...of bouncing rats, odd duck-like creatures and miniature bears. I'm just back from Germany, where I saw the world's Cuckoo-clock, which is 3 minutes slow, and we also went to the Europa park, a Disneyland clone, but nice nonetheless. Strasbourg is a very nice city, but there are too many Nigerians trying to sell knock-off watches for 5 Euros and Romanian beggars for my tastes... well, the beggars were probably somewhat legitimate, but the Nigerians all had identical merchandise, which was probably stolen. The German trip was fun on the whole, on the 4 days out of the week that we didn't spend on coach, at least. Aaanways, here I am, in a place called Cardwell (near the probably more well-known Hitchinbrook Island), where my family and I have just learned that we're not actually allowed in the sea, due to sharks, which I'm pretty sure are about as dangerous as dead squirrels, but there are apparently salt-water crocodiles here, which are probably a cause for concern even though the last one was apparently seen in March...
Well, Australia has many subtle differences to Northern Ireland, such as...
Here, we see your average, run-of-the-mill Coco Pops monkey:

Here we see the Australian version:

These are indeed strange times... although you guys should really see what they did to Snap, Crackle and Pop, their official mascot of "Rice Bubbles".

They also have 600ml Coke bottles here (500ml in Ireland), and all their wrappers are different.
Well, I'm staying here for two weeks... I doubt I'll be using the internet (dial-up, $6 an hour grr..) here that much, probably just 2 or 3 more times this fortnight. Oh yes- and my souvenirs. I got a mug at the Australian Butterfly Sanctuary, Kuranda, a boomerrang at Tjabukai Aboriginal Cultural Centre, and a cheap and ridiculous looking corked hat. A whole bunch of other stuff too.
Have a nice Summer!
Oh yeah, and how did France and England to lose Euro 2004?! 'Twas their own fault I suppose...
Anyhow, have a nice Summer!