Kangaroos, Koalas, and other Australian Adventures

What a wonderful week! I have had a fantastic time with the Henry's and this past week has been packed full of adventures and some of my favorite things. Here are some of the stories:

Koalas, Kangaroos, and Strawberries: On Easter Monday, we headed off to the Koala park to feed Kangaroos and pet Koalas. We went to the Koala Park zoo and saw many animals indigenous to Australia. Going with the girls was particularly special and made the rainy day excursion well worth it. A little wet, but with a few hours left to fill up in the day, we decided to pick fresh strawberries. I love strawberries! Here are some of the highlights:






Shells and Crabs: On Tuesday we went to Shelly Beach to swim and soak up some sun. I could have stayed for hours on the dramatic rocks collecting beautiful sea shells as the waves splashed and crashed. Afterwards, as a special treat, Shana and I bought fresh crabs to eat for lunch. It was wonderful.

Waterfalls, Rainforests, and Camping: On Wednesday Shana and I packed the car and the girls up and headed off to Dorrigo National Park, a rainforest not too far away. Keeping in the good road trip tradition, we stopped wherever the spirit moved us and figured out where we would stay on the way there. We first stopped at Never Never River in the "Promised Land" which we called Neverland and searched for Peter Pan and Tinkerbell in a sunkissed river. Then we headed up the road, stopping at waterfalls along the way and looking for a place to camp. We found a place to pop our tent amongst wonderful mountains and within earshot of an amazing waterfall.

Newell Falls, on the road to Dorrigo

Dangar Falls, near where we camped

Breakfast at the campsite - I'm enjoying the fresh strawberries from Tuesday

Crystal Falls - a 4km round trip journey through rainforest with a 2 year old and a 4 year old...rough, but well worth it

Beaches and breathtaking views: With all of the changes that are going on in my life, I needed a day to myself, so I had Matt drop me off at a lighthouse on his way to work and then I hiked about 15km up the coast. It had it's ups and downs, but I'm so glad that I did it.
Highlights:
-Amazing views of beaches, cliffs, and rocks
-A private swim on a deserted beach
-Hiking up paths where I saw no other humans
-Beautiful birds - Kookuburra, Rainbow Lorikeets, and other fascinating species
-Climbing rocks
-Discovering fish and colorful crabs in tidepools
-Crashing waves over rocks
-1 bus ride with some fascinating small town Australian folk
-Seeing Kangaroos in the wild - one with a Joey in her pouch
-A perfect day of solitude

Lowlights:
-1 giant spider on my face after walking into his web
-1 leech that got a good bite out of my big toe
-1 painful fall onto my tush
-Forgetting the cell phone
-Climbing up and down a mountain, only to find that I circled back to the beech where I swam...then having to turn around and climb the mountain again

Unfortunately my around the world trip is coming to a close, but this was certainly the perfect way to end it. I've enjoyed my time with my good friends and I will be sad to leave them tomorrow. I will spend some time in Sydney on Monday and try to get one more adventure in before heading out on Monday night. I'll be back early Tuesday morning for anyone who is itching to call me. Thanks for sticking with the blog. I'll probably do one more post when I get home and then sign off.

At home in Australia with the Henry's

After:

-3 extra days in South Africa
-22 hours in 3 separate planes
-3 security checks
-1 twenty min bus ride in Dubai after a 3 hour layover
-1 forty five minute stopover in Bangkok
-1 hour with the Australian customs agent
-1 confiscated item in Australian customs (sorry Hattie...that was your present)
-1 fabulous 8 hour conversation
-1 hour of walking around Sydney after 3 hours of broken sleep over 2 days
-1 catnap at the train station
-7 1/2 hours on my first train (I slept, but caught a bit of the beautiful countryside)
I have arrived in Macksville, Australia and I am at home with the Henry's. What a relief.

My stay so far has been wonderful. I love spending time with the kids (Jacinta - almost 5 - and Genevieve - age 2) and talking to Matt and Shana at night. So far I have gone to a Easter parade after making beautiful hats with the kids of flowers, played by the riverside, gone to the coast to see the ocean, walked through the "big banana," watched most of "The Big Lebowski," did osteopathic manipulation on Matt and Shana, tried my hand at a bit of gardening, made Indian Chai tea, and took a night walk under the full moon with Shana. It is wonderful and comfortable.

