Koala Cuddles and Kangaroos

Hello there!  How you going?

Well Happy Belated Thanksgiving.  Thanksgiving is not an Australian holiday and we were away for the weekend (more on that next blog) so we did not celebrate with Turkey.  In fact we gave thanks for our Chinese noodles and lamb sausages that night!  I do however see turkeys wandering the streets everyday.  Seriously!  On the walk to school we see at least 3 daily.  They are the strangest looking things (as turkeys are), they are Australian Brush Turkeys and they just wander about scavenging things to eat.  They are kinda of like squirrels in London - plentiful, harmless, and no one pays much attention to them.

What I want to share with you today is our trip to Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary which is located just outside of Brisbane. 

 As I have mentioned before we are choosing to live without a car because in the city the bus and City Cat (river boat) are clean, convenient and well used.  Unfortunately, getting out to Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary would have been rather complicated with connecting buses etc. so we decided it was a beautiful day for a bike ride.  This is the day we learned just how hilly Brisbane is.  What should have been an hour and a half bike ride (quite an ambitious undertaking with two kids) turned into an almost 3 hour bike ride!!!  We had to walk our bikes up so many damn hills!  In fact, most of the time I walked my bike and Zac's bike as it was too hard for him to get up without help.  To all our credit we remained in good spirits despite the heat, the hills and the distance to our goal.  A wee break for an ice cream cone helped too.  Eventually we made it!!  What a sense of accomplishment, what a sore bottom, what dread for the trip home....

Weary cyclists arrive at destination at last.

We were well rewarded with so many (over 100) koalas to admire. 

Serenna and Zac also had their photo taken with a couple of koalas and got to hold and cuddle them for a bit.  I had a wee cuddle too but my koala was more interested in climbing on me than cuddling.

There were many kangaroos to feed and watch and have a chat with.  I particularly liked this guy -
you can see why when you get a look at his pecs. 

this is one muscular kangaroo.

Having an a chat.

We even spotted some kangaroos and wallabies with joeys in their pouch.  Check out the feet and tail sticking out of this pouch.

Big joey feet sticking out that pouch.

Serenna actually had the opportunity to feed  a joey while it was resting in the pouch!

Again the position of this joey mystified me.  How is she so folded up that the head and hind legs
stick out?

Here is the joey a moment after crawling out of the pouch.  I think she is getting a bit big for it!

Jason and Zac also spent some time at the water trough with a very thirsty kangaroo - she did not come up for air for like 5 minutes- and a very pretty Emu.

There were also a couple of Wombats to look in on.  This guy was having a nap.

Fortunately this little guy was more active.  We learned that wombats are also marsupials.

That's all for now.  I mainly wanted to share all these animal pictures with you. 

Kids are doing well in school and coping with the 2 hour a night homework load.  They are taking tennis lessons on Wed. after school from a tennis coach who uses the tennis courts right on the school property.  Jason has some big due dates so we did not go anywhere this weekend.  On Sat. we got some fruit and veg. at the West End market (after a sweaty bike ride where the kids moaned more in the 30 min. ride than in the entire 3 hour journey last weekend!!)

Finding some shade on the way to the West End market.

 We listened to the live music while having our picnic. 

Live music at the West End market.

 The kids and parents swapped roles on Sunday.  Serenna and Zac made strawberry pancakes for our breakfast and salad and boiled eggs for lunch.  We went to a pub for dinner to watch the World Cup Rugby semi finals. I had to ask permission to have a drink!   It was the New Zealand "All Blacks" vs.  the Australian "Wallabies".  Australia lost but that was not a huge surprise the NZ 'All Blacks' are amazing.  They are the only team not to lose a single game.  They play France in the finals next weekend.  Yes, we have all turned into rugby fans.  Canada and Scotland were sadly out of the competition much earlier.

Until next time... here is a picture of my new favourite tree.  It is a Jacaranda tree (I think).  They bloom in the spring and will be the back drop of many a wedding photo.

Sending our love...