Goings on

I worked at Joseph Cook Photography for 3 years in college. Joseph and I became really great friends. Happily for me Joseph and his lovely wife Diana came to Australia for a visit. We spent some time walking around Melbourne, looking at architecture and stopping in lots of cute cafes for coffee. It was wonderful to catch up after so many years away from Gainesville.

Tracy came and stayed with us for the weekend. We all went out to Bundoora Park to check out the farm and native animal reserve.

I was happy feeding the baby lambs. I could have stayed in with them all day.

And WOOHOO for the ever entertaining cheesy tourist shot!!

My nephew, Luke, also turned four. Happy Birthday Luke!!

Road to Cobram

Matt and I went up to visit Barry and Laurel this weekend. We decided to take the scenic route on the way up there. We passed through the King Lake area where a lot of the bush had been burned away. It was amazing to me how fast the ferns were growing back but it did look pretty desolate.

We made a pit stop in Glenrowan, home of Ned Kelly's last stand and more importantly home of Linda's Billy Tea Rooms. Linda is an absolute doll of a lady who makes the most beautiful damper bread ever. We popped in for some damper and coffee and a quick picture of Matt as Ned Kelly.

The next stop was Rutherglen to pick up some meat pies from Parker Pies. Australians LOVE their meat pies!! Parkers makes the best in Victoria and has over 85 awards to prove it. Theses aren't your average pies either. There is emu, buffalo, kangaroo and crocodile pies. I went for the crocodile. Luckily they can sell them to you frozen because after Linda's damper there wasn't much room for pie. We had them for dinner the next day and the croc was delicious!!

The Cobram area is great for the odd tourist picture. Who new the giant strawberry and the giant Murray cod were within 20 minutes of each other??

On the way home I just couldn't resist one quick detour to Ulupna. I couldn't be so close to the wild koalas and not try and go spot some. We saw three!

Jirrahlinga

In my quest to see every koala sanctuary in Victoria Matt, Michael and I headed down to Barwon Heads to see Jirralingha Koala & Wildlife Sanctuary. This place is much more than a zoo, it is really set up as a rescue and rehabilitation place for injured wildlife.

There are three different hospitals, one for koalas, one for birds and one for all other animals. They respond to over 5,000 emergency calls a year. We saw some of the koalas in the hospital who were recovering from everything from fire to dog attacks. Most of the koalas were out in the sunshine perched in eucalyptus trees but these little guys have to wait a while until they are all better to go outside.

There were all kinds of animals who were making their home at Jirrahlinga. There was even a recovery pool that made waves for penguins who were getting ready to be released back in the wild. A couple of the wombats were out and about and being very social. I am sure this guy was hoping I had some food for him but he was out of luck. He decided to chew on the gate for a little while instead.

This was Matt's favorite animal of the day, the Red Neck Wallaby. This particular wallaby drives a pick-up with a shotgun and a hound dog in the back and listens non-stop to Lynard Skynard...ha, ha, ha.

The start of the Great Ocean Road was only about 20 minutes away so we went down to have lunch by the beach. Torquay (the town we stopped in) is very popular with the surfers, kayakers and divers.

Our final stop for the day (after picking up Sophia) was Carlton for some dinner. We stumbled onto this cafe named Victor's that I would struggle to describe. It reminded me of a french brothel setting in an old Brassai photo but WAY more over the top. Whoever decorated this place has never heard of the phrase "less is more.' I loved it!

Our Future Family

Anyone who ever looks at this blog knows I enjoy the odd cheesy tourist picture here and there.

These normally feature a reluctant Matt. His friends at work have a little laugh about these from time to time. I got an email the other day and through the wonder of photoshop have been given a vision of our future family photo. The boys at Matt's work are certainly giving me some ideas!!

Fifteen

Robert and Anna, our friends from Ireland were lovely enough to take Matt and I out to dinner at Jamie Oliver's YUMMY restaurant, Fifteen. It was a beautiful restaurant with really nice decor, great nice and, most importantly, delicious food. We had a blast! After dinner Anna gave Matt some tips on Irish Dancing. Good times!!

Queen's Birthday

For the Queens Birthday a BBQ in the Dandenongs sounded like a great idea. The first spot we went to was packed with busloads of tourists. We went and found a quiet spot with a BBQ and it all seemed lovely until the rain began. Our BBQ turned into a picnic in the car. Even with the rain and the mud I still think the Dandenongs are lovely. Still no lyrebird sighting. Hopefully one day.

Port Douglas

My wonderful Aunt Jenell was supposed to be visiting this last week but unfortunately wasn't able to make the trip. Matt and I had planned to take her up to Port Douglas and were certainly disappointed when she couldn't come. Since we already had the tickets we decided to go up on our own and it kind of worked out as a one year anniversary trip.

I love Port Douglas! It is one of my all time favorite places on the planet. "Where the Reef meets the Rainforest" is their little catch phrase and it's absolutely true. It is incredibly beautiful up there and so relaxed. Of course going snorkeling is my favorite activity! The one down side to going this time of year was it was the end of high Stinger season. Since certain types of JellyFish are deadly up here there are these lovely, skin tight suits you have to wear to keep safe. I must say I have never felt more attractive in my whole life. It was well worth it to be able to get in the water. We made some special fish friends. The massive Maori Wrasse was very social and liked to swim right up next to us.

Yes I am a 35 year old lady but I must admit I got totally excited when I found Nemo!! Matt had already seen the clown fish swimming in and out of the anemone but I failed to notice them until our second swim out. There really was a little, tiny, baby Nemo swimming around with his Mom and Dad. He is on the left side of the photo.

The giant clams are also a favorite. They are so amazing. Matt really liked this one and it's "blue lips" as he called them. If you swim down close to them they sort of close up. They can live over 100 years and weigh over 400 pounds.

This little striped guy was probably our best fish friend. He kept swimming up to Matt and I and hanging out beside us. Very cute!There was a semi-submersible that we rode around in as well where we saw a group of squid swimming by and a giant puffer fish.

Fish weren't the only creatures we got to see up in Queensland. We took a Daintree river cruise and saw a few scaly guys I had no desire to swim with. There were quite a few salt water crocodiles hanging out along the banks of the river. We saw one that was two weeks old.

And one that was almost 100 years old. I am rather scared of alligators and crocodiles but it was pretty awesome seeing these guys out in the wild. It reminded me of my younger days on the Okeefenokee.

We also stopped by the butterfly sanctuary in Kuranda. I LOVED this! There were caterpillar nurseries and everything. Each day one of the entomologists had to feed the tiny baby caterpillars leaves and clean their dish until they were old enough to move to a full on branch.

Another thing I love about Port Douglas is the super fresh seafood (I know it seems bad making friends with them then eating them) and the exotic fruits that are available up there. We bought scallops right off the fishing boat. We were both a little stumped when they came in the shell. I had never cleaned scallops before but it wasn't too hard and they were Deeee-Licious! There is an exotic fruit farm that does tours and tastings but unfortunately they were closed until the day we were leaving. I was still able to wrangle a collection of apple custard, dragon fruit and passion fruit. Hopefully next time we can go to the farm.

One other thing I like about Port Douglas is there are PLENTY of opportunities for Cheesy Tourist Photos! Here I am hugging a plaster cassowary.

And Matt in the Big Barramundi Garden.

I LOVE PORT DOUGLAS!!