DAY 43 20th December 2008 It blew gale in the night, I didn’t hear much of it, and Caroline said the wind was bouncing the trailer a little. We had a usual morning routine, tea, brecki and the like, then went out in to Salamander Bay, to do some internet/blog update. We had an appointment with Faye and Graydon, the couple who own the house in which we are doing the house sit, we just wanted to meet the owners, and just have an induction through the house and to make sure we know what time they want us. They are very nice people, from Johannesburg originally and they have been over in Port Stephens, for a little while. The friends that were with them, Tim and Louise were onward bound to the UK from 28TH ... read more

DAY 41 18th December 2008 As we had decided to stay another day at Glen Innes camp site, it gave us time to catch up on general things, reading, blog and general house keeping. The temperature last night had dropped as the night before so we put an extra blanket on the bed, that we had been given. This morning we just couldn’t get out of bed and when we finally did at around 9.00 am we just sat around drinking tea and watching the world go by. Robin the camp site owner came past of his sit on mover and asked if we wanted to go and have a coffee with them which we thought would just be great. In their place a Dutch Lady, who was working and cycling around Australia was also in ... read more

The night was cool, a significant difference to the heat and humidity of the Sunshine Coast. Waking up this morning to a view of the Great Dividing Range was stunning, the sun was coming up and the blue skies were prevalent. I actually put my fleece on for the first time since arriving in Australia. However that was not on for long, by 7.00 the sun was quite strong and the day was turning out to be very warm. I do have to say at this point I am getting up earlier each day, today was 5.00 am, it is somehow easier to get up when the sun is shining. This morning’s effort at getting ready for the day is truly back to nature; I wash using a bowl of cold water that Andy has put ... read more

Awaking slightly later this morning, as we were late to bed last night. 6.00 am Andy made us both a cup of tea, anticipating 7.00 when the pool was open and we could go for an early morning swim i.e. without any children around so that you could actually swim the length of the pool. We met the site caretaker yesterday, he was English, came from Lode Lane in Solihull, then moved to Bournemouth before coming to Australia, him and his wife have been here for 8 years. Jim explained that he would be cleaning the swimming pool before it opened, also explaining that he take a job for a while in one place and then moves on to another part of Australia. Feeling refreshed and ready for the day we head back to pack our ... read more

Hi Bloggers! So after yesterday we returned to the Zoo for day 2 (Thursday). Andy was on natives, Kangaroos, Echidnas and Wallabies. I was on Koala’s, which was what Andy did yesterday. The sequence of work is very much general maintenance of the animals, their living accommodations and their eating routines, cleaning out water bowls, raking up leaves, changing food bowls and general visible maintenance of the park. The Kangaroo and Wallaby enclosures take a lot of maintenance as it is such a large area. There is a lot of sweeping and raking to do, not to mention dragging heavy hoses out. At the end of the day, the water bowls/buckets/troughs need filling to ensure that the animals have plenty of water overnight. Andy had the opportunity to look after the echidna compound (an Echidna is ... read more