Remember that we had a ‘No’ day a few weeks ago, when we saw no animals? Well, yesterday we had a ‘Yes, Yes, Yes’ day! While we were in Brisbane, we went to a Koala Sanctuary, which looks after sick, injured or orphaned koalas. You know I don’t like animals kept in captivity, especially in small cages in zoos, but these could climb the wild gum trees and leave if they wanted to. While we were there, we saw – wait for it! – koalas (obviously!); kangaroos; swamp wallabies; platypuses (yes, the plural of platypus is platypuses, not platypi!); crocodiles; and the most poisonous snake in the world: the inland taipan.

But today, I’m just going to share with you our koala experience, and I’ll save the rest for future blogs.

The koalas made us chuckle because most of them were asleep, and were sleeping in some very funny positions. They look exactly like the cuddly toys you buy in shops: a soft charcoal grey fur; fluffy white ears; and a dark, leathery nose. But did you know, they have spotty bottoms so it is harder for anyone to see them when they are high up in the trees?

We were really lucky, because as we were watching them (and wanting to take one home!), one little fellow woke up, and we managed to capture two video clips. The first one shows him climbing, and the second one is lunchtime. Have a look!

Here are some more interesting facts about koalas, most of which Grandad and I only learned yesterday!

1. Koalas are marsupials, like kangaroos, so the female koala has a pouch where she nurtures the joey (the name for baby marsupials) until it is big enough to cope on its own. When the joey is born, it climbs up the mother’s tummy into the pouch. A koala joey is the size of a jelly bean when it is born.
2. Koalas have special bony plates on their bottoms so they can sleep comfortably on hard branches.
3. Eastern Australia (where we are) is the only place in the world that koalas live in the wild.
4. Koalas sleep for up to 20 hours a day – not because they are lazy, but to rest, because eucalyptus leaves are not very nourishing.
5. Prepare for a disgusting fact! Koalas only have one hole in their bottoms, which is used for poo, wee, and everything else. This hole is called the cloaca.
6. Humans are chopping down the gum trees they need to eat so the number of koalas in Australia is getting smaller and smaller.

I could have watched them all day!

The hotel in Brisbane, which Grandad and I are staying in, is right beside a large area of parkland, full of tropical trees and birds. We have seen lots of cheeky Eastern Water Dragons, popping out on the path or scuttling into the undergrowth; ibis strutting around as though they are in charge of everything; and a kookaburra laughing in a tree. And everywhere is the fragrance of frangipane, which is now in full bloom.

But last night, as we walked home in the dark, a surprise awaited us. The garden had been transformed into an Enchanted Garden, full of fairy lights woven through all the low plants and coloured lights uplighting the trees and large plants. It was truly beautiful – even enchanting! The pictures below don’t quite do it justice – but you can use your imagination!

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December 1st: the first day of summer in Australia and the first day of Advent. Advent means ‘coming’ and is a time of waiting for Christmas – we have advent calendars and advent candles to count down the days till the big celebration. So who has already put up their Christmas tree? (I’ve seen some photos of a Battersea one!) Well, most of Australia has, it seems. Yesterday, as we had just arrived in Brisbane, we went for an evening walk, and found a band playing and singing Christmas carols in the square (and it wasn’t even Advent then!) For an authentic ‘in the crowd’ experience, just listen to the audio below!

Christmas in the sun is a very strange experience. There are tall Christmas trees in town centres but none are real fir trees, as it is too hot. There are lots of decorations involving snowflakes, snow, reindeer and things that you are very unlikely to find in an Australian summer! But there are some amusing Australian variations too (look closely!).

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Two lovely days by the sea! Yesterday, we set off for a bushwalk in the Royal National Park but our plans were thwarted because the paths are still closed due to bushfire risk. So we drove to Garie Bay – a small beach on the edge of the park which few people visit, as you can only access it by one small road. The waves were enormous – some of them must have been about ten feet high, and they were fascinating to watch. What I loved watching was the tipping point, as the wave curled and then rolled over. We took some photos but I’m not sure they quite capture the size!

Today we did a coast walk from Austinmer to Wonoona – across thirteen beaches. Because it was low tide, we were able to do almost all of it on the beach itself, by clambering over rocks at each of the headlands marking each beach. I did most of it in the water, sploshing through waves as they broke on the beach. Fantastic! Grandad plodded along on the sand with his shoes and socks on! Until on beach 12 out of 13, he decided to take the plunge. Or perhaps not so much a plunge, but a dabble! See what you think!

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Have you noticed that some of the place names here don’t sound very English? Places like Wollongong, Jamberoo and Minnamurra. And in Sydney there’s Parramatta, Kirribilli and Woolloomooloo. Try saying them aloud – I think they sound lovely! These names are all from the languages of indigenous Australians – the people who lived here for thousands of years before Captain Cook even realised that Australia existed. The Aboriginal people who lived in Wollongong were the Dharawal people, and Wollongong means ‘Five Islands’ (because there are five islands in the bay).

And – great excitement – as we walked along the beach yesterday, we spotted a big squid in the sea pool. At first we thought it was an octopus, but it had a pointy head, not a round blob of a head, so it is a squid. It was eating the tiny little fish at the edge of the pool. We could see all the suckers on its tentacles, and one bulbous eye blinking. Grandad managed to get some photographs – if you look across the three, you might get a sense of the squid moving!

