November 22, 2001 (Thursday)

On our first day of holiday, we (my dad, my mom, my sister Elaine and I) drove to Toronto in our mini-van. As usual, it was a very boring trip. There wasn’t anything to do, so I slept for most of the time. We arrived in Toronto just in time for lunch and went to a dim-sum restaurant called Bright Pearl. Even though there are a lot of dim-sum restaurants in Toronto, we always go to that one because it has very good dim sum.

After spending some time in Toronto with my grandparents, we went to the Lester B. Pearson airport to wait for our flight to Hong Kong via Vancouver. I was feeling very excited because we were already on our way to Australia, the place I used to only dream of going to. I thought about how it was really going to be a fun and exciting trip. It would also be an excellent learning experience. I thought and hoped that I was going to have a wonderful time in Australia!

However, to get to all the fun and excitement in Australia, we had to first take a very long flight. Flying in an airplane isn’t exactly what you call fun, but at least you get to eat lots of snacks. So, for most of the flight, I just slept and slept except for meals and snacks!

November 23, 2001 (Friday)

When we got to Vancouver, some people got off because that was their destination, but we stayed on to fly to Hong Kong. We stopped in Vancouver for about an hour (my mom told me that I was asleep that whole time!) while some passengers and flight attendants got off and the plane was re-fuelled. After we took off again, (I was still sleeping) we flew for another fourteen hours. Today was much shorter due to our flying west over the International Date Line.

I was really excited about going to Australia. Before today, going to Australia was only a dream, a fantasy. Australia had been the country that I most wanted to visit. I looked forward to seeing the country with the coral reefs, the rainforests, the wildlife, the people, the culture!

November 24, 2001 (Saturday)

We landed at the Hong Kong International Airport very early this morning just after six. The Hong Kong International Airport still strikes me as being really big even though I’ve been there several times. We ate breakfast at the airport, but I wasn’t really in the mood for breakfast because of jet lag.

After breakfast, we took a taxi to my grandma’s (on my mom’s side of the family) home because there was an 18-hour layover till the flight to Sydney and we didn’t want to just wait at the airport. Some of my uncles and aunts came to my grandma’s home to join us for lunch. But after lunch, we were ready for bed since it was past midnight, Ottawa time! By the time we woke up, it was dinnertime already. So other than having lunch and dinner there, we mostly just slept because of the jet lag.

We had to leave at 10:00pm for the flight to Sydney. When we finally took off for the last leg to Australia, I was so excited!

November 25, 2001 (Sunday )

We arrived in Sydney around noon. But by the time we had taken our luggage to our hotel and unpacked, we were really exhausted and decided to have a nap.

For dinner, we went to a seaside restaurant called Doyles. The food was pretty expensive, but it was really good. I ate a lobster mornay, which is a lobster tail with the meat dug out and covered in a white, cheesy sort of sauce. Lobster is one of my favourite foods, so I like most types of lobster and almost all the ways it is cooked.

Today, I found out that an Aussie (Australian) dollar is worth around 80 cents Canadian. I also learnt from some Australian friends that Australia’s a really beautiful country. It has everything from mountains and deserts to rainforests and coral reefs. However, the Australian accent here is pretty strong and they use lots of different Aussie (Australian) slang/phrases. Some examples are that Australians sometimes use "blokes" and "sheilas", instead of "gentlemen" and "ladies". Weird, matey!

November 26, 2001 (Monday)

When we woke up this morning, Dad had already left for his conference and it was raining, so we went to Market City, a shopping mall close to our hotel. After our shopping was done, we went back to the hotel to rest a little.

While we were waiting for Dad to return, Elaine (my sister) and I played board games and read books and magazines to pass away the time.

Dad returned in the late afternoon. We decided to go out for a walk and look for a good seafood restaurant to have dinner. Unfortunately, we had hardly gone a few blocks when it began to rain quite heavily. We took shelter in a nearly shopping mall in Chinatown.

We ended up having dinner at the food court there. Actually, I like to eat in food courts because there is a wide selection of things to choose and you don’t have to eat the same things as everyone else in the family. We can all have different things to eat and everyone can enjoy their own choice. We can also try others’ choices if we want.

November 27, 2001 (Tuesday)

It looked like a fine day out, so we walked to the Sydney Opera House, which is a Sydney landmark. It is very beautiful in the daytime, but even more spectacular in the evening. My mom told me that the designer of the Opera House was inspired by an orange that he was peeling.

