Things finally started going our way in the last several days! YEAH!!!! We decided that we deserved a fun weekend getaway with it being the first Saturday we didn’t have to do a full day of apartment searching and worrying. We asked around and I researched my tourist books and we came up with a few ideas. We decided not to plan too much and just see where the weekend took us.
We rented a car and went to pick it up early Saturday morning. On the walk to the rental place we found out that Jimmy Buffett will be doing a concert here at the Opera House on January 23 and 24!!! For those of you who don’t know, Luke is a huge Parrothead and has been going to concerts yearly since college. He even has a parrot costume that he wore for Halloween several years ago that has now turned into his Buffett concert wear. When he told me he wanted to pack it, I thought he was crazy but he insisted because it was for “just in case!” We couldn’t believe it and we were so excited to hear he really was coming. We will of course be online getting tickets as soon as they go on sale in a couple of weeks. We cannot wait!!!!!
When we showed up to pick up the tiny car Luke had rented, they informed us that we were getting a free upgrade because they ran out of the small cars. WOO! We started getting a little giddy with the luck we were having all before 8:30 a.m. that day! We got an SUV that was very nice. We immediately started laughing as we pulled out when Luke hit the windshield wipers instead of the turn signal. J It was even weird sitting in the front seat on the left side as a passenger. Once we got out of the city, it was less stressful driving on the other side.
We drove out of the city to a place about 30 minutes away called The Featherdale Wildlife Park. Anyone who comes to visit us- this will be a MUST for you to see! We were able to see all types of animals that live in Australia including reptiles, birds, and of course koalas, kangaroos, and all sorts of different animals I’ve only heard or read about. Most of the wallabies (like a small kangaroo but in the same family) and kangaroos were able to be out of their cages and interact with us. We even got to feed them and pet them. We had so much fun and took so many pictures. It felt so good to laugh all morning!
Then we got to pet the koalas. Most of them were sleeping so we didn’t bother them for too long. I had never seen a wombat before. They are so much bigger than I realized! I hope you enjoy the pictures and videos. We had a hard time deciding which ones to include. Make sure you look for the joey peeking out of its mother’s pouch. We also had to include the peacock with its feathers all out and then the one with the sounds it makes on video. So crazy! There are really some cool animals over here.
You’ll also notice we have on sweatshirts, shorts, and flip flops. As I’ve mentioned in previous blogs, it’s been rainy and unseasonably cool. It was only about 60-63 degrees all weekend but it was nice when it wasn’t raining on us.
We could have stayed at the park all day but we enjoyed our time there and headed on up to the Blue Mountains. The roads winded around and around and it felt like we were going to the Lake of the Ozarks or Branson instead of the mountains we’re used to seeing in Colorado but it was so nice to see some land and no big buildings! There are wallaby, kangaroo, and wombat crossings all over when you get out of the city. On our drive up the mountain we kept our eyes peeled for these wallabies, kangaroos, and wombats! Actually, I reminded Luke that I was looking and he needed to concentrate on driving on the left side of the road and on those narrow, winding roads! But he’s actually the one who saw some wallabies first so we pulled over and took pictures of them in the wild. We couldn’t believe how many signs they had up but I guess they are really active at night and you see them often. We didn’t we’d actually see them but glad we did! Even when we see deer signs at home I don’t think I’ll see them much but I guess it’s different here.
We stopped in a little town called Leura, for a late lunch and walked around to the little shops. We decided to keep driving up to the Jenolan Caves. We saw that they had a 2 hour night ghost cave tour so we called to get tickets. We were excited to see that the tour would be by torchlight…and then we remembered that “torches” are “flashlights” here. DARN! ;) It took a long time to get there and we weren’t sure we’d ever find it. The road got more and more narrow and windy and we finally pulled up to what kind of seemed like a small ghost town. We decided we should probably get a room at the Inn there since it would be after 10pm when the tour was over and a long drive back to any other small towns with accommodations. We had enough time to change into jeans and grab a couple of drinks and appetizers before the tour. Our room was very nice and much better than we thought it could be. It was an old Inn that seemed a lot like a little bed and breakfast.
The tour was interesting- no ghosts or anything scary though. I haven’t been in a cave since I was a kid so it was neat to see one again and to hear the myths about ghost sightings and legends! When we got back to our room we looked through the list of cave tours for the next day. The Lucas Cave??? Well, we had to go to that one! So Sunday morning we went on a self-guided tour first and then the tour through the Lucas Cave. It had some very great parts to it that we couldn’t really show the beauty in a picture so sorry about that! We also didn’t want to be like the annoying people who took hundreds and hundreds of pictures the whole time. Instead, Luke and I were the people on the tour who asked a million questions. The guide loved it! We learned a lot more and continued to ask him questions even after we left the cave. J This would be another place I would recommend.
Before we left Jenolan, I got pooped on by a bird. That’s right…MORE LUCK! That’s the second time in my life that I’ve been pooped on and every time everyone says what great luck that is. This time I’m believing it and ready for more luck to keep coming our way! The red bird in the picture was hanging around us during breakfast and then he got me later! Check out the picture of the opossum-type animal staring at Luke when he took its picture, too. He was just hanging over people’s tables outside while they ate lunch.
On the drive back down the mountain I got to practice driving, too. I did the same things Luke did with the blinkers and windshield wipers but got the hang of it. I’m glad I got to try! Next we went to see the “Three Sisters” rocks at Echo Point…it was so foggy that we saw very little but we at least tried. We’ve decided to go back there another time and do the 3 hour hike to get the full effect.
We had a great weekend and discovered so many more things that we can do here on our adventure. I can’t wait for the next!
One last thing…I want to add more Australian words for you. J I’ve picked up a lot more being around more Aussie’s lately.
“Good on you!” = “Good for you!”
Bushwalk = a hike
Frosty = icy (road sign we saw)
Overtake = pass (when talking about driving, it’s ok to hear but when our tour guide in the cave said he was going to “overtake the group” it made me nervous at first!)
Lolly = candy
Smash Repairs = body shop
Mince beef = ground beef
Capsicum = peppers (green, red, yellow & they are on everything it seems like!)
Chips = fries
Energy/Kilojoules = calories
Fair Dinkum = something legit
Dodgy = sketchy (like the hotel we are currently in!!) J
Happy Christmas = Merry Christmas
Many of you have asked about an address for us. If you’d like it let me know and I’ll email it to you. Remember we aren’t moving until after December 21st though. I hope you have a great week!
Oprah is on her way and she’s been the talk all over the news and newspapers. Her guests all showed up this morning and were all over the place! The news people are even jokingly calling the Opera House the “Oprah” House. I’m sure the Aussies are hating that!!! I was bummed that I didn’t win tickets to her show on the 14th but hopefully something will come up with all this luck, right?! ;)
***I have to add the videos and the other pictures to a separate blog. Going over my "data" limit with all these uploads!
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