Chalky Beach in the Sun – Sunday 10th April

On Sunday, it was bright and sunny. So we went on a boat. It was a big boat with 4 bedrooms and a top that was open. I sat on the top and got extremely wet because the wave were splashing up. When we got there, I swam from the boat to the shore which was a long way. After a while, I went on the small boat and I went into the rubber ring attached to it. It was wet at the bottom but it didn’t go right in the sea because there was bit that you could sit on.

I played on the beach and me & Skyla found coconuts and I found a bit of coral. Then I swam back to the boat and we went home. It wasn’t really splashy on the way back.

Then we had our Donald & Douglas story. They tricked the Wicked Witch of the Wind AGAIN by Glenda the Green Cleaner – because the Fat Cleaner was painting a room green and he fell off his step ladder and got himself covered in green with his paint pot stuck on his foot. And the Wicked Witch of the Wind thought he was Glenda the Green Giant but was in fact Glenda the Green Cleaner!

The Beach in the Rain - Saturday 9th April

On Saturday, I woke up and had my breakfast, went to see Mum & Daddy and played Top Trumps with Mum. Then we went to the beach and there was a special kids club where you could do different activities. One was to make a bracelet. Two was to paint a butterfly or any other thing. Three was to get your face painted. I did all three of them but didn’t do the hoops.

Before we did the activities, I went in the rain and built a cake in the sand and a main course – seaweed and sand. What had you do was to get some sand and seaweed. You made the sand into a circle like a cake. Put some seaweed in the sand. Cover it with sand. Then put it in the oven and it cooks then you are ready.

In the Donald & Douglas story, the Wicked Witch of the Wind came back and they tricked her again with Glenda the Green Giant...but it was really the Fat Cleaner! She heard the noise of Glenda the Green Giant but it was really the Fat Cleaner – but she didn’t know because she didn’t know the Fat Cleaner!

The Big Disasters - Friday 8th April

I woke up and went to see Mum & Dad and had breakfast. Then we were going into town and me & Skyla got into the buggy. I was sitting in the seat next to the driver seat and Skyla was in the driver seat. I accidentally pressed my foot on “go” and took it off “park”. The buggy started to roll backwards so Skyla immediately pressed “stop”. Then Mum came out and said if you take your foot off “stop” it won’t roll away. Skyla said “yes it will”. Mum said “no it won’t”. So Skyla took her foot off the “stop” for a minute and it started to roll away and we were still plugged in. So she pressed “stop” again.

The next disaster was me falling down the steps. I was just walking down the steps when I slipped and went “boom, boom, boom” down the steps. I hit myself on the knee and the head.

Then it went to the last disaster – Mummy pulling my tooth out because I wanted her to. So Mum twisted my tooth all the way around and then pulled it. Then I had to put it in a tissue and Mum looked after it until I could put it under my pillow.

Me & Skyla played with our Polar and Koala and did some colouring. Then we had our Donald & Douglas story about the Wicked Witch of the Wind coming to visit the dragons. They tricked her with “Glenda the Green Giant, after tricking her by sending her to Outer Bulgaria which is a place that doesn’t exist. Then me and Skyla went to bed.

Cuddling a koala - Thursday 7th April

When I got up, I went swimming in the cold pool and then we went down to the zoo where we saw the snake. At 12 o’clock, I held and cuddled a koala. So did Megan. The koala was soft but heavy. I thought it was large enough to hold me. Robert held a snake which I touched and it was very hard.

We went saw the crocodile. It was opening its mouth slowly. We saw the parquet’s and kangaroos. We also saw the koala that I cuddled which was eating some leaves. It grabs on to the tree with its really big claws and then pulls the leaves off.

Then we walked to the ice cream shop where we got an ice cream. I had vanilla with a chocolate flake. Afterwards we got into our buggies and went to the beach. I swam in the sea. It was very warm. [I was telling you to put that in capital letters by pressing the caps lock]. IT WAS VERY WARM. I went very far out but it only went up to my neck. Then Skyla came to the beach too and we went into a swimming pool near the beach. Then we went to another pool and I swam in that too.


I thought Skyla was having pizza but she wasn’t because they changed their plans. So they came home too [and she whispers – I had some crisps]. We had spaghetti for tea and in “Donald & Douglas” the Dad Donald came back from his holidays and Douglas pretended that he hadn’t eaten all the ice cream which he had. But he used the ice cream that his Dad had given him to put one scoop in floor 1, 1 scoop in floor 2, 1 scoop in floor 3, 1 scoop in floor 4, 1 scoop in floor 5, 1 scoop in floor 6, 1 scoop in floor 7 and 1 scoop in floor 8 and that was it.

I went to bed with Skyla since we were having a sleep over again.

Sandwiches and ice-cream - Wednesday 6th April

We built a cubby house and I took pictures of my Koala in different places. Then we had lunch which Daddy made. We had avocado, tomato and cheese toasted sandwich. I did some colouring and went swimming. It was nice and sunny and I did some reading on the really big chair.

Then we had pasta for dinner and went to bed. Skyla has a sleepover for the second night. Dad told us a Donald and Douglas story, 2 dragons who live in his office. They went on holiday but Douglas got left behind and ate all the ice-cream in the office. Then Donald bought him a present which was the biggest ice cream tub that he could find and he went “no, no”. Then I went to bed with Skyla and that was the end of the day once more.

Swimming a lot - Tuesday 5th April

I woke up, had breakfast and went swimming. First in the cold pool and then in the hot pool. Megan did 50 lengths so I did 60 lengths in the cold pool and then got into the hot pool again. Then I got out and did some colouring.

Then we had lunch. I did some more colouring and played with my Koala and Skyla. At the end of the day we went out for dinner and I had pasta and vanilla ice cream with chocolate sauce. Then we went to bed and Skyla had a sleepover.

On the airplane again - Monday 4th April

Very early in the morning, Daddy woke me up and I put my shoes on. Then we took a taxi to the airport and went to bag drop and dropped our bags. Then we went to Security, putting our stuff down in a tray and it went through the machine. We met Uncle Adrian at a cafe and I had a chocolate croissant.

We went to the gate and me & Megan went to the bookstore. I got 2 books – they were called Emma the Easter Fairy and Go Girl Sleepover.

We went back to Gate 25 and got on the aeroplane for a 2 hour journey. I spent most of my time colouring and some of the time playing on Skyla’s iPod Touch. She was playing on mine until mine ran out of battery.

When we got there, we hired a buggie and I was in Skyla’s. But then Mum moved me to one without a cover and it was really, really rainy. Finally we got to the house in Hamilton Island. There are 2 houses joined together with a pathway to the door at the top. My room is one house and Skyla’s is in the other. They are both are nearly the same except one has a kitchen and the other has a lounge. I did some colouring and then went to bed.

At the Zoo – Sunday 3rd April

We went to the Zoo one day to see the tigers and butterfly house. In the butterfly house, a butterfly landed on my shoulder. We walked on and I sat on a statue of an elephant. Then we went to see the real elephants. There were 2 baby elephants and they were marching up and down.

Blake got lost. We left him in the Butterfly House – I don’t know what he did there because I wasn’t there. We all searched and then his mum found him. We then saw the Orangutangs and then went to see the Australian animals – some kangaroos, giraffes and zebras, koalas and wombats. The giraffes and zebras actually come from Africa but I seem to remember the Australian Animals sign near them.

We then saw the lions eating and the platypus. Platypus are nocturnal, they swim, they have a big tail, and long beaks, they live in rivers. [What is special about Platypuses?] I said – they are nocturnal! Oh I remember they are mammals but mammals don’t lay eggs and platypuses are mammals who do lay eggs.

We went to get some ice-creams and saw the bears. We saw lots of cats – the snow leopard, the puma and jaguar. To get back, we went through the shop and I bought a Koala which was holding some leaves.


We had dinner with Callum & Blake and we had lasagne and Fiona gave us a chocolate rabbit. That was the end of the day.

Going to visit Ramsay Street - Saturday 2nd April

We packed up and went in a taxi to the Neighbours Shop which was 750 Flinders Street. Then the shop person said to wait 15 minutes so we went to a cafe to get a sandwich. Then we went to the bus which took us to Lassiters. We also saw the bus stop and the place where Lucas works in the garage and a shop that was in Neighbours. We looked through the windows and saw the Police Station. We took lots of pictures.

After we saw all the regular places, we went to the actual Ramsay Street where all the houses are. We got to hold a sign saying “Ramsay Street” and I got to hold it all by myself. Then we got back on the bus and the driver gave us a clue as to which character we were going to meet. The clue was that they only got to kiss the person that they were meant to! We all didn’t know who it was. When we got back to the Neighbours Shop, it was a person who had been on Neighbours a while ago so I didn’t recognise her because she was on before I was born. She let us ask some questions and I bought a Neighbours key ring.

We went back to the hotel where Fiona and Andy picked us up and took us back to their house. I went in the car and was feeling not well. We went to the supermarket and big store. We bought a football and some chocolate Koala bears. Then we went home where Fiona gave me a picture to colour in and if you colour in with no white paper and it is really nice then you can win. I didn’t make any mistakes. [“Can we go on to the evening?”] No I haven’t finished the colouring in bit yet.

Then the adults went out to have some dinner and I went to bed – after colouring a bit more in. Blake was meant to be sleeping with me but he didn’t. And that was the end of the day once more.

Swimming in the sea - Friday 1st April

Today we went on the tram to Brighton which is near Melbourne. We walked from the tram to a cafe where we had a drink and then on to the beach. We looked at all the big houses as we walked. There were a lots of “Grand Designs”.

