveller, Foodie]

In 2019, I visited Japan. I visited the Nara Deer Park in Kyoto, which also included many different temples and food stalls. The deer park is famous for all the different temples and it's known for the dears bowing their necks to the tourists as a sign of respect and the tourists giving the girls food from the local stalls. 

Seeing all the deer as soon as we entered the area was a really exciting experience, as you don't experience that in any other country besides Japan. If you had food, herds of deers would huddle around you to try and get the food that you bought. It was a large area filled with different kinds of deers and it was packed with many tourists. Once you kept walking through the park, there was a very big castle with an art museum inside with local Japanese art and also different kinds of Japanese teas.

Kyoto was the second Japanese area we visited in the one month trip, and it was very nice seeing the different types of scenery in Japan; like bamboo forests and the different temples and castles in the town. We went on and off  different buses heading to different locations and it lasted a whole day of sightseeing and touring, it was really an unforgettable experience and I highly recommend it to other people visiting Japan. 

02 : Bali, INDONESIA [Adventurer, Foodie]

There are many highlights towards my Bali trip including going to a monkey zoo which was caged, trying our very unique different types of teas, And exploring the local community by roaming around outside  our hotel. 

When I heard it was a monkey zoo, I got really excited as monkeys are a really cool animal, and when I heard it was uncaged, I was pretty worried but I would've never guessed that the monkeys are actually not in cages at all. They were all spread apart; it was quite an unforgettable experience and also slightly scary. The area itself was beautiful even without the monkeys, but with them, it just adds a whole other dimension which really makes it stand out in any other place we went to.

Indonesia also has this place where you can try different types of local teas and coffees which are freshly brewed by either of the staff or by yourself. There is a specialty that they have in the menu, which is a type of animal feces (which is apparently healthier in a way). It would've been a waste not to try it since it is another country, so we did try it and it's weird to say that it was actually pretty good.

03 : Singapore, SINGAPORE [Luxury Traveller, Foodie, Photojournalist]

In 2013, I went to Singapore as well as Malaysia and Thailand. We stayed in Marina Bay Sands for a couple of days to try out how the best hotel in Singapore was like. The hotel itself was amazing. There were three different towers and one floating infinity pool at the top, which you could see a clear view of Singapore from the top - including the famous Merlion, Crown Casino and at night, some gardens would light up and it would look really nice -. 

The gardens were called ‘Gardens by the Bay' and a lot of movies have been there, due to its aesthetic features and how well it looks. It's a very post-worthy area and it's a must when visiting Singapore. With a view like that, you'll never be able to get over it even if you see it every day. Singapore is a very clean and underrated Asian country and I would love to go back just for the experiences. The food also was pretty cheap but they tasted really nice, which is great.

04 : Bangkok, THAILAND [Adventurer, Typical Sightsee-er, Foodie]

Thailand is known for their food and for their temples. Every single place we ate at was delicious and it's unlike any other Thai food you could eat just somewhere. The food itself just tasted the best, like nothing could ever beat it. The wait time for the food ordering was also really fast, which was impressive since we ordered a lot and it was kind of complicated as well but when we tasted it, it was very yummy.

We also visited many golden temples which had Thai people working there making their own clothing by weaving, and there are also some hand painted shirts and canvases. They also were selling a lot of jewellery, which are incredibly good quality and worth a lot. Seeing pictures of the temples makes me reminisce back to the times where seeing the gold itself shine in the sun was a magnificent sight. 

05 : Hong Kong, HONG KONG/CHINA [Luxury Traveller, Photojournalist]

In 2014, I visited Hong Kong and Macau. The highlight of the trip was experiencing Venetian boats and having our own personal rower to guide us around a very nice area with other tourists doing it as well. The atmosphere was really nice as the person guiding us around and was also singing and greeting us and the other people as well with a really really exciting tone which would boost anyone's mood.

Beijing Street Food - Mr Camilleri

During my visit to Beijing, I noticed a busy, bustling street full of noise and colour. Upon closer inspection, I noticed that it was a long street full of amazing street food. Foods that I saw included massive octopi, live insects attached to skewers, and a variety of interesting looking sweets and soups.

Most of the food was very cheap, ranging from around a few AUD for small servings. I ended up purchasing at least 8 different food items just for the amazing experience!