We walked a bit further to the Sydney Information Centre to get some information about where we could go in the next few days. Above the Information centre was a museum. I learned a lot about the history of Sydney, including how the British thought that Australia was the wildest and most dangerous country in the world because of all the different animals and plants that existed only in this country! I also learned that before Australia became a developed country, it was started as a convict colony and was heavily in debt. A lot of the prisoners-of-war and thieves from Great Britain were sent there to serve out their life sentence because the British did not want them in their own country!

November 28, 2001 (Wednesday)

This morning, we went to listen to my dad’s keynote speech at a CATI (Computer Assisted Telephone Interview) forum at a museum called Powerhouse Museum. It was fun hearing my name being mentioned in his speech!

After his speech, we walked around and explored the Museum. I really liked the hands-on exhibit where you can turn gears and make electricity. I also liked a clock that was modelled like the one in Strasford. It shows the time, the date, the planets, and the phases of the sun and moon, and, at every hour, it has a parade of people. The time, the date, the planets, and the phases of the sun and moon are actually all exact. That means you can see what time it is, what day it is, where each planet such as Jupiter is, and what phases of the sun and moon it is, all off one clock! The amazing thing is: it all moves by mechanical energy, with no electricity involved at all!

Afterwards, we went to the Queen Victoria Building, an old-fashioned building in which there was a huge Christmas tree (4 storeys tall!). There was also a jade bridal carrier made entirely of jade except for the grip on the wheels! It weighs two tons and was carved from 300 tons of raw jade!

November 29, 2001 (Thursday)

We went to an indoor flea market called Paddy’s Market. It was very busy and crowded there. We found out that some of the souvenirs that we had bought in the past few days were also available at this market, but at much lower prices! So we bought some mangoes instead. The mangoes were really good, very juicy, sweet and meaty. They were locally grown in Queensland.

For lunch, we went to have dim sum with two of Dad’s cousins. Afterwards, we went for a swim at a beach called Coogee Beach. That was really fun because the beach was part of the Pacific Ocean and had big waves. I would swim out, and when a wave came, I would put my back out towards the wave and the wave would then shoot me towards the shore. Too bad it was seawater, or else it would have been the best swim in my life.

We ate roast chicken for dinner at a fast-food restaurant called Rooster King. It was owned by my dad’s cousin, who owned a few more restaurants, including a seafood restaurant and an Internet café, on the same street! The roast chicken from the Rooster King was really good!

November 30, 2001 (Friday)

A fire drill woke us up and had us scrambling downstairs in our pyjamas! Someone had left the door open while in the shower and the steam had gone to the smoke detector.

We went by ferry to the Taronga Zoo. We took the sky safari, which is a cable car, to the top of the zoo, which is on a mountain. Then we walked downhill around the zoo. I saw different types of animals, including kangaroos, koalas, Tasmanian devils, platypus, echidnas, and many others. According to the Taronga Zoo brochure, the giraffes have the best view in all of Sydney!

In the evening, we went to Coogee Beach again, this time to the seafood restaurant that my dad’s cousin owns. To start off, we had different kinds of bread and dips and also raw oysters, which I didn’t try. For the main course, we had a huge seafood platter with lots and lots of seafood including rock lobster, king prawns, crabs, BBQ octopus, oysters, marlin, scallops and much more! My favourite was the scallops. They had been taken out of the shell and then baked on the shell. They were golden-brown and very savoury! For dessert, we shared three desserts: a summer berry plate with strawberries, raspberries, blueberries and cherries, an ice cream with roasted nuts, and crème brûlée. They were all so good!

December 1, 2001 (Saturday)

We woke up at around 7:00 a.m. because we were going on a tour to the Blue Mountains. After sleeping a while on the tour bus, I realised that we had arrived at the Olympic grounds of the Sydney Olympics 2000 in Homebush Bay. It was a great-looking place, but I was told that the whole place was being torn down! It is because such a big place isn’t needed anymore and it costs too much to maintain and look after. I think that they should keep it there as a landmark and a tourist attraction.

Some time after we left the Olympic grounds, we arrived at the Australian Wildlife Park, where we took pictures with and of kangaroos and koalas. Next, we arrived at the Three Sisters, three large rocks on the tip of a cliff on the mountain. We went on an incline railway tram (it’s the steepest tramway in the world) and a sceniscender, which is a steep cable car.

