To Australia with Nina

I am such an armchair traveler. I love when my friend Nina shares her adventures with me.

 

I am typing in hopes this will make it through- we are birding in Australia.  We were worried that a medical condition might have prevented us from going but the doctor gave the all clear to Dave.  We will be here until the 23rd.  We are in Queensland mainly in rainforests and woodlands that are very much like Missouri but for the fact that kangaroos and not deer are bounding between the trees.  Others in our group said it is all so unfamiliar- the bird calls and songs we simply don't know and we depend on our guide and the trip leaders, who are retired school teachers from Ohio.  Cindy and Jim are kind people with a sense of humor and we discovered that they only live a mile from our son in law's parents outside of Dayton.

 

I love the accent here.  People are extremely friendly and quick to start up a conversation.  Bakeries are a good place to pick up lunch- I assumed it was all rolls and cookies but they offer hot meat pies (and vegetarian ones) at the counter.  I was thinking the crust would be like a chicken pot pie but it's more like puff pastry.  

 

There are a lot of small towns with shops along a Main Street.  But Costco, KFC and McDonald's are here in the bigger cities.

 

So far no bites or stings.  There is a stinging tree- we learned to identify it by its leaves with many holes in them.  I shuddered when the guide said, Oh back in the day people used to carry a bit of kerosene with them when traveling in the bush, so if they brushed by the tree by accident they would spread kerosene on their skin where they got stung and light it, hoping to burn off the stinging invisible needles.  

 

How bad does something have to hurt that lit kerosene is the better choice?  Tom, one of the older guides, said his daughter brushed by one of those trees and was in agony for over a month.

 

We are not near those trees any more, thank goodness.  There are kookaburras here and they sound like monkeys.

 

 

Part 2:

We are back in the US.  

 

Our phones were limping along- Dave’s was 7 years old and mine desperately needed a new battery.    The first thing we needed to do was get Dave a phone that actually worked and charged and I got a new battery for mine.     

 

It was a good trip, despite a few health issues with the both of us.

 

  I think my favorite bird call is the kookaburra- the ooh OOOH AH ah AH AH sounds exactly like a monkey.  

 

We tried and tried to see a giant cassowary in the wild, to no avail.  Our tour leader, Cindy, is a kindly retired elementary school teacher and she said on the next to the last night, “Okay everyone we have a decision to make.  We can either drive 1.5 hours one way to maybe get a glimpse of one in the wild or we can drive to Karunda, a tourist town where they have a small aviary and a small zoo where, for a fee, you can hold a koala."  I asked if the aviary had a cassowary.   They did.   

 

I was as excited as a five year old.    The aviary was lovely, although we passed on feeding the parrots- we used to own parrots and we know how easily they bite.  We could hear people talking up at a shaded patio,  "Oh look, the parrot wants to be on my shoulder! Hi parrot! Do you want a grape? AGGGGHHHH! He bit my ear!!"   

 

Over at the small zoo of Australian animals,  we lined up for the koala holding/photograph. This was a very brief encounter.   Only one person in the group gets to hold the koala and Dave kept saying how cute they were so I let him hold the koala while I stood next to him.  I did reach out to pet it once the keeper had settled it properly into Dave's arms.   They are soft but not smooth, like a teddy bear that has gone through the washing machine.   They also seem to be not completely aware of what is going on, unafraid and passive.   We stood for the picture and then it was time for the keeper to pick up the koala for the next person's turn.

 

A brief but lovely moment on a warm and humid day.

 

I stayed back with Dave one day as the rest of the group was scheduled to take a riverboat ride.    But "no great loss without some small gain"- there was a tiny coffeeshop by the boat launch and it had, of all things, strong decaf coffee. Australians usually don't even think decaf really exists.   Dave said, You should have gone with the group, I'll be okay.   I said,  Well, what if you had passed out?  You can't be alone.   We're a team and you are more important than a silly boat ride.   We shared a treat and drank coffee after Dave's pain began to ease up. 

 

We are tired and glad to be home.   Our little dog Toby was so happy to see us and he is constantly by my side as if he's worried I w                    ill take off again.