Hi, welcome to a rather bumper issue featuring some of the wonderful animals, birds and reptiles we met in Australia.
The first part shows those we saw at the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary, including the highlight of a Koala hug! We took the boat from Brisbane. As you can see from this photo of Daniela, the weather wasn't looking promising. But it cleared up later. It was great to see the Koalas, emus, wombats, birds and lizards.
We visited a town in New South Wales called Kyogle (population 4000 people) where parakeets and wallabies live in the wild. Seeing them in their natural habitat was special.
We went for a walk in one of Brisbane's botanical gardens and also met some wildlife there.
The final part shows some shots from the return boat journey back to Brisbane from the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary.
A very happy Christmas and New Year to you if you celebrate at this time.
Alan
In case you want to know how
far you are from the Sanctuary!
I am on sentry duty. We sleep
20 hours a day! are you jealous?
And boy, are we the experts!
There are about 50.000 of us in Queensland
If I'm a lady I might live up to
17 years. If I'm a bloke maybe
less than 10 years
Double vision! We smell very sweet because
we only eat Eucalyptus leaves.
My name is Specs. This is a
very soft tree I'm on right now.
I could get used to it!
If you want to know more about
me and the gang have a look here
The Red Kangaroo and the Emu support the
Australian Coat of Arms
The clueless guy that took this photo doesn't
know what species I am. If you do please
enlighten him (Ian? or anyone?)
(Thanks to Ian and Maureen I now know
this bird is a "Noisy Miner" )
Yeah! and unbelievably he doesn't even know
who I am?
Someone as sexy and gorgeous as me?!
(And this lovely lad/lady is a Southern
Cassowary. The crest is called a 'casque')
I bet you don't have a hat like this!
Getting up close and feeding the locals was fun
Though most of the gang looked like they were
recovering from a rough night and weren't too
interested in food
This little chap decided he wanted marry my
wife. He was really quite attached!. My wife won't
believe it was just cupboard love.
Here we are on the streets of Kyogle.
These guys are out for an early morning
stroll/hop
Always very curious, but ready to run if you
go to close
In this case it would be me doing the
running, but I'm safe at the
Sanctuary
I'm a wombat. I'm trying to work out how to
bring about a world economic recovery.
Maybe if I sit in the shade it will cool my brain
Who said sunbathing is bad for you!
Early morning hang out for
rainbow lorikeets in
sleepy Kyogle
We're friends
Considered a pest in Australia, this is a
White Ibis
Majestic sea eagle
Swooping for food
Mr and Mrs duck
Sulphur crested cockatoo
These last few photos were taken on the boat
that carries you to Lone Pine Sanctuary and back
to Central Brisbane
It's a beautiful and relaxing trip. As you can
see the weather improved significantly
Some of the houses are pretty amazing
The classic Queensland style of these last two
is beautiful
And this is my favourite. Thanks for coming.
See you in a couple of weeks.