Australian Tourism Experiences - Tahjeeb

Taronga Zoo - 2010:

My cousins had come from Melbourne to our home for the first time, so our family decided to go to Taronga Zoo.
As we were around the ages of 4-6, we all had a great time there. Although I was very young, I still remember some small details.
My cousins and I were ecstatic to be close to animals. Since this was before there were that many animals, we were able to see lions, tigers, giraffes to small meerkats and mountain goats.
Our family were typical sightsee-ers in this journey as we were in one of the biggest zoos in Sydney, which was also one of the most popular tourist attractions.

Newcastle - 2016:

My family and I drove up north from Sydney to stay in Newcastle for a couple of days. We stayed in a small hotel that was nearby some beaches.
At the hotel we met up with two other families and would be going to the tourist places like we had planned. We were going to go to the sand dunes and to the beaches.

On the second day, we went to the sand dunes. When we first arrived it felt like there were just sand dunes everywhere. I was mistaken by this as when we were going over the dunes, we saw a beach on the other side.
Before we could go to the beach, some people in our group wanted to ride camels that would take you around the sand dunes. I was a bit scared to go on them, so I backed out from this activity. 
Later, we all went on a bus to go further into the sand dunes.

We arrived at a place where there was a large slope that was setup for tourists to sandboard on. They provided boards and sleds and we all went down a few people at a time.
This time I was daring enough to participate and it was quite fun, especially for the other younger children who were there. 
After all the sand dune related activities, we finally went to the beach and had fun splashing around in the water. When we were done playing at the beach, we went back to our hotels and ate homemade meals in our rooms.
The next day we went to another beach where we went to go for a walk around sunset. On this peaceful, refreshing trip in Newcastle we were typical sightesee-ers, going out of the city to a different type of location.

Canberra Floriade (Tulip Show) - 2018:

Floriade (Tulip Show) in Canberra is an annual event and in 2018, my family and I had decided to go after many years. Many of our family friends also went and we all had met up at the park it was held at.
When we arrived at the park, we were welcomed by many beautiful tulips and other colourful flowers. The place was filled with so much colour making everything bright and appealing.

My dad had allowed me to bring a camera with me to the festival and I was able to take many pictures. The tulips near the entrance were all separated by colour making it look organised.
There were a majority of tulips, so at every turn there was bound to be a tulip. 

By going further into the park we found many more trees and flowers. There was a tree that had drooping vines with flowers growing out of the vines and nearly everyone in my family took a picture with it.
There was a larger tree with smaller flowers on it and bees flying around it so also decided to take a picture of it with the bees. 
On this trip, I was a photojournalist as I had been taking many pictures of the scenery and we were also typical sightsee-ers by going to an annual event that is gone to by many tourists.

Floriade and Parliament House - Anam

Canberra, ACT 

In 2017 my mum, sister, brother and I went to Canberra to see Floriade. Floriade is an annual flower show held in Canberra.
We chose to go to Canberra to see the flower show to also see the Parliament House.

We left Sydney at 7am in the morning after buying some healthy breakfast and it was a 4 hour drive meaning we got there at 11am.
We went straight to the Parliament House and then later went to the Floriade show. It was amazing.
The colours of the flowers were extremely vibrant and very fragrant. The Parliament House was just as wonderful.
I got to see the Great Hall in which there were many pieces of tapestry. I also got to see the Public Galleries. 

After visiting Floriade and having some lunch we decided it was time to leave. We left at around 6pm and stopped 2 hours into the drive for a break.
We saw a beautiful little village there and there was also a massive yak statue. We took a few pictures and got back to Sydney at 10.30pm.

I think I would be identified as the typical sightsee-er tourist for this trip.

My Visit to Rottness Island

In 2017, I went on a holiday to Perth in Western Australia.
I chose this city as I knew it was one of the biggest cities in Australia and was close to a variety of amazing city and natural landscapes.
On one of the days we were in Perth, we decided to visit Rottness Island, with an intention to see the native Quokkas living there.

Rottness Island was a short ferry trip away from the CBD in Perth. It was really cool to be able to ride a ferry where we could see the vast ocean landscape.
The trip took us about an hour, so we were mostly able to avoid sea-sickness!

When we arrived on Rottness Island, we were greeted by an amazing natural landscape.
A short walk along the paths around the island revealed a few amazing quokkas! They were very friendly and seemed to be used to humans.
Our whole day was spent riding bikes and seeing quokkas all over the island.
Most of this time I was an adventure tourist as I was exploring the amazing landscapes by foot and bicycle.

I’m really excited to visit one day again.