In the afternoon, we went to the Jenolan Caves. The cave we went into was called Lucas Cave. The guide took us onto the cave trail and the tour was amazing. The cave had a big cathedral-like room and many smaller rooms along the way. There were also lots of stalactites and stalagmites.

December 2, 2001 (Sunday)

We took a flight to Canberra. Even though our flight was 20 minutes long, it seemed very short! After we took off, the flight attendants gave us a sandwich and a box of apple juice each. We barely had time to finish eating when we were already starting to land!

When we arrived in Canberra, we couldn’t believe our eyes! Canberra’s so small! Canberra is, I would say, about 10 times smaller than Ottawa! One of the most interesting things was that Canberra is a designed city, which means it was designed on a blueprint plan before it was built! The whole city is symmetrical! It is also easy to find your way around the city because it’s small and symmetrical. But it is quite a boring and quiet city, even compared to Ottawa.

December 3, 2001 (Monday)

Today, we walked to the National War Memorial and we went to the war museum inside. It’s a very interesting museum with lots of stuff to look at, including a light and sound show picturing a battle between two ships: the Sydney (Australian) and the Emden (German). The light and sound show was my favourite part of the war museum.

Afterwards, when Dad went to a meeting, we went to a shopping centre to wait for him. It was a surprisingly big shopping centre, which I had not expected for a city like Canberra. We walked around and did a lot of window shopping, looking especially at things not found in Canada.

For a break, we ate some very delicious ice cream at an ice cream shop called the New Zealand Natural. I had "Peachy D’lite" (peach ice cream) and "White Satin" (white chocolate and toffee).

When Dad came to join us, we did some grocery shopping. We bought some prawns and mangoes for dinner. Yum!

December 4, 2001 (Tuesday)

This morning, we walked to the Parliament house and the National Art Gallery. We learnt that the Australian government is almost exactly the same as the Canadian government.

The garden of the Parliament House is really beautiful. All the hedges, grass, etc. are trimmed really nicely and there are flowers everywhere.

The Art Gallery was close to the Parliament house. Inside, we got some cassette players to listen to descriptions of a lot of the paintings as we walked around. We saw a lot of paintings about what it must have been like when explorers were first living in Australia.

In the evening, we left Canberra to go to Melbourne. It was an hour’s flight, which wasn’t too long. Our apartment at the Carlton Clocktowers was very big, with two bedrooms, a living room, a kitchen and even a patio. But it was very spooky at night because of all the noises, including windows rattling, doors creaking, motors humming, etc.

December 5, 2001 (Wednesday)

I woke up hungry because all I had for dinner last night was a little taste of my pasta during the flight (I didn’t like it). My parents, on the other hand, woke up very tired. They said they couldn’t sleep because of all the noises. They were pretty desperate to get another hotel and made some phone calls. Then we walked around the neighbourhood to see if there were any better hotels. We soon gave up because we were all hungry and so we ate at a McDonald’s.

After Dad had left for a conference, we walked around Melbourne to do some sightseeing. We found an interesting shop called Suga where we saw hard candy being made. There were also free samples and I liked a kind called Mango Rock. The two men working there could actually make designs in their candies by thinking in three dimensions (each candy is somewhat like a Pillsbury cookie with the designs in the middle).

At dinnertime, we went to a restaurant called King’s Café. I chose a set meal consisting of mushroom soup, a "Honolulu Cooler" (apple juice, pineapple juice and pineapple chunks topped with vanilla ice cream), prawn and pineapple skewers, and red bean and ice cream crêpe. Delicious!

December 6, 2001 (Thursday)

This morning, we went to a market called Queen Victoria Market where we bought lots of coral prawns and mangoes. We met up with my dad later on to tour downtown. We took him to Suga to get some free samples and to let him see how they make the candy. We also showed him other places that we had gone before but that he hadn’t.

We crossed the Yarra River, which is Melbourne’s body of water, by bridge. We went to a promenade near there to do a bit of shopping. We had planned on going on a dinner cruise to see the fairy penguins go home at sunset. But we had to decide not to go because it was raining too hard. So we went to a nearby art gallery for a while, where we each put in a ballot for our favourite photograph. Then we went home and had prawns and mangoes for dinner.

