KOALA CENTRE DAISY HILL

We had visitors last week and we are lucky to have a Koala Centre 5 minutes away by car or 15 minute walk. It is situated in Daisy Hill Forest.  It is an educational facility to teach the public and school children about Koalas. It is not a zoo but they often have Koalas there, which need rehabilitation before being released back into the wild. They are usually babies that have been found in a dead mother's pouch on the roadside. Sometimes they are sick ones which are getting treatment.

This is what Koalas do most of the day. At night they go hunting for the best juiciest eucalyptus leaves. They only eat certain species of eucalyptus trees.

Sometimes they will rouse for a scratch. They rarely drink water as they get enough from the leaves.

We were very lucky as this one woke up and started to move which doesn't happen often during the day.

Ah ha! She can see some juicy leaves over there.

Down she climbs. They have a hard cartilage callus on their backside for propping in the fork of trees and sleeping..

They walk on all four legs.

Do you see the long sharp claws she uses for climbing? They cause a problem when rangers want to catch them for treatment. She's not hungry, she'll wait for dark.

Maybe its more comfy up there. The local school have established a Eucalyptus plantation to provide the centre with fresh leaves every day. They munch through tons of them. Unfortunately the Koala is facing extinction as we human beings keep bulldozing their habitats for housing. There are some forest areas where they are safe, like Daisy Hill but not enough.BTW Koalas are NOT bears but marsupials and we don't call them Koala Bears any more. (They get offended.)

STREET ART

On our walk around Surfer's Paradise last weekend we came across this sculpture called, "FINS".

I couldn't find an artist's name. One of the fins was covered in hundreds of everyday articles.

It was fascinating to search and recognise items.

We walked on down the street and came upon another sculpture. I couldn't find a name or artist mentioned anywhere,

The palm trees were interesting too as they had ferns growing out of the trunk and hanging down while the palm fronds were growing upright.

Anyone for Jass?

Last weekend we visited friends on the Gold Coast. After breakfast we walked around Surfer's Paradise.

Lyn and I scanned the beach and found a pleasant sight rippling with bronzed muscles. After he did some stretching exercises and really got us excited, he jumped on his surf ski and tackled the crashing waves.

The boys steered us away towards a coffee shop.

We passed hundreds of apartment blocks all shapes and sizes.

The sign of old age is when men prefer to look at an Aqua Duck instead of beautiful young women. He he, aren't they good boys.

We reached Caville Avenue Mall and had a coffee with hundreds of tourists even on a wet day.

After coffee we returned to our friend's house for another game of cards.

Ben and Bill were friends in Switzerland and migrated to Australia together in 1967. Ben married an Australian girl, Lyn, and we have been friends ever since. The boys taught us girls how to play "Jass", it is a Swiss card game. We love it when us Aussie girls beat the Swiss boys at their own game. (Doesn't happen too often). The reason for the red hat is because we are getting old and forget who's turn it is to deal (how pathetic) so who ever is dealing wears the hat. 

A Rainy Day at the Beach

We were invited to stay for the weekend at friends, Ben and Lyn's house. They live on the Gold Coast, 30 mins to south of here. The tropical, monsoon, summer rains are still hanging around but it is a little cooler and rather lovely at the beach in between showers 

Narrow Neck Beach looking south towards Surfer's Paradise Beach. 

Looking north.

It wasn't crowded but families were still out having fun.

Nothing stops the teenage board riders having fun.

The rescue helicopter patrolling the beach keeping the swimmers safe.

Swim between the flags. 

No swimming here only board riding.

Leave nothing behind except footprints.

A DAY TRIP TO SYDNEY

Today I flew to Sydney to attend D2, Sonya's baby shower. This is the first time I've ever done a day trip by plane. It was quite exciting. Bill dropped me at Brisbane airport in the morning and D1, Carol picked me up in Sydney.

Carol and David have found an apartment in Sydney after moving from London. It is in Vaucluse, an eastern suburb, which stretches from the harbour to the ocean. Carol took me to their apartment first before going onto the baby shower.  

