Kangaroos!

I love wildlife, never get tired of watching and photographing wildlife.  I have probably taken close to a 1000 photos of elk over the years, both in Yellowstone and Rocky Mountain National Park. I am always looking for that perfect shot.   In my mind, I have a bucket list of animals I would love to see in the wild. I haven been lucky to see some amazing animals in my life, from whales and sea turtles in Hawaii to wolves and grizzly bears in Yellowstone. I am not sure if I will ever visit  Africa to see an elephant or a lion in the wild or to the Galapagos Islands to see one of those Giant Tortoises, but at least I can cross off seeing a kangaroo in the wild!  When I was here a few years ago, I just assumed I would see a kangaroo.  I had been told they were like deer,  Australians seemed very blase about even seeing them.  So I was surprised when we did not see any in the wild.   On this trip, I figured it would be the same deal.  We went to Lone Pine Sanctuary and I got to see the koalas and feed and pet the kangaroos, but I still wanted to see them in the wild.  Last week when we were at the China Dream Conference, a friend of Rick's, who is on the faculty at Griffith University-Gold Coast, asked if we would like to see kangaroos in the wild?  He knew of an area near his house, a big park/reserve where he always see kangaroos at dusk.  Of course we were all over that invitation!  The plan was to take the train from Brisbane and meet Dave and his wife Laura at a station not far from their house, it would be about an hour ride, they would pick us up, we go see the kangaroos and then have dinner.  However, all good plans do not go without a hitch!  We took the bus from UQ to the train station, only to find out that they were doing track work and there was a section closed.  We had to take a bus to bypass the closed section, arriving at another station, then getting on the train.  Instead of arriving when we had planned, we were now 30 minutes late.  Fortunately,  we still had some light left, but instead of taking a leisurely walk looking at kangaroos and trying to spot a koala,  we only got to take short stroll.  However, I could not believe how many kangaroos were in the fields and how well they blend into the landscape.  I am sure we saw over a hundred kangaroos;  we saw females with their joeys, both inside and of the pouch and males hanging out in the field.  They were very curious, allowing me to walk up to within 10 feet.  I was taking photos as fast as I could.  As we were driving into the parkland, we saw a lady walking on the sidewalk with her dog and the kangaroos were right there beside the sidewalk, just watching them.  Wish I had gotten a photo of that!   Anyway, despite the shorten time, we were thrilled to finally see the kangaroos in the wild.

This is our last week in Australia, which is hard to believe.  It has gone by so quickly and of course I am scrambling to do some things I have not done yet.  Saturday, we got up early and visited the Brisbane Botanical Gardens.   It was nice, although very hot by 11:00AM.   I don't think it compared to the gardens in Melbourne or Portland, but the Bonsai exhibit was interesting.  Monday I went into the city center and visited the Brisbane City Museum, which was very nice and free!  It is located in the city hall, a historical building that has been completely renovated.  When I first go there, I went into the cafe and had Devonshire tea, way too much for one person, but I managed.  After tea, I visited the museum, and a special exhibit on Hollywood Golden Age Costumes.  I could not take photos of that exhibit, but it was very good.  There were many beautiful costumes, some worn by Elizabeth Taylor, Grace Kelly and beautiful dress worn by Barbara Streisand in Funny Girl.  I was also able to take an elevator and go up the clock tower, again all free.

Then I walked along the streets, going into arcades (shopping centers) decorated for the holidays.  One of the stores has window displays like I remember seeing in Cincinnati when I was a kid.  The city Christmas tree was being installed, the lights are solar powered.  All in all a good day, but I did have to giggle.  I took the bus back from the city and a kid sitting across from me was sound asleep.  I don't know if I have ever seen anyone sleep the way he was sleeping.  I was wondering if he would wake up when we stopped at the last stop, which happened to be the stop I needed, but he did.  After I got off the bus, I saw a car go by with this sign "No Yelling Driving School".  No kidding!  Aussies do have a warped sense of humor at times.

The rest of the week will be wrapping things up here in Brisbane.  Everyone is trying to schedule meetings with Rick to talk about their research and he has two presentations.  We have lunches and dinners with faculty who want to say goodbye.  We need to pack everything and tidy the apartment and  figure out what we need for the weekend stay in Melbourne.  We still have not decided how we will celebrate "Thanksgiving".  My plan to fix us a nice dinner is a no go, we don't want to deal with leftovers when we are leaving the next. That does seem weird, not to have Thanksgiving!  Just like seeing Christmas decoration and hearing Christmas carols and at at the same time you see signs that say something like "just in time for summer" or "stock up for summer".   It would take some getting use to.

This will be probably be my last post from Brisbane.  I am sure I will want to share some photos from Melbourne and I plan do that before we start camping in New Zealand.  Then I will post photos from New Zealand before we head to Hawaii.  Before I know it, this blog and journey will be complete.

There will be some things I will miss about Australia; iced coffees, lemon lime bitters, yummy fruit, the little bakery near our apartment,  the people and their sense of humor,  the beautiful walks in the evening along the river and hearing the birds sing.  I won't miss the huge coins that weigh down my purse or worrying I will see a snake.

Iced Coffee

Tree along our walk

View from our room at the Gold Coast, it was cloudy when we arrived but the next 2 days were hot & sunny

Photos from the Color Brisbane associated with G20 Summit

Brisbane Botanical Gardens, Bamboo Garden

Japanese Garden

I would assume an orchid of some type?

Maybe a kookaburra 

Rick getting a hug

Tree fern

Another duck

A family had asked me to take their photographs so Rick was protecting their picnic from a water dragon!

Ice Coffee and milk shakes to cool off

 I thought this was humorous.. Cacti display

Bonsai

Young Kangaroo...in the wild

He may be out of the pouch, but still wanting this mom

Mom and Joey

Solar powered Brisbane City Tree

City Hall foyer

City Hall Shingle Inn Cafe

I loved this piece of art, made of linoleum, paint and photographs.  Middle of vase is a birds eye map view.

city view from clock tower

That is a real church, it almost looks like a lego building! 

My devonshire tea, scones, jam and clotted cream.  I like the scones here because they are more like biscuits, just a little sweet, not crumbly or full of fruit

Inside the Brisbane Arcade

Meyer Dept store window displays, story was Santa and the Three Bears

Hes slept this way for 20 minutes, never looked up until the last stop.