December 7, 2001 (Friday)

We prepared for breathtaking scenes and panoramic views as we got onto the coach to the Great Ocean Road west of Melbourne. The first place we went to was Bells Beach, where we had traditional Aussie tucker (Australian food). It included a special Billy Tea, along with vegemite (a type of spread, sort of like Nutella except that it’s salty), crackers and lamingtons (pieces of cake with jam inside and covered with shredded coconut).

After that tucker, we got back on the coach and went a bit further. On the coach, while we were enjoying the scenery, the time passed pretty quickly. Soon, we arrived in the town of Apollo, where we had lunch at a cafeteria restaurant. After lunch, we went a bit further to get to the Twelve Apostles: the largest limestone formations in the world! Even though I could not count all the Twelve Apostles, the view was spectacular! Then after a very short drive, we arrived at Loch Ard Gorge and the London Bridge. The London Bridge was, originally connected to the mainland. One day, the path connecting the London Bridge to the mainland fell down and two people were stuck on the bridge! They were rescued a few hours later.

After taking many pictures of the magnificent London Bridge, we finally headed back to Melbourne. I didn’t sleep on the way back because a movie was shown on the coach. It was a movie filmed in the area that we had just visited.

Today had a lot of beautiful scenery and panoramic views all packed into one day!

December 8, 2001 (Saturday)

We left Melbourne in the morning to fly to Brisbane. I noticed, as soon as we got to Brisbane, that it was much warmer than in Sydney, Canberra and Melbourne. The Brisbane River is also bigger and more "majestic" than the Yarra River in Melbourne.

After we had unpacked, we went downtown to Queen’s Street Mall, which is a lot like Sparks Street mall, except Queen’s Street Mall is busier. We saw a lion dance, which was the best lion dance I ever saw because these lions were the only ones I’ve seen that walk and fight on steps raised high in the air by poles. It must have been a lot harder to balance and to co-ordinate. I think the people who did the show must have fallen lots of times before they were ready for the show! They did not fall during the whole show! I was impressed!

We visited the Tourist Information Centre and got a lot of brochures of all the attractions in and around Brisbane. There were three major theme parks that I would love to go to. Unfortunately, we only had three days in Brisbane, so we had to choose one, since there were other things besides theme parks.

December 9, 2001 (Sunday)

Today we went to a place called Southbanks Parkland. We first went to the Queensland Museum, which is mostly a historical museum about Queensland. After that, we went to a pool made like a beach, complete with sand and seashells, right in the park. We swam for a while. Then Elaine and I built a really big sandcastle that included a cliff, a moat, a bridge, turrets, a cave, etc. It was really fun!

In the evening, we saw fireworks and an annual Christmas boat parade. Lots of the boats were holding private parties and had lots of lights on them and were very pretty! It was quite unusual, since most parades I had seen before were on land and not on water, except for one in Peterborough that I had seen when I was about 5 or 6. The parade and all that Christmas music also got us into the mood for Christmas, despite the thirty-degree weather.

To get back home, we rode on ferries and catamarans (double-hulled boats) called CityCats. That was a great day!

December 10, 2001 (Monday)

This morning, I learnt that we were going to Dreamworld today. I was so excited! I knew that we were going to a theme park sometime while we were in Brisbane, but I didn’t know when and which one we were going to. We took the bus to Dreamworld. I was so anxious and excited to go! I couldn’t wait! Even so, I was tired and slept the whole way to Dreamworld.

When we got there, I started going through the guides to see which ride was which and which ones to go on first. We finally decided to go on the Eureka Mountain Mine Ride first. After a long line-up (even though it was Monday), we got into the car and the ride started. It was a great ride, except for all the bumps and sharp turns it made. After that first ride, we didn’t choose any fast ones for a while. We ended up going to some soaking wet ones (the line-ups were too long) and then to the train to dry off a bit.

After a few more not-as-fast rides, we had lunch and then took the Captain Sturt Paddle down the river as we watched a western show about some robbers. After that, we decided to go on a fast ride called the Thunderbolt. It was an excellent ride but still had a few bumps to it. Even though it was my favourite ride at Dreamworld, all the rides, including the Thunderbolt, could be improved and made smoother.

Even though I think that all the rides could be improved, this day at Dreamworld is the best so far!

December 11, 2001 (Tuesday)

This morning, we packed our stuff again to fly to Cairns, our next and last destination (other than Hong Kong and Toronto).

