Simon took advantage of the good exchange rate to purchase a new camera, the eagerly awaited Fujifilm X-T1 (bought on the pretext that as a lighter camera it would help my dodgy bones on long days shooting horses!) The parcel had attempted to be delivered whilst we were on our holiday holiday so Simon, Paul & I trundled off to collect the camera from the Post Office and I did a spot of food shopping. I saw my first barefoot shopper! Apparently its not unusual over here and some shops even have signs asking people to wear footwear.
Jodie, Jenny, Simon, Paul & Porter had an afternoon of fun in the pool. We had a quick Skype to Mum & Dad back home and finished with a yummy BBQ.
Day 13 - Caversham Wildlife Park
Today's road trip took 'about an hour' and we headed 'East North' (as Jenny would describe it much to our amusement!). It is situated within Whiteman Park and luckily as the Australia kids are still at school it was relatively un-busy. It was 35 degrees in the sun and beautiful clear skies, luckily the park was pretty shaded so although it was hot, it didn't feel 'hot hot'! Jodie & Jenny planned our route around the park.....
We saw a plenty of animals and birds en route to their first pit-stop. There were so many lovely animals to see and interact with but the highlight certainly for Jodie & Jenny was most definitely without a shadow of a doubt the Kangaroo's which were so friendly and soft and cuddly. There were a few who had baby Joeys in their pouches and we occasionally saw a cute little head poking out, to be replaced when they went shy with a leg and an ear instead!
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| Smile |
We stayed briefly as there was a 'meet the Wombat and friends' experience at 11.00 so we tootled off to where we needed to be. As well as the Wombat there was an array of other birds, reptiles and mammals (of which I should have paid more attention and I may have been able to name them, but I didn't so you'll just have to guess).
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| Not very dignified |
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| Meet the Wombats |
There are loads more to see via the flickr link, but too many to use in the blog! The next show was the farm show at 1.00pm. It was nearly lunchtime so we took the opportunity to have lunch at their cafe. Jodie took this chance to vet the photos which had been taken (now triple pronged as Simon, Uncle Paul & I all had cameras). Jenny hadn't checked her phone for at least 10 minutes and therefore tried to hook up to 'Davids' hotspot who was also dining (somewhere) in the cafe, but to no avail.
The girls wanted to go back to the Kangaroos en route to the animal show, so we walked back to the enclosure and probably could have stayed there for a good while longer. The 'Roo's' were mainly sleepy, but a couple of them did 'bounce' off which was great to witness. I didnt realise just how much they rely on their tails to balance and as an extra leg when 'walking' on all fours.
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| Very nice to meet you Jenny |
We managed to tear ourselves away and made it just about on time for the farm show. Here we saw how the Australia farm dogs are used to round the sheep up for shearing. The dog they used 'Rusty' was still in training but he got there in the end. Uncle Paul was really inspired and can't wait to buy a ranch with sheep so he can have a dog to do that job. We saw a sheep being shawn and then were showed how the farmers crack their wips. A few people from the audience had a go with varying degrees of success, some of the 'fails' looked quite painful.
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| One man and his dog |
Following the show we had a wander around the rest of Molly's farm, I was really brave and accompanied Jen's into the 'loads of different animals ranging from goats, to lama's, to turkeys which were all loose together'. (I don't have a good track record with goats). As well as those there was also a Shire horse and miniature together, some really stinky pigs, an alpaca and no doubt a few more I have forgotten about.
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| one of the many goats |
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| very little and very large |
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| Chloie the Clydesdale |
The next stop were the Koala's. They sleep for 20 out of the 24 hours in a day so it was unlikely that we would see one awake. We were only allowed to touch one particular Koala, and weren't allowed to touch their food as they would see it as contamination and refuse to eat it. They were super cute and looked very cuddly.
We exited via the gift shop and Simon purchased a hat for himself, a bag & some playing cards for me and a bracelet for Jodie, Jenny missed out on that one!
The day was concluded with a dip in the pool and some Porter swim training followed by a Skype, to Mum, Dad, Dean & Mille. Dinner was sausages and chips and rounded off by a few games of card with my newly purchased playing cards.
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