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Published: July 20th 2009
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Waterfalls in Jamberoo
This is on the Brennan's property; it's just lovely! This time, coming to the land down under was somehow even longer than the first time. Well, I did chose the discount flight (I was quite pleased that I wasn't sharing economy class with chickens at the price I got my ticket!), and had two layovers, but either way, Australia is bloody far away!
Within a few days of arriving Down Under, I discovered a new phobia. Now, last time I was here, I chased a dingo in the outback, didn't even think twice when I almost stepped on a black snake in Tasmania (hello one of the most poisonous in the world?) and even somewhat got over my fear of spiders. Somewhat.
But give me a leach and I freak out. These leaches are not like our big fat ugly North American leaches found in muddy waters. Nope, these things are, well, alien looking. Moving in a fashion quite similar to our cute little green inch-worms, they hang on with one end and search around with their other end for the next step to take. Only inch-worms are cute and green. And they are simply looking for the next route to take when they stand up on their
Fitzroy Falls
Near Jamberoo, NSW back ends and wave around, almost as if sniffing the air. Leaches, on the other hand, hang onto you with a big round sucker, which you could imagine full of teeth, while their other, long splindly end sniffs the air to see if it can smell tastier blood to suck further up your leg. They can cram themselves into tiny spaces to hitch a ride (like the spot where your Birkenstock sandal is beginning to break), then creep up your leg until they find a tasty bit of flesh to bite into. Seeing the alien creatures on my gumboots was enough to freak me out. When I got one on my hand, these creatures officially joined spiders on my list of phobias.
The other creature I have gotten to know a little too well is the lowly tick. I'm used to the North American deer ticks, the dark pin-head size creatures that have the potential to carry Lyme and other diseases. Although these ones here in New South Wales are the same size, their light colour makes them even harder to spot. In fact, the only way I have noticed them is the pain. I normally don't get headaches,
Old & New
Buildings in downtown Sydney so when my head was throbbing, I knew something was up. A week later, an invisible elephant was stepping on my head and my brain was threatening to explode from the pressure. I've been told it isn't the season for ticks, but two on my head in one week seems to dispute that fact.
So other than discovering the local wildlife, we've spent our time between Sydney and Jamberoo, a country town of 941 people (I wonder if when I leave the population will go back to 940), about 1.5 hours south of Sydney. In Sydney, we've explored the funky little shops of Newtown, and the fun cafes and markets on Glebe St. Around Jamberoo, we've seen the blow-hole and lighthouse in Kiama, and seen some of the waterfalls around the area. We even spotted one of the lyre birds I've heard so much about. Dave showed me the trails on the property in Jamberoo, and we hiked down to the waterfall, which was gorgeous. (Perhaps this is how I picked up the ticks!).
We're expecting to set off soon on another one of our roadtrips, up the east coast of Oz. Stay tuned!
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