When we got to Cairns, the first thing I noticed was the immense heat. It was 35ºC outside!

A shuttle bus came to get us to our resort: the Cairns Village Resort. When we had finished unpacking, we went downtown to explore the small city. (Cairns is small, but nothing is smaller than Canberra!) At the Information Centre, we found that there were so many things to do and see in and around Cairns and so many tours that we could take!

We were very hungry, so we went to a seafood buffet at the Hilton International Hotel. Our meal was like this: First, we got something from the buffet of appetisers, salads, soups and seafood. Then, we got to choose one of four main courses for the chef to prepare. At the end, we went back to the buffet to choose our own desserts. So it was like a regular buffet, except the main course was served "à la Carte". I still think that regular buffets are better because you can choose and try everything, including all the main courses, instead of having to decide on and try only one main course.

December 12, 2001 (Wednesday)

This morning, we went on a tour coach to the rainforest in the mountain. We got up the mountain by cable car on a route that was 7.5 km long. We really enjoyed the views.

At each of the three stations we stopped at, we walked around on the rainforest trail, trying to identify the different types of plants. I especially liked the strangler fig, which is a type of fig that is dropped by a bird onto a tree. The strangler fig then sends its vines down to get moisture and eventually wraps itself around the tree and absorbs all its nutrients. Some strangler figs can kill the host tree.

When we got to the top of the mountain, we went to the village of Kuranda to walk around. We then went to Rainforestation Nature Park, where we got to go deep into the rainforest on Army Ducks! Army Ducks are like tanks and boats at the same time. They can go on land, like tanks, and in water, like boats. They’re really cool, except they go very slowly. Even though they go slower than I can walk, they can carry really big loads. They were used in the wars and also when a flood occurs. Now, they’re mostly just used for tourism. In fact, the Rainforestation Nature Park have the largest collection of Army Ducks in the world.

Afterwards, we had a tropical BBQ lunch that was really good. When we were full, we went to see some aboriginal dancers doing their traditional dance. Then we went to learn boomerang throwing. I actually got to throw a boomerang myself! It was harder to throw a boomerang than I thought! Too bad I only got one throw!

We then took the scenic railway back to Cairns. The journey took one-and-a-half hours, even longer than the cable car ride because the scenic railway didn’t go in a straight path. It went down the winding mountain rail tracks around the mountains, through 15 tunnels and over 40 bridges, so that the passengers could enjoy the scenery. When we got back to Cairns, I was so tired I went to bed early. What an exciting day!

December 13, 2001 (Thursday)

Today, we went on a tour to Green Island in the Great Barrier Reef. As we walked towards the pier, the departing place for our tour, I felt really excited. This was the day I had been looking forward to for the whole trip! When we got to the ship, I was pretty amazed at how big it was! It was like a small cruise ship! It was actually a big catamaran made for sailing the coral seas because the reefs were very shallow with a lot of coral.

We went on the ship and got some coffee/tea and some pills for seasickness. We sat for a while looking out to the open sea and finally decided to go up to the top level of the boat to enjoy the scenery and the fresh air. During the voyage to Green Island, we got some snorkelling gear and also watched a movie on how to snorkel. It looked pretty hard.

When we got to Green Island, the first thing we did was walk around the whole island (it was not that big). There were lots of nature trails and souvenir shops and even a resort on the island! After about an hour of walking, we had already thoroughly explored the whole island! So we went to ride the semi-submersible, a boat at the top, but a submarine underwater. It was also called the yellow submarine because it was painted yellow. When the semi-submersible started going, we were able to see a lot of corals and fishes, using a poster guide on the wall to identify them. We saw lots of different types of coral and also saw all kinds of fishes in schools. I wonder what they learn in schools? Then, I saw it. I saw a ray! It was just so cool! It swam along with its fins as if it were flying in slow motion. It was black and had poison spots all over its back. It was a stingray! By the end of the tour, I had seen three rays: two manta rays and one stingray!

After the semi-sub tour, we were getting a bit hungry and headed for the BBQ line-up. The barbecue steak and the salads were worth the wait.

After lunch, we went to the beach for snorkelling. I put my goggles, mouthpiece and flippers on and started snorkelling. It wasn’t hard! All I had to do was to lie face down on the water and use my flippers to propel myself forward. I immediately saw a fish and then I found myself in the middle of a school of fish! Then the fishes swam away and I couldn’t catch up. When I swam out a bit further, I saw a lot of coral and also some brightly-coloured sea anemone. The worst thing about snorkelling is that when you try to go a bit deeper, your breathing tube suddenly becomes a large seawater drinking straw!

