The Steve Irwin Australia Zoo

I'm lucky to have met Kim who took Kevin and I with her family, to the Australia Zoo.

She has a close friend who volunteers at the zoo and he showed us all around the entirety of this massive animal kingdom.

He organized which animals we could take photos with at the best times and when the great animal shows were in action.

One of the best parts was his special access to the elephant enclosure. He got us behind the gates and let us feed the elephants while he snapped photos of all of us!

The crocodile show!

upclose encounter with the elephants!

posing with the snake!

posing with the koala!

Staff taking the Australian possum out for a walk!

acrobatic climbing goats:

Steve Irwin !

First time we saw a joey!! soo cute!

we got to pose with BW

Hanging out in Steve Irwin's vehicle

Where the heck is Tin Can Bay? It's where the dolphins play!

We started our day to the beautiful sunrise over Tin Can Bay.

We stayed overnight to be here in the morning for the feeding of dolphins.

Wow, this little dolphin Mystique the male 20 yr old alpha of his pod = cute.

He comes to the bay every morning for his free feeding of fish.

We got to feed Mystique small fish for $5 a head as Australians say.

out back australia

on the way:

underground camping? yeah. this is it.When we replaced our alternator we were much more confident about making it to the Outback.
Our first stop was COOBER PEDY.

We asked a fellow camp mate, "What's Cooper Pedy like?" Her response was "It's creepy."
And yeah, it kinda is.

mining:

We had to go because the town is mainly UNDERGROUND!

on the way out of coober pedy:

GBR - The Great Barrier Reef

Well, we've been waiting for this moment and the time has come. We can now explore the Great Barrier Reef. Thank goodness we have money for this part of our trip because this is what Australia is about. Rare Species and World Heritage Listed Sites.

To refresh your memory about what this is.... The Great Barrier Reef is one of the seven wonders of the world, and from above, viewing it from a distance, you will understand why it's declared one of the seven world natural wonders. Some facts: It is larger than the Great Wall of China and the GBR is the only living thing on earth that is visible from space. How's that?

We arrived to Cairns and couchsurfed at Stefan's house in Kewarra beach ... about 20 minutes north of the Cairns city centre. We met other couchsurfers there and booked a tour with Betty and Karin from Austria.

We had the option of taking an into dive. I said yes but was denied because of my arthritis medication. Need a doctor's note. Kevin took the intro dive and told me all the more amazing things you can see when you're just hanging out down in the depths of the amazing Reef.

Camping at the Boulders

Casuaries!

We went to a camp spot called the Boulders after Townsville on our way to Cairns

and we saw casuaries! Oh my goodness, these creatures are huge and scary. They look innocent and they're very curious but if you even dare to get out of your car, believe it or not they can KILL you with a swipe from their TOENAIL!!
serious.

Uluru and Kata Tjuta

ULURU

Adelaide back

Road Trip!

On the Way:

If you tell an Australian you went to Adelaide, it's pretty guaranteed they will say "WHY?!?!"
Our response is "We have friends there."

When in Indonesia we traveled with Eoghan an Irish lad who immigrated to Adelaide.
He is a manager of a bar and we had the best time with them. After a few nights eating pizza
at this happening place "Casablabla" a hip multicultural tapas bar, we explored. We spent a day with Eoghan and his housemate and went to some wineries. My favorite part about these wineries is there is no tasting fee. All the tastings of 15 different wines = free.
Imagine that. We sampled yummy wines and took photos of the beautiful grapevines.

THEN - We took a road trip to the Yorke Peninsula also know as the Yorkes, i think.

On the way there we stopped at a scenic rocky beach with a nice pier.
We camped at the Innes National Park and let me tell you what we saw.
As we set up tents we saw wild roaming Emus and Kangaroos!
The next day we drove around to 3 or 5 viewpoints. We immediately saw dolphins hanging out in pod! WOW!
Then we randomly saw a herd of sheep hiding on a hill and more Emus!
On our drive I have to mention the simply beautiful views of the rocky cliffs meeting the ocean and the beaches on the other side where people actually surf. Another wow.
campsite, what?! :

Some of the animals that greeted us during our camp trip!

oh the sun sets:

Laksa, how I enjoy thee! High class camping if you ask me:

learn about laksa

Home:

Too bad after leaving this heaven we were greeted with more car sorrows. BOO! Alternator went KAPUT and we must give a shout out to God for our luck in joining RAA roadside assistance two days prior! OR we can take some credit for learning the great old Tasmanian Lesson of Car Accident 101.

disasters continue: