---

Flat Stanley is going to Australia. The weather is warm and cloudy.

I hope Flat goes whale watching.

He can go diving. He’ll see turtles. He can tour dive the Barrier reef to find new fish. I want to go with him!

He will have so much fun!!

By Josh

Flat Stanley started in Superior, Wisconsin and ended in the land Down Under, also known as the continent of Australia. He had a long flight from San Francisco to Sydney, Australia. The flight was 14 hours long. When Flat Stanley got to Australia he had to go through a “scanner” to see if he was carrying any foods or living things like bugs. Once he was done with that scanner he had to go on another airplane and fly north to Brisbane, Queensland, then by truck to this small city called Bundaberg.

When Flat Stanley got to Bundaberg he stayed with an older couple, (a distance cousin). He was an ex-biology teacher and he has biology stuff all over the place; a bear’s skull, a stuffed piranha, a giant wasp nest, and fossils. In their garden (we call a yard) there are really big lizards called the Bearded Dragon. The lady of the house feeds the birds. Some of the birds are the Kookaburra and rainbow lorikeets. While I was there we also took some rides.

We drove around to some places and saw lots of kangaroos in many peoples’ yards. I even climbed up a ladder to get near a bird called a Tawny Frogmouth. It hunts at night like an owl but its beak is very different. It is called Frogmouth because its mouth is huge like a frog. We visited a “Bottle Tree” also called a Boab tree. Some of these trees get so fat and hollow inside that in the very old days they used these trees as prisons. We also dug under a pile of woodchips and found lots of Witchetty grubs. These are the larva of beetles, and get very big. The aboriginal people roast and eat the grubs. Flat Stanley didn’t eat any because they looked GROSS!!

Flat Stanley visited a country market. At the market he got to ride a camel and he also sand with a three man band. He also got to visit Steve Irwin’s Australia Zoo. Flat Stanley didn’t see him because he was overseas filming on nature shows. He really enjoyed seeing the Koalas and a giant crocodile.

Flat Stanley really enjoyed the weather. He told me that when it is winter in Wisconsin it is summer in Australia. The weather was very nice and hot. The only scary thing that happened was a Cyclone hit the north part of the state, about 800 miles away from where Flat Stanley was. Flat Stanley said that there was a lot of crop damage, with thousands of banana trees were blown down, many houses were destroyed and lots of flooding, fortunately, no one was killed.

Flat Stanley learned a lot while he was in Australia. He learned that the country is a lot like America. They even have Pizza Hut and McDonalds. The biggest difference that Flat Stanley saw was that the “Aussies” drive on the left side of the road and that gas cost about $4.10 a gallon.

Stanley came home very tired and well educated!

Joshua

Flat Stanley in California!

Flat Stanley went to San Diego which is the second largest city in California and the seventh largest city in our nation. The city is on the U.S. and Mexican border. While Flat Stanley was there he really enjoyed the temperature. The city has an average temperature of 71 degrees. One of the nice days he went to one of his favorite places in San Diego, the San Diego Zoo!

Flat Stanley learned a lot about the zoo and the 4,000 animals who call it home. His favorite animals at the zoo were the Koala and Panda Bears. He also saw Burmese Pythons and Reticulated Pythons. He didn’t like those as well. Flat Stanley also went to others areas while he was visiting California.

At the Cabrillo National Monument, Flat Stanley stood by the statue of Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo. He was the first European to reach the West Coast of the U.S. After he visited the statue he took a walk down the Old Point Loma. This is a park that has a two mile hiking trail and a whale overlook.

Flat Stanley was also one of the 80,000 people each year who visit the Children’s Pool. The Children’s Pool is a man-made cove in which hundreds of local seals swim and sun themselves on the sandy beach. While he was there, he had the wonderful opportunity to meet a fellow “FLAT STANLEY” from Washington D.C. The two of them were able to talk about the various places they have seen around San Diego.

Wisconsin Flat Stanley told Washington D.C. Flat Stanley that he really enjoyed the whale watching. He took a 3 ½ hour chartered boat tour and followed the California Gray Whales. The whale watching made him think about other sea life. He thought about going to Sea World.

Sea World was by far Flat Stanley’s favorite place to visit while in San Diego. Sea World is 189 acres along Mission Bay. Flat Stanley watched stadium shows which included dolphins and whales performing stunts. Some people were able to swim with the dolphins; however Stanley did not have the opportunity (he might have gotten too soggy). Flat Stanley had a fun time ion California!

By Joshua

[http://flatstanley.pbwiki.com/f/Scan0003.tif]