Australia, Wildlife and More

Our next adventure in Sydney we took the train out to Gymea to visit Ian and Jenny Parker.  We had a great day with them walking the cliffs not far from ther home and then going to the beach at Cronulla where after a fantastic lunch at a restaurant on the beach we walked the beach as well.  We finished the day sipping wine at their home before boarding the train back to city center.  Wonderful to see another part of the city.

On Monday we set off on a guided wildlife tour in the Belanglo forest.  With only four of us and a guide it was a great small tour.  We found kangaroos before lunch which made me happy though I understand this is not a difficult feat as there are more kangaroos in Australia than there are people and to many they are considered a pest.  We saw many beautiful birds but the highlight was finding a koala in the wild as this is not a usual occurrence and apparently happens about once every three weeks.  We would see them later in the zoo but to actually see one in its own habitat was amazing.  They are very territorial and you will only find one in a five kilometre square in the wild so not easy to find.  After dark more animals come out and we saw large families of kangaroos, possum,and several wombats.  Another rewarding day.

View from Ian and Jenny’s deck

Our walk along the cliffs

Beautiful rock formations and crashing waves

Great to catch up with Ian and Jenny

This walk is in greater Sydney 

This flounder was my delicious lunch following some wonderful oysters 

Cronulla Beach

Swimming pools built along the beaches used to be very popular but they are no longer allowed to be built and can not be replaced 

First sighting of wallaby’s 

First kangaroos we have ever seen outside of a zoo

He seemed to be daring us to come any closer

Emus run wide around Australia. They are quite large

Found this kookaburra posing nicely for his picture 

They birds were very colourful.  One of their favourite foods is dung

We felt we hit gold when we found this fellow in the tree. He was not the least bit bothered by us

Kept half an eye on us but did not move at all.

These kangaroos are taller than Eric 

Cute little possum sitting in a tree

Part of a large group of kangaroos we came across at night