Flying Foxes

Ok, this is what we saw, in the hundreds and hundreds of numbers, in the adjacent botanical park. They were sleeping and waking up here and there, some were harassing the sleeping ones. We hope to upload some video soon, and we hope to go back to see them actually taking off in flying monkey numbers to hunt bugs.

Tangalooma and Sydney

We are in Syndey now, leaving Saturday for home. Evidently we go through a time warp as we arrive 2 hours before we leave. That should be interesting. Wonder if the energy pack comes along with me.

It is am right now, will post more tonight if possible. Fruit bats that look like little wolves. Won't be sleeping tonight!

Last day on the Sunshine Coast

Here's Tyler petting a Koala. We actually drove through a Koala Crossing area today. Very cool to see that sign!!

Above that is a Wallaby, actually in the wild!!! A Wallaby is a mini kangaroo, basically. We were walking through a rainforest trail and spotted three of them. Very cool. We also saw holes that are the homes of giant worms, more than 2 feet in length. They come out at night, thankfully!!

Finally, here is the view from our Caloundra room. That is Bribie Island across the water, it is a huge sand dune about 30 miles long. Very cool, we took a boat there and walked over to the beach side.

and off to Tangalooma!!! South Pacific here we come!!! We spent our last day on the Sunshine Coast trying to find a beach with multi-colored sand dunes, but, alas, we failed. So, we ended up on a random beach and Tyler surfed, John attempted to surf, and he also gave Chloe and Guy their first surfing lessons. I sat in the sun and read book 2 of Dean Koontz' Frankenstein. Mom sat with me, even though she does not like to sit in the sun much. I will add a photo of Mom on the beach later tonight.

Hopefully I will post tomorrow from Tangalooma, but definitely by Thursday evening from Sydney! Cheers! Mary

FARM TOWN IS REAL (and hiding in Australia!)

FARM TOWN LIVES!! It is real and I found it!!! Whooo hooo my FaceBook friends, come to the Sunshine Coast in Australia and visit The Big Pineapple if you want to experience Farm Town for real. I was in heaven!!!

LOOK! A Pineapple==>

Kangaroo with a baby in the pouch

This is soooo cool. You don't get to see this often. A kangaroo with it's baby in the pouch. This was no tiny baby, either!!!

Hit and Miss

Today we went on a crap shoot. We decided to go to a waterfall to swim, and when we got there the walk to the top of it was easy, but to swim under it you had to jump down or climb down the rocky forest steep hill. I chose the hill as the people jumping were young Aussie guys. There was a rope swing down there but it was way high and John and I would not let Chloe or Guy do it. They cried (we let Tyler do it) and were miserable. So, we left. They sulked.

We went to a subtropical rainforest after that, and they cheered up because it was really cool under the canopy and we saw 3 wallabies. A wallaby is a cute little mini me kangaroo. We also heard some of the crazy bird calls, one sounds just like a baby crying and it was horrible. Tyler and I tried to imitate a sharp whistle from one, but it was too hard. The birds out here are crazy, they swoop at you and are loud and totally not afraid. I love them. There is one we keep trying to record in the morning, he sounds like he is playing a wood pipe instrument and from Close Encounters. I'll upload it if we get it!!!

Anyway, we tried to find a duckbilled platypus after that, on a boardwalk that sounded promising but we found nothing. It was sad. But we did walk a lot and had a nice day. The kids swam in the pool downstairs while I sat and read in the nice warm air with a cool breeze. Life is good!

No idea what is in store for tomorrow, but I did finally get a cold cut for lunch that I like. Hungarian Salami. YUM! Even their oreos taste different, and I am suddenly really picky about food.

G'day!

Underwater World!

Underwater World. Just the name brought me images of that awful Kevin Costner movie. But I figured an Aussie Underwater World would be a bit more fun. It was cute, more for younger kids but we did see a very nice sea lion/seal show. I finally “get” the difference between the two animals. Groucho the Australian seal pantsed a guy who fell in the water, which we enjoyed very much whether it was planned or not.

We did learn that you can be charged astronomical fees if you possess a living or dead goldfish, koi, or several other fish that are highly illegal here. They Aussies are quite serious about protecting their native fish, and invasive ones are NOT welcome!!!

We also went to a beach today, John and Tyler had high hopes of surfing. Unfortunately it was low tide and the waves were very sad. The kids swam, Nana and Tyler combed the beach for shells and coral, and John watched the kids in the water. Mary read a book!

It was not the most exciting day, but it was nice and I did enjoy sitting on the beach listening to all the people talking. Aussie accents are much more interesting than our own.