We ended up flying from Hawaii into Melbourne instead of Brisbane on Friday, and we're glad we did! We got there in the afternoon and got settled into our hotel before evening, which meant we had time to get to Prince Phillip Island for the penguins. Choclo and Oob were over the moon!
The next day, we rented a van and visited the Healesville Sanctuary, a fantastic zoo for all Australian wildlife, but with a special emphasis on platypuses. We love platypuses! And koalas, and wombats, and lorrikeets, and all the Australian animals, really!
Late in the afternoon, we started the drive to the Elvis family. We stopped for the night in Wadonga and went to Mass there at Sacred Heart Wadonga on Sunday morning. Then we spent most of the rest of the day traveling, getting to Sue's house in time for tea and scrumptious scones by Gemma-Rose!
We are hoping to stay and relax with them on Monday, maybe run with them and ask about all their trees. Mostly it will be nice to sit and chat and have tea together! Then on Tuesday, we are planning to return the van at Canberra and fly off to camp at Uluru.
We brought them each imaginary cowboy hats from America! And some fossil shark teeth, and Old Bay.
Total so far: Plane tickets: $19,000, Other expenses $3800.
And a big thank you to Bill, who loaned us his souvenirs from his actual trip to Australia which helped immensely with the planning!
3 comments:
Wendy,
I am so glad you came to see us. It's a pity you couldn't stay until my birthday which is today. I am writing this in a hurry. It's been a busy day! I'll be back to mull over your trip to NSW and ask about Uluru. Thank you for the cowboy hats!
Wendy,
How did you enjoy Uluru? I remember when it was called Ayre's Rock. That was a long time ago.
I was so impressed you wanted to join us for a run. Did you like our bush? It's a pity there was no wattle in flower.
The deciduous trees in our garden are all changing colour. You should see the liquidambers (your gum trees!) in town! Our gum trees (eucalypts) are of course all still green. They don't lose their leaves in winter.
Did you like Canberra? It's a planned city, famous for its layout. We went there for a 3 day break about 18 months ago. We visited the National Museum of Australia, Questacon (the Science Centre. You would have loved going there!) and the National Art Gallery. My punctuation in that last sentence is all over the place. Never mind!
What a great post!
We loved Uluru (I learned it first as Ayer's Rock, too) and Canberra, post coming soon.
I have to look up wattle, since the only wattle I know are the things on turkey's necks.
I'd love to see a picture of your trees changing leaves! Our trees are just getting theirs, of course, and the roses are starting to bud.
I hope you had a great birthday! Mine is coming up next week!
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