Mom and Dad in Australia

Mom and Dad have made it to Australia!! Our adventures have started out a little bit slowly because Dad took a tumble in LA and hurt his leg. He has certainly been a trouper though and we have done everything we planned to so far. Our first outing was the Tram Car restaurant around Melbourne. We went for the early seating dinner which worked out well since it was still light outside and we could see around the city.


Our next adventure was very high falutin! We went to high tea at the Windsor Hotel. Matt and I wanted to show Mom and Dad where we were married and we have wanted to go to tea so we combined the two. It was quite lovely and we were all feeling very refined. I am sure there will be much more fun to come while Mom and Dad are here!!

Brisbane Part 2

There was more to Brisbane than just koalas (I know it's hard to imagine!!) We also saw a sheep dog demonstration which was really interesting. The closest thing I had seen to sheep dogs working was the movie BABE.


We also caught the tail end of a free big band concert at Customs House. Matt and I were walking down by the river and I kept hearing really great swing music so we snuck around to take a peek. The band was great and the building itself, built in 1886, was very beautiful.


We took a drive down to the Gold Coast, got out of the car and got right back in the car. It was stinky both literally and figuratively. So many people vacation there and I suppose the theme parks are a draw but if I never go back that will be fine with me. Matt did try and take me to see some dugongs (Australia's answer to the manatee just with a bigger nose). The signs leading to the allusive Southern Moreton Bay drive were less than accurate. One would point north then the next one was pointing back the opposite direction. I felt like we were getting directions from the scarecrow in the Wizard of Oz. We ended up in a neighborhood with no sign of the coast. It was a dugong free day to say the least. We almost ran out of petrol which would have been a great top off but we happily coasted into a gas station just as panic mode was setting in.


I think Matt's favorite thing about Brisbane was the REALLY BIG beers!!

Brisbane Part 1

I headed to Brisbane for the first time to attend the CYA Conference for children's book writers and illustrators. I really wanted to go after I heard one of the presenters was Jackie French who wrote Diary of a Wombat (one of my favorite children's books). She was fantastic! The rest of the conference was educational but fell short of what I had dreamed up in my head. I can't quite shake the lingering twinge of disappointment. This is not disappointment in the conference but in myself and what I hoped to achieve.


I can tell you what wasn't disappointing was the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary!! Lone Pine has lots of koalas that are fostered through the Australia Koala Foundation including Barnacle who I was lucky enough to meet. I got a wonderful welcome as Barnacle decided it was time to go poo while I was holding him but I really didn't care. He was beautiful!!

All of the koalas were split up by gender and age. Most of the grown up male koalas were by themselves as they are very territorial. There was a retirement village for the senior koalas, a kindergarten for the 2 year olds and a cubby house for the 1 year olds who had just left their moms and were learning to be independent. I was trying to take a picture of one of the little guys when he decided to switch sides all the sudden. It's crazy how far they can jump....SUPER KOALA!!! I thought the Cubby House was just about the cutest thing I had ever seen. How can a bunch of little sleepy koalas not be the cutest thing in the world?

But then I went around the corner and saw this.

I don't think I have ever seen anything quite so beautiful as this little baby all hugged up to her mama. A keeper was raking around her tree and she got a fright squishing herself closer into her mom's belly. I could have watched them for hours but I think Mama Koala had enough of me and decided to move to the other side with her baby on her back.

Art and Father's Day

My neighbor Steve turned out to be an artist too and was nice enough to invite us to one of his shows. There was a lot of fun, quirky work but a ton of people so it was kind of hard to see everything without leaning over people but I enjoyed it just the same.



Father's Day is in September here so we popped down to Nagambie to meet up with everyone for lunch. There are some beautiful country towns on the way and Nagambie itself is quite lovely. It's always good to catch up with family!!

Septmeber is SAVE THE KOALA month

Anyone who looks at this blog knows I have fallen madly in love with koalas (especially Elliott). September is SAVE THE KOALA month. Their habitat is being destroyed causing over crowding and disease. Roads are being cut through their forests not only destroying their homes but bringing cars into the picture. It is estimated there are less than 100,000 left in the wild and if the land keeps disappearing they could be extinct in 10-20 years. Sam, the koala who became an international symbol of the Black Saturday fires may have survived the fires but died from a disease that is running rampant in the koala community because of overcrowding. There are many things you can do to help! The Koala Campaigners write letters to politicians who are supposed to protect our wildlife (be careful of the sealed section of the website!!! lots of really upsetting pictures!!!)Or you can help by fostering one of these beautiful creatures. http://www.savethekoala.com/ Thanks Everyone!!!