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Published: January 24th 2011
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... so far in the 15 days we have been on our roadtrip around Australia we have had 1 completely dry day. I guess the rain and leaky tents just make it more fun. We left Brisbane on the 9th and from there headed south along the coast. We stopped over in Byron Bay, lots of hippie, surfer folk there - we watched the sunrise at the lighthouse in Byron (the Eastern most point on continental Australia). That was pretty awesome. After a couple of days we ended up in Sydney where we stayed 2 nights. Everything was super expensive but the city had a lot of great parks. We went to the Australian National Museum and that was spectacular - taxidermy animals, tons of skeletons, displays containing all of the reptiles, bugs and birds on the continent and a really cool section on the poisonous and deadly creatures here. All 10 of the top 10 deadliest snakes in the world are natives of Australia.
After Sydney we continued on to the Blue Mountains, where we swam in a creek about 1 km up from where it plummeted some 800 feet down a cliff. Best part about that was that
Hailey got a leech on her foot and shrieked until Andrew came to the rescue and removed it. From there we headed back to the coast and had a few days camping at some great spots. Unfortunately a couple of the beaches were unsafe to swim due to the riptides, currents and Bluebottles (jelly like creatures that deliver a nasty sting from there long blue tentacle). While camped at Honeymoon Bay I saw for the first time my favorite animal ever - an Echidna. I was and still am so happy!
We headed inland to Kosciuszko National Park after a few days at the beaches. Camped, swam, watched a kangaroo stampede caused by brumbies (wild horses) running at full gallop into a field of 200+ grazing roos, almost peed on a venomous Tiger Snake and finished our visit here off with a hike to the top of Mount Kosciuszko - Australia's highest peak. We went back down to the coast for a night at a great spot in Coarjigolong National Park where we swam in a tannin dyed river and then to our next stop at Wilson's Promontory.
Wilson's was amazing. We went on a walk our first
day and Andrew spotted a Koala in a tree - good thing he did as I was directly below it and it was pooping. That night we went on a walk looking for Wombats and oh boy did we find some. It was a lot of fun, but a lot of effort was spent to dissuade Hailey from bear hugging the wildlife. They are pretty cute, they look a bit like overgrown Guinea Pigs.
Now we are in Melbourne. Really nice city - interesting architecture, kitschy neighborhoods, ethnic foods and more culture than any other city we have seen in Australia.
On one final note - Happy Birthday to those people with upcoming birthdays - NG, Kathryn, Shomonique and Melissa!!!
Alyssa
So we survived all the poisonous bugs and reptiles so far, although the less poisonous but equally annoying mosquitoes and march flies (like horse flies) definitely have taken a liking to Andrew and Alyssa leg. The hardest part of the trip so far has been ripping ourselves away from white sandy beaches with turquoise waters bordered by rain forest and from alpine vistas with trickling waters and meadows of wildflowers... hard work!
Thanks
for everyone concerned with our safety... we stayed head above water (unless by choice in the ocean or rivers) and were well away from Brisbane when the worst flooding happened. We are deciding where to go next on this little odyssey of ours but no doubt it will leave us in awe and yearning for more.
Internet time almost up, have fun at work (and school AA). Andrew
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Dad
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Better than National Geographic
Thanks for the entertaining journal. Glad you are having fun... Dad