It has a beautiful view of the ocean from their balcony, lounge and bedroom. 

There is a park in front and walkways going all the way along the coastline.

Even though we were expected at the party soon. I couldn't resist going for a walk up to the headland. As I looked back I could see their apartment block. (the one in front)

Then I looked south. It was a magic view. I didn't have time to walk up to the next headland where the view north is even more spectacular. So I can't wait to visit again and do some serious walking.

Then it was off to Joanne's house at Bronte Beach another beautiful suburb ten minutes south from here.

Joanne is Sonya's long time friend, who arranged the baby shower. Joanne's mother and I were friends before either of the girls were born. We were neighbours, so Joanne and Sonya grew up as friends from babyhood. They have both travelled separately and lived in many different locations but have always kept in touch. Now they live close by again and both are having babies together just like their mothers. That's uncanny!  The only difference is that little "Pepper"(above) will be a few months older than "Fox", whereas the mothers are the other way round.

Just before the boys went off to have fun together, I took this shot of our two girls with their boys. It is such fun to see them all together after they have been living in different countries for so long.

Sonya's sister in law, Kate, flew up from Melbourne as a surprise to be at the shower. Sonya had tears she was so happy to see her. Kate bought gifts from Sonya's in laws, who live in Melbourne.

Joanne's house has a nice balcony overlooking the sea. It was quite breezy and cool. Beautiful white roses decorated the party. There was lots of food and lovely friends too.

Grandma to be had a good time .

Sonya opened lots of charming gifts and then it was time for me to say goodbye and Carol took me back to the airport (in my little car that they have borrowed) and I flew back to Brisbane. Now I must go to bed ready for work tomorrow. What a great day! 

Brain Drain

My poor old computer died and my poor old wallet is empty now because I bought a new MacBook today. It has taken me hours to learn how to put up this post as I am not used to the Apple system. However, I do love my new toy but there is so much to learn and my poor old brain is drained. I hope I can quickly learn new stuff each day and then REMEMBER it for the next day. I hate having a slow old brain. Anyway I managed to work out how to post some more pics of my garden, which has turned into jungle after the rain and heat. There are many areas of Queensland suffering with floods but we are OK here on the hill.

The path is almost impassable.

I squeeze past the overhanging branches and get water dripping down my neck.

I'm confronted with a Monsterio Delicio bursting with fruit.

Can't remember the name of this pretty tree which has also grown huge.

I love the pink edges on this plant.

AUTUMN RAIN

Hooray! The first day of Autumn and we can look forward to some cooler weather. It never ceases to perplex Bill (who is from Switzerland), why we in Australia start our seasons on different days to that of the northern hemisphere, which uses the solstice dates for the change of seasons. We have 3 months of each season. 1 Dec to 28 Feb (Summer), 1 Mar to 30 June (Autumn), 1 Jun to 31 Aug (Winter) and 1 Sep to 31 Nov (Spring). If anyone out there can explain why we do this it would be appreciated.

grevillea

It has been raining on and off for weeks now, like it does every summer, which is our wet season. However it is getting more and more everyday until today when it has been non stop all day. The news reports say we had the wettest summer for 6 years in Queensland. It is raining all over this huge state, even in the dry deserts of the outback, where they have had more rain than ever recorded. Many roads are cut and towns are isolated.

tibouchina

gardenia

I don't have a macro lens so I use my telephoto. I think they are called close focus photos.

With the heat and the wet everything in our garden is growing like mad and it has become a jungle.

Hello! What's that I can see hiding in the jungle?

It's Fat Butt! He is being a very good boy this morning because he is eating the weeds instead of the nice plants.

He is so cute....when he is eating the weeds and not the flowers.

Wallaby is an aboriginal word. It is used to describe about 30 species of macropod or small Kangaroo. This one is called a "Pretty Faced Wallaby" and it is also known as a "Whiptail Wallaby." This is a male and grows to 1.2 m/4ft and weighs 26 kg/55lbs. They are usually very shy and have excellent hearing, see his ears turning like radar dishes. However they can become aggressive if cornered , scared and in mating season. Fat Butt is a shy one.