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Today we had a ‘No’ day! We drove up Wombat Hill, but not a wombat did we see; we drove through Kangaroo Valley, and not a kangaroo did we see; we peered into a river with platypuses, and not a platypus did we see. Then we visited Fitzroy Falls and Minnamurra Falls – Fitzroy Trickle and Minamurra Dribble – or as we now call them, Fitzroy No-Falls and Minnamurra No-Falls. We did have some momentary excitement when Grandad spotted a kangaroo, but it was the branch of a tree!

But we had a really lovely day, driving through the Southern Highlands, with steep , winding mountain roads, and gentle valley roads with lots of beef cattle and dairy cows. (We’re probably having some for our dinner tonight – Aussie steak!) At Fitzroy Falls, we walked along the escarpment rim, on a safe path with lookouts all the way so we could see the stunning views across the rainforest. Then we went to the rainforest walk at Minnamurra and in our first five metres were stopped by an Eastern Water Dragon on the path in front of us: he was about a metre long, and quickly hopped off into the forest as we approached.

So a ‘No’ day can be a great day!

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We have had our first bushwalk. Well, not quite, but nearly! We went to the Royal National Park, which is a vast, rolling expanse of bush as far as the eye can see, and is full of koalas, and all those nasty snakes. But the koalas are very shy, so we didn’t see any, and we carefully avoided rocks, or scuffing through undergrowth as we didn’t want any close encounters with venomous reptiles!

However, our plans to bushwalk were thwarted by the bushfire threat. The fires are still very bad here, and all the National Park walking trails were closed. We were allowed to walk along the road, and found a lovely picnic spot by a river called Wattle Forest (wattle is a native Australian tree with yellow flowers in Spring). There we were pestered by an exceedingly friendly duck who clearly thought we were a good source of food. He clearly couldn’t read the signs everywhere telling the birds not to take nasty food from humans!

On the way back to the car, we heard the white cockatoos making an awful racket in the trees, which got louder and louder. As we stood, more and more cockatoos flew across and joined the cacophony. We though they were squabbling over territory – but then I spotted something up the tree. At first, we thought it was a snake, as it had a long stripy tail that curled round the tree, but as it became more visible, we realised it was a large lizard, about a metre or more in length. The cockatoos did not want him there and they shrieked at him and buzzed him until he ran down the tree and scurried off into the undergrowth.

We tried to photograph him but he was too well camouflaged! So below are some photos of the river, the cockatoos shrieking at the lizard, and one cockatoo who was watching us very closely.

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How to be a great Australian bird!

Did you know that Australian birds are the loudest, funniest, brightest birds in the world?

Rules for Australian Birds:

1. Be the noisiest bird that you can be: that might mean shrieking, or cawing, or howling. Every morning we are woken up by the birds, including the noisy miners, and the cockatoos but we think the Australian raven has the loudest call of all. Sometimes it sounds like a baby crying.
2. Be the most colourful bird that you can be: the birds here are so brightly coloured! We’ve seen galahs with deep pink breasts; rosellas with deep red plumage; sulphur-crested cockatoos with bright yellow crests. But I think the best is the rainbow lorikeet, which flashes rainbow colours as it flies (and it’s pretty noisy too!)
3. Be the silliest bird that you can be: have you heard birds telling each other jokes and having a laugh? Well, kookaburras sound just as though they are all laughing at a great joke, and win my vote for the funniest bird.
4. But one of my favourite birds we’ve seen so far is the Superb Fairy Wren. It’s tiny and very quiet, with a beautiful cobalt-blue plumage. We saw one as we walked along the beach at Towradgi, but we couldn’t get a photo as it kept moving. The best things come in small packages!

If you want to see or hear some of these birds, have a look at this website: http://www.birdsinbackyards.net/birds/featured/Top-40-Bird-Songs

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PS Birds are VERY difficult to photograph: they keep moving!

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Bushfires in Illawarra.

Today has been a strange day because everyone’s attention has been on the bushfires burning in the area. The Illawarra, the region that Wollongong is in, has been given the status of a ‘catastrophic fire event’ risk: the combination of very hot weather, tinder-dry bush, and hot strong winds blowing from Australia’s desert is causing fires to start everywhere. And they are hard to stop because the wind keeps changing direction.

During the afternoon, Wollongong slowly became covered with a pall of yellow smoke which blocked out the sun, and it still is. Everything in the town was eerily quiet – I think everyone must have been staying at home. Now the sun is setting and the sky is turning a curious pale orange, and the wind is gusting around the house. A rather unusual day!!

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Yesterday, Grandad and I walked the coast path from Minnamurra to Kiama, with the South Pacific on our left all the way! At this time of year, the humpback whales are migrating back to the Antarctic with their calves, and they swim close to the shore to keep the calves safe. We scanned the sea all the time, looking for spouts of water, or splashing tails, but not a whisper of a whale! But we did see pelicans in the harbour at Kiama. I love pelicans. They stand so still, watching, waiting – and then they have a leisurely stretch. Australian pelicans have the longest beaks of any birds in the world. Did you know that?

At one point, we passed a nature reserve which had red-bellied snakes, swamp wallabies, and echidna – but we saw nothing at all. Though I am not too enthusiastic about seeing a red-bellied snake close up!

We keep reading about rain and floods in England. Here they have had a drought for many months and at the moment there are terrible bush fires in New South Wales, which have burnt down, not only forest, but whole villages too. The weather is so hot and dry at the moment that they have issued a ‘catastrophic warning’ for fires in Sydney on Tuesday. There are also really sad pictures of koalas and kangaroos that have suffered in the fires – but there are lots of kind people who are trying to look after them.