After about only two hours of snorkelling (it was not enough!), we had to head back home. Today was the best day in our whole trip in Australia!

December 14, 2001 (Friday)

This morning, we started our trip to Cape Tribulation and Daintree on a coach that picked up some other people in other hotels. After everyone was on the coach, we were transferred to a 4-wheel drive coach because we were going to go on rainforest paths and steep roads. After some time of looking out the windows and enjoying the rainforest calmness, we got off the coach and into a boat across the Daintree River. As we went across, the guide told us about the many insects and creatures (like crocodiles!) that live in the river.

After our "cruise", we went for a short hike and then had a tropical BBQ lunch under a tent in a clearing of the rainforest. We were supposed to go swimming in a water hole after lunch, but the rain overnight had made the water too murky and not suitable for swimming. What a pity!

We went back on the bus and, after some more driving, we were at the beach at Cape Tribulation, where the rainforest meets the reef. The scenery was spectacular!

We then visited the Daintree Environmental Centre and had a guided walk in the rainforest before going up the Canopy Tower, where we could be even higher than the canopy of the rainforest.

On our way back, we crossed the Daintree River by cable driven ferry. I slept for most of the way back because I was getting bored looking out the window at the rainforest.

December 15, 2001 (Saturday)

Today, we checked out of Cairns Village Resort and went to the airport to wait for our flight out of Australia. I couldn’t believe our vacation in Australia was coming to an end! We all wished we could stay longer, but we knew that we had to get back to catch up with our work! Someday, I would like to be back!

It was a six-hour flight, but nothing compared to the twenty hours from Toronto to Hong Kong. I slept and watched a few movies. It was so boring! However, just before we were about to land, the flight attendants gave out mango minibars (mango and vanilla ice cream packed into a bar)! They were so good! According to the package, there was even 30% real mango! Delicious!

We arrived in Hong Kong late in the evening. We got a taxi and went straight to a house that my uncle had rented for us. It was even right next to his! We unpacked, took a shower, and went straight to bed! It was already past midnight, Cairns time.

December 16, 2001 (Sunday )

Today, some relatives came to visit us and brought us a lot of presents. We were really thrilled! We were having Christmas ten days early!

Then we went out with them to the Jockey Club for lunch. The food was very good. Afterwards, we saw some of the horses at the club and took some pictures.

Then we went to visit a historical site of an old house that used to be occupied by a government official hundreds of years ago. We could see where all the rooms were and have some idea of what life was like in ancient China.

We then went to our relatives’ house to spend a little time there and to have dinner. My cousins and I played a computer game called 1972. The object of the game was to get as many points as possible by bombing and shooting down enemy aircraft and not getting blown up ourselves. It was a lot of fun!

December 17, 2001 (Monday)

This morning, my grandma came to visit us at our house. It was a surprise. As we had no plans made for the day, we decided to go out for lunch with her. We decided to go to a vegetarian restaurant because she’s a vegetarian. We ordered a lot of vegetarian dishes because everyone was hungry. We even had vegetarian dim sum, which was quite like the regular dim sum in appearance and even in taste.

After some shopping, we joined some relatives to go to Sai Kung (Sai Kung is known for its really good seafood) for a seafood dinner. When we got to Sai Kung, we picked out a lot of seafood for the chef to cook for us. We ordered a big lobster (4 pounds!) which cost about $120 Canadian! The lobster was served in two ways. First came the lobster sashimi, piled on top of ice. Then we had lobster with cheese sauce and noodles. We also had prawns, bugs (they’re something in between a lobster and a prawn), clams and other seafood. Yum! I guess Sai Kung is indeed the best place for seafood!

December 18, 2001 (Tuesday)

This morning, we headed out to do some shopping because we had to get gifts for our relatives. We went to different malls to find toys and gifts that our relatives would like. I helped choose all the toys and wished that I could enjoy the toys, too.