Me in the airport in Bangkok after 16 hours of travel

Catnap at the train station after walking around Sydney for 1 hour

Jacinta and Genevieve at the bus stop getting ready to watch the Easter parade wearing hats made with love for the occassion

Me and Genevieve in front of the world's largest puzzle near the "Big Banana" (the big banana is definitely anti-climatic)


Muttonbird Island - ahhhh...the ocean. Beautiful

Looking forward to Easter Sunday where I will go to church on the riverside under a tree. Their description reminds me of my favorite Easter service when my dad and I found a Quaker-ish sunrise service on the shore of a small lake. I'll tell you all about it. Until then, enjoy your weekend.

No longer stranded

I'm about to catch a taxi to the airport and take the flight I should have taken on Friday. I'm ready to leave, but at least I got another weekend to enjoy South Africa, meet interesting people, and see the legislative capital.

Hopefully I will have safe travels. I will post more pictures when I get to Australia and catch up on sleep.

Stranded in South Africa

Well, I should be on a plane to Australia right now, but I'm kind of an idiot. I went to the airport to fly to Australia last night and realized a bit late that I would need a visa. That means I get to enjoy this fine city til Monday at least. It hasn't been such a bad trip though. I will head to Pretoria tomorrow so that I can get to the Australian Embassy first thing on Monday and hopefully will get out of here by Tuesday...we shall see.

Here are the highlights from Johannesburg:

Last Sunday I decided to go to Faith Ways Bible Church with Hector, the owner of the Transit Guest Lodge. We arrived at 9:00am to a singing, lively congregation. Many of the songs were in Zulu, but I didn't mind at all. Hector would translate every now and again. The music was so powerful that I was brought to tears at least 2 times. I was quite sick that day, coughing a lot and I had a runny nose. It was pretty terrible actually, but a woman 2 rows in front of me showed up miraculously with some kleenex. I felt very taken care of. Then, a woman preacher got up to do her sermon. She spoke with a passion and made her points with her whole body. She preached half in English and half in Zulu. It was amazing. Her message? How God provides in unexpected ways. Here she is driving a point home.

By noon, the sermon was still going on and I was getting pretty sleepy. Hector whispered, lets go and see the Apartheid museum. I enjoyed the service very much, but was thankful to be done with it after 3 hours.

The Museum was great with lots of videos and interesting exhibits. I learned a lot about the history of South Africa.

After the museum we picked up Hector's wife and sister and headed to Nelson Mandela's house. The street in Soweto is in the Guiness book of world records for being the only house in the world to house 2 nobel peace prize winners; Nelson Mandela and Desmond Tutu. Mandela's house has been converted to a museum as he moved 11 days after being released from his 27 years of imprisonment. It was very cool to be in the pressence of greatness.

After a tasty traditional South African meal, my day ended with an interesting cultural experience at Hector's parents house. Hector's brother just got "engaged" having just paid the parents of the bride and they had a party to plan. I sat patiently as I listened to them negotiate the food and decorations. I loved it and was happy for the unexpected opportunity to witness a bit of the culture here.

Yesterday I spent another day going around Johannesburg and saw a bit more. I went to the highest point in Africa, a whole 50 stories above the earth. Here's the button on the plane and the view of Jo'burg from one of the windows.

Another visit to Soweto brought me to the Freedom Charters of South Africa. 10 beautifully written laws stating that all humans should have equal rights, all Apartheid laws should be abolished, and the government should care for the weakest of the society. Again, cool to be in the pressence of greatness.

After all that history, I decided it was time to play with some baby lions, so I went to the lion park. It's a bit like a zoo, but you drive through the lion cages like being on a safari. Actually a bit cheezy. I did get to pet baby lions though, so that's awesome.

I dono't know who the girl is, so don't ask...

Okay that's all from South Africa. I have more to share from my trip to Kruger National Park, but I'm pretty sure that you've had enough for today.

Favorite Zulu (?) word: Wapapa - I'm told that it means extremely forward, but it a humerous way. This was the word Hector used to describe me.