At the beach there was only a little bit of beach. It wasn’t a swimming pool. It was the sea, in a closed area. There was like a balcony around it which you could walk all around. We changed into in our swimming costumes, went down some steps on to the small beach. It was really cold when I got in but once I got swimming it got warmer. I swam to one of the posts and then back to the other side. I was the first one to get used to it.
Then I watched Daddy to swim to the end and then we all went to the steam room. This is a hot room which people go in when they have come out of the cold sea. Then we went and had a shower and got dressed.

We went to Federation Square by train and went to Chocolate Buddha – a restaurant – had Japenese food for tea. I had tofu steak. We met Uncle Adrian, Skyla and Zac and went to the Saints game. They were playing the Tigers. The Saints were in red, white and black but the Tigers were in yellow and black. We were supporting the Saints because they are from St Kilda’s where we were staying.

It is different from football because unlike in soccer you are able to use your hands. There isn’t a goal. You use hands and feet to get it between the big posts or the small posts. In the small posts you get 1 point. But in the big posts you get 6 points. The one with the most points wins. At the second half time, I went home and went to bed and that was the end of the day.

On the Edge - Thursday 31st March

I woke up in Skyla’s bunk bed and went to the top where Skyla was sleeping and we had a little chat about our books. Then Skyla went and turned the light on and we played with the Lego. Afterwards we went downstairs and had breakfast – Weetbix. In England there call it Weet-a-bix and in Australia they call it Weetbix.

Then Skyla had a big argument and started crying because she didn’t want to go to school. Eventually she went and I came with her. I met her teacher and I was very nervous because lots of her class were staring at me.

Then me and Uncle Adrian got into the car and he dropped me off home. Then I had a second bit of breakfast – Weetbix. Then we went on a tram into Melbourne. We went to the tallest tower in Melbourne called the Eureka Skydeck 88. We went up to the top – it had 88 floors in fast lifts. When we got there, I got a souvenir. There was this machine in which you put $2 then turn the crank and chose what design you want. But we accidentally did it wrong so we got the one with the tower on it. It prints the design on a little coin and it falls out the bottom.

Wait wait I got it wrong. We got the souvenir after we went outside. Before we got the souvenir, we went outside so we could see how high we were from outside. It was cold and scary. When we went back in we bought our tickets for the “Edge” and we waited with this buzzer thing that buzzed when it was our turn.

We went on the Edge with 2 other people. We had to put special things on our shoes to not scratch the glass. Basically it pushed out so we were separate from the people inside the tower. We were in a little glass box. At first, we couldn’t see because the glass was misty. Then it cleared instantly and we could see the cars below like toys because they are really small. Then they took our picture.

Then we went to Trafalgar Square, I meant, Lord of the Fries and got some vegetarian burgers and fries. I didn’t like mine because I chewed on something that was spicy. We watched a play in a little bit with Indian dancers in Federation Square and I read my book.

Then we went on the old tram and in the middle of the trip we stopped off at the Old Melbourne Gaol. The prison cells were small with wooden doors. Ned Kelly was in there. We then got an ice cream and Robert got some handcuffs. We took the tram back to Federation Square where we had a drink with Fi and Callum and Blake who used to live in Ide Hill. We had some tea and went home to bed and had a peaceful night until Megan woke me up in the morning. So that was the end of the day.

Visit to Melbourne Aquatic Centre – Wednesday 30th March 2011

We had breakfast in Mummy & Daddy’s room – which is on floor 16 in room 1603. Their room has a balcony looking out over the city and the cars look really small because we are high up. I had Weetabix but it is called Weet-Bix With Wild Berries in Australia.

Can I go to the bit where I was reading? You are typing what I say  Stop it.

I was reading Flora the Friendship Fairy. It is a holiday special with 3 stories in 1. It is about a fairy called Flora who makes sure everyone is happy and has friends. I was reading it on the balcony after breakfast.

After about an hour, we went for a walk through the park to the Aquatic Centre. Where first we went into the wave pool...I can’t remember what it is called but it is on the Punctuation Pyramid...ah yes, a “bracket” (and the waves were on as soon as we got in). We then went to the 50 metre pool and I swam 4 lengths which is 200 metres. Then my head hurt from all the swimming.

Then we got out and me and Megan were going to go to the outside pool but it was too cold I thought so we went back to the Wave Pool and it was the next wave session in 7 minutes. And Daddy arrived and he was the “PinchyBottomFish”. Then I had to grab on to Daddy because it was the wave session since I had to be “within arms reach or with an adult or 16 years old”.

We had lunch at the Centre and I had chips again and a sandwich and a Sprite which I didn’t drink. Then we went home to the Hotel called the Black Man. I packed and read a little of my book and went to Skyla’s house. I stayed there until the next morning “bracket” (I had a sleepover) “close brackets”. That was the end of the day.