For dinner, one of my dad’s former colleagues invited us to an Italian restaurant called Amaroni’s Little Italy. I was hugely impressed with the size of the dishes! First was the Caesar salad, which was about the same size as two standard pieces of paper laid end on end! Then, we had two dishes of pasta, each plate about the size of hubcaps. The pizza was about a meter long and half a meter wide! The next surprise was a mountain of onion strings about half a meter tall! When we had eaten as much as we could (we didn’t finish it all), the desserts came: tiramisu and bread pudding, both on the same sized plates as the pasta! Whoa! Talk about big portions! And they were all so very delicious!

December 19, 2001 (Wednesday)

Today, as planned, we went to Shatin, a satellite city just north of downtown. First, we went to a mini theme park called Snoopy’s World. There were great photo opportunities and many of the characters at Snoopy’s World move. Last time I went to Snoopy’s World, there was also a log ride depicting different scenes of Snoopy and his friends. But this time, the ride was under renovations.

After that, we went to a dim-sum restaurant that turned out to be okay. We then went to the Hong Kong Cultural Museum, mostly about the history, arts and culture of Hong Kong. The best part was a Kids Discovery Centre that lets you see and play different assortment of games that kids in Hong Kong used to play. Some of them are actually really fun!

For dinner, we were invited to Uncle Dick’s apartment for a hotpot dinner. I had never seen so many different kinds of hotpot food! There was so much, including crabs, clams, prawns, lamb, beef, mushrooms, fishballs, meatballs, corn on the cob, vegetables, etc.! Mmm! That was good!

December 20, 2001 (Thursday)

This morning, I learnt that we were going to the Winter Carnival and the Hong Kong Product Exposition.

We went to the Winter Carnival first and went on some of the rides. I went on a ride called the Wild Mouse. It flung me around so much that I was very dizzy at the end of the ride.

After some fun at the Winter Carnival, we went, by ferry, to the Hong Kong Products Exposition. If the two were put together, it would create a place somewhat like the CNE in Toronto, or the CCE in Ottawa. We paid the admission of ten dollars Hong Kong (about two dollars Canadian) and went in. Wow! There was just so much stuff to see, get, and do! There were vendors for different products including Aloe Vera tea, Maxim’s cakes and ginseng candy.

We only spent about an hour there because we were to be at a friend of my mom’s house for dinner. The dinner was very good. Nothing’s the same as home cooking!

After dinner, we played on the pinball machine that I had picked for them yesterday. It was a good choice! I, on the other hand, got lots of clothes, including a Harry Potter sweatshirt that I really love!

December 21, 2001 (Friday)

This morning, we headed for my grandma’s house. We had to take the train, then switch to MTR (subway), and travel along different routes to get to my grandma’s apartment. When we got there, my grandma had already made lunch for us. Mmm!

After another meal of delicious home cooking, we, including my grandma, set off once again to the Hong Kong Product Exposition. We hadn’t had the chance to see everything there yesterday, so we decided to go again. After a few hours of playing games, trying to win prizes and tasting free samples, we had to leave.

We were joining my uncles and aunts for a vegetarian buffet for dinner and a celebration for the Winter Solstice. There was a menu of exactly eighty dishes to choose from and which the chef then made to order. This is yet another type of buffet! This type has good news and bad news. The good news is that everything is fresh and hot. The bad thing about it is that you have to wait for the chef to cook it! By the time we had finished, about two hours later, we had only tried about twenty dishes. We looked forward to trying the rest on another occasion.

December 22, 2001 (Saturday)

This morning, we headed out to Mongkok to do some shopping. Mongkok is a very busy and popular area for markets and shops, which makes it a good place for shopping as lots of the stuff are cheap. After a while, we started to get hungry and decided to go to a fast-food restaurant called Maxim’s Café. Maxim is especially well known for its cakes, but it also runs fast-food restaurants. I ordered a chicken set meal, with fried chicken, corn, etc. It was really good for a fast-food restaurant!

After a bit more walking and shopping, we went to visit my dad’s colleague, the one who invited us to Amaroni’s Little Italy restaurant for dinner. First, he showed us an ocean view near where he lived. We also saw a small hill covered with kites. It was because there were a lot of kite competition there, and a lot of the kites got blown away and landed on the hill. I had never seen so many kites at one time in my life! It was amazing how many kites there were! I’d say that there were about 2000 kites on that hill alone!

We then went to his apartment, which is in Sai Kung (near where we went for a seafood dinner). He showed us the club, complete with a pond, fitness room, sauna, etc. His apartment wasn’t too small for an apartment in Hong Kong.

