Blogs from Oceania - page 7324

Yes we have finally found them and got photos to prove it! We are now in Melbourne after Tasmania we went back to the Central Coast where we enjoyed the wedding, the bride was beautiful, the groom was handsome and we all ate, drank, and danced. We had time to meet all the bride & grooms family & friends who treated us as if they were our friends and welcomed us into their homes and cars and showed us the sights and told us stories. In Gosford we went to the Reptile Park for our 1st roo experience. The kangaroos are in a fenced area called free range area that has picnic tables BBQ and kangaroos Then in Melbourne we went to Gumbya Park that had bigger roos that we fed and got the well ... read more

Three weeks on New Zealand is not much. So we gave back or little car in Wellington, got the ferry to the South Island, to Picton and picked up a new car over there. This deal with the rental company allowed us to save the fee for the car on the ferry. The crossing was good, a long trip through the sounds at the north coast of South Island. Picton is a pretty small fishing harbour, which just gets tourists because of the ferry connection.... read more

Took a train then a bus to the Koala Park Sanctuary in West Pennant Hills. A nice little place set in forest canopy which houses a good variety of Australian wildlife, with free-roaming koalas, birds and kangaroos. Stroked a koala, fed red/grey kangaroos, took photos of echidnas, emus, cocateels, wombats, flying foxes, cassowaries and sheep! Well worth a visit if you can't get to see all the animals in the wild. Later we had wine with our South Korean roomie called Min. His first sip of wine (not popular in Korea) and he didn't much like it, though it was cheap dry white wine from a box. A discussion followed explaining the properties of wine such as sweetness or dryness, and how very different English accents can be.... read more

We were a bit calculated about planning our trip, so to avoid any bad weather and only visit areas during the best seasons. All seemed well on paper, but it is just a reminder that nature does not like to cooperate, nor be dependable. at least not where i come from (new enland) and now i am learning, not in queenstown. while the little town is charming, packed with outdoor trips of fun, majestic lake and mountain views, it is also in the path of dasterdly southerly (read antarctica) winds! we have been told that it is an odd occurrence, but the southerlys have been whipping thru the area with no mercy for we travellors. It has brought with it rain, possible sleet, an snow to the mountaintop, below treeline. we are getting ready to sacrifice ... read more

Not really a lot to say about the last couple of days because having discovered that Sydney has real beaches we’ve spent them, well, laying on one of them topping up the tans. A good beach as it happens, called Shelly Beach not because they can’t spell the poets name but on account of it being composed of broken.....shells. It’s in the Cabbage Tree Bay conservation area (don’t even ask) of Manly and is about a 20 minute walk out of town. Consequently it doesn’t get too crowded. It’s also the only west facing beach around so the sun stays on it longer. There’s an exhibition of some United Nations sponsored bear sculptures on the harbourside, one for every country represented, which arrived today so there’s a couple of pics of those, for no other reason ... read more