[Photos are Melbourne Aquatic Centre and Phoebe & Skyla in the pool the previous day!]

Visiting St Kilda’s beach - Tuesday 29th March

I woke up at ten minutes to eight and went through to see Megan to ask where the toilet was because I forgot. Then I went to the toilet and then went back to sleep. A few minutes later, Megan came through and said it was nearly eight o’clock so I could get up!

We had breakfast and I had a roll, a French baquette with jam. Before breakfast, me and Megan saw hot air balloons in the sky. They looked like they were grey because we couldn’t see them up close. We went to Mummy & Daddy’s room and I read my book (“brackets”! My longest one because it was three stories in one and I am still reading it. I am on the third story).

We went down to floor G (I am explaining everything) and went out the door for a walk to Uncle Adrian’s. We went round the park where the Grand Prix track was. They were taking it down. Demolishing it. I think “demolishing” is also one of the Wow Words.


After that we walked to Aquatic Centre which I really wanted to go to but Mummy & Daddy didn’t let me. And I really wanted to have an ice cream which they didn’t realise. Then we went in Uncle Adrian’s car to St Kilda’s beach where we had lunch. Then me and Daddy went down to the beach and built a sandman called General Bob.

After that we went back to Uncle Adrian’s house and I had a bounce on the trampoline which is in the ground. I played with Zac and Eden until Skyla came home from her swimming lesson at school. We went swimming in Skyla’s pool and it was really cool because there is a waterfall in the pool (which rhymes). I swam under the waterfall about 3 times.

We had vegetarian sausages and I swam again. Then I had ice cream and did some colouring and went home to write my diary!

Seeing Skyla again - Monday 28th March

On Monday morning, we went to the airport and flew 2 hours to Melbourne. We met Uncle Adrian at the airport and he took us to our hotel in Melbourne. We dumped our bags in our rooms and then we went to his house. We all had a bounce on the trampoline “brackets” (the trampoline was in the ground).

Then we went to the beach and I wrote my name on the sand. After lunch, we went to pick up Skyla from school (I had chips again!) I didn’t recognise Skyla at first because she looked different and then we went to another cafe with her.

After that, we had a swim in Skyla’s pool and bounced on the trampoline. Then we played in Skyla’s bedroom and then I went back to the hotel. I started sleeping in the car so Dad & Mum had to lift me into the hotel. By the way, I was actually sleeping!

Arriving in Sydney - Sunday 27th March

When we got there, we went to our hotel in Sydney and then went to see the Sydney Opera House. It was rainy. Then we went to the Botanic Gardens and saw bats in the trees. They were really, really big and we saw a few of them fly. They fold their wings around themselves and hang upside down. They are black and brown.

Can I go to the next bit now? We saw lots of palm trees. After lots of walking, we found a taxi and arrived to lunch. I had chips and salad and a bit of Megan’s pancake. We went to the travel museum [Powerhouse Museum]. It had a train in it which was the first train in Sydney. There were people in it – at first it said that you should listen to the train to hear them discussing, but we couldn’t hear anything but by the time we got to the last carriage we could hear people talking on the train. So we went back and listened to the others. Then we went on a tour and he showed us the train and the man who flew using box kites. Then we went to see the first steam engine with a big wheel. The clock was behind it which showed Jesus and his disciples. They moved and Peter turned away from Jesus.

We then went up the escalator into the ‘80s tunnel and we had a little disco with Mummy. It was really colourful but also dark! And when we were going out, we saw a big Rubik’s cube.

[Photos are at the Royal Opera House on a rainy day!]

Leaving for Australia - Friday 25th March 2011

After school, we went home to finish packing and then we climbed into a taxi and headed to the airport (it was a very long journey). At the airport, we went through the check-in but we hadn’t got a visa so we had to wait.

Eventually (that’s one of the wow words at school which I used in my fairy tale), we got passed the check-in and went on and had bagels. Mummy went off to get me a book (or two!) whilst I did my Suduku book. Then we went on the plane and flew all the way from the Northern Hemisphere to the Southern Hemisphere. It took 18 hours and we stopped in the middle at Singa...no not there...at Hong...no not there...at Bangkok.

It took 2 nights and I watched the Gruffulo and Ben 10 a lot – it is supposed to be a boy programme but I like it even though it is the first time that I watched it – and CBeebies. I also had a sleep and read all of my fairy book called “Lexi the Firefly Fairy”.

[Photos are Phoebe stealing her Dad's business class seat...then with her sister Megan incognito]

(As dictated by the author herself...including brackets)

This diary is dictated by Phoebe Critchlow to her faithful secretary and typist, Julian Critchlow. It includes "brackets" when Phoebe tells him to...