After a while of talking and eating snacks, we went back to our house to change and went over to my Uncle’s house (next door!) for a hot pot dinner! It was a Winter Solstice celebration and farewell dinner rolled into one, as we will be leaving Hong Kong to return to Canada tomorrow. There were the usual hotpot food items: prawns, clams, beef, lamb, fish, fishballs, beef balls, several kinds of mushrooms, and several kinds of vegetables. Mmmm!

December 23 (Sunday)

This is our last day at some place hot, or at least warm, even though by Hong Kong standards, the past few days have been quite cold. To me, winter temperatures in the low teens are almost tropical, compared to what we have in Canada.

We went biking to a pond near our house. There we fed bread to some fish that were quite huge. We also saw some swans, some white ones and a couple of black ones. We even saw a baby swan! It was just slightly bigger than a duck and its neck wasn’t as long as a full-grown’s neck. It looked really cute!

On the plane, I had nothing to do, so I was thinking: our trip to Australia and Hong Kong had gone by so quickly! Even though it was actually a month, I remember everything as if it were yesterday! I now agree that time flies when you’re having fun.

Even though it was boring because we were flying, there was one thing that was cool: We flew out of Hong Kong shortly after 4 p.m., but we arrived in Toronto at 6 p.m. on the same day. Of course, we couldn’t have flown all that distance in less than two hours! In fact, we had sort of travelled back in time because we had flown over the International Date Line. Remember when I had told you that the day was shorter because we were flying west over the International Date Line? Well, now, it’s the opposite! We were flying east over the International Date Line, which made it seem like we had gone back in time! Cool, eh?

When we landed in Toronto, it was time for dinner. We went straight to my grandparents’ place, where we would be staying for the next two days. We had a nice home-cooked dinner with them and told them all about our adventures in Australia and Hong Kong.

December 24, 2001 (Monday)

Today is the first day in a month that I have the whole day to do my homework. I have a lot of homework to do, including a journal of my trip, lots of mathematics, algebra, history, a French book report, Chinese sentences, Chinese writing, as well as preparing for a verb test, a science test and a Chinese examination. Today, I did a lot of homework, including a rough copy of this journal.

Today is the day before Christmas. Since it’s Christmas Eve, we went out for dinner. We went to Buffet Orientalis, which is actually my favourite restaurant in the whole world! Buffet Orientalis is a Chinese-style buffet including shark’s fin soup, black bean mussels, sushi, sashimi, waffles, and also a wide selection of desserts and fruits. We go there almost every time we go to Toronto because everybody in our family likes it and it’s not too expensive.

December 25, 2001 (Tuesday)

We went to visit some friends and found out that, for lunch, they were taking us to China Buffet King, which is almost as good as Buffet Orientalis. China Buffet King does not have such a wide selection of hot foods, but it certainly has more desserts, fresh fruits, and ice cream. It actually has 16 different types of ice cream!

After our "feast", we went to our aunt and uncle’s house for a Christmas family reunion/party. I wondered how we could possibly have a dinner party tonight, after the buffet dinner last night and the buffet lunch this morning!

We played all sorts of games and got lots of walnuts as prizes! In one of the games, we had to pick out the real walnuts from a line of fake (empty walnut shells glued back together again) and real walnuts, which you get to keep! We also sang Christmas carols and gave out and received loads of presents.

Incredibly, even after the buffet dinner and lunch, we actually started to get a bit hungry! We ate a Christmas dinner of lots of delicious food including Christmas turkey, steaks, shrimps, pasta, beef stew, fruit salad and ice cream. Mmm!

December 26, 2001 (Wednesday)

This morning, we woke up early to prepare for our drive to… Ottawa! On our way back, I was thinking: We were gone for a month and I had missed everything about home. Now, we were going back and I didn’t really feel sad. Instead, I felt happy going back home! I would see my room, my friends, my school, everything! I just felt so happy!

The driving was slow because it was snowing quite heavily. I went to sleep because we had got up so early and I felt tired. When I woke up, I remembered that I still had a lot of homework to do at home…

After a couple of hours, the snowstorm was gone! We had passed it! We then each took a guess of the time when we would arrive at home. It was a good way of passing away the time on our way home. As we arrived in front of our house, we found out that my mom had won. I didn’t really care, because it was just a game.

When I stepped into our home, I was thinking that it was good to be back! Travelling may be fun, travelling may be exciting, but the best thing about travelling is returning home!