10 Koalas and a Hike

Koala sign! Watch out there are Koalas in these parts!

Ah, and here a few koala just hanging out in a tree!

And here is another one just hanging out. We ended up seeing a total of 10 koalas! Our record is 11 at one time. We set that back when we first arrived!

Justin by a Yakka bush. He really likes them!

Me by a rock. Justin thought it would make for good scenery.

This weekend we thought we would go hiking on a trail called the Waterfall Gully Hike. We had Bob's car (Justin's boss) for the weekend, so we thought we would head for the hills, Adelaide Hills that is. We found the turn off for the Waterfall Gully hike, but we didn't drive far enough so we ended up doing what is called Chambers Gully hike. It turned out to be quite a bit long (around 5 miles compared to like 2 miles), but it was gorgeous and we saw 10 koalas!! We both still can't get over seeing koalas in the wild. You look up in a tree and there is a cute cuddly koala hanging out. That was our big event this past weekend. This weekend we are driving 5 hours north to go to Flinders Ranges National Park for weekend of hiking and camping. Justin has a before sunrise hike planned for us on Saturday morning! Can't wait! It should be beautiful though! That is about it for now! We miss you all!!

Riverlands Food and Wine Festival

This is the gang getting ready to walk to the festival.

The entrance to the festival

Justin enjoying a nice roo burger. It was delicious (he let me have a bite!).

It was really hot so Justin jumped in the Murray River to cool down!

Hanging out by the river (in the background you can see our friends Rob and Beth trying to throw each other in the river).

Everyone getting ready to go try some wine

Justin on our boat which took our whole group on an hour long cruise for only $40! One of the girls we were with was dared to ask the driver of this cruise boat to give us a ride and she did and he gave us a ride for a great deal! It was really fun!

Sunset on the boat. It was absolutely amazing!

Sunset

Sunset

So as you can tell we went to the Riverlands Food and Wine Festival this weekend! It was a blast! We headed down Friday after work and got back early Sunday night. We went with a group of people from church. The festival was right along the Murray River which is one the main water sources for South Australia. It was really hot to and I am not used to that hot weather yet! Overall it was a nice relaxing weekend! Oh, and the sunset on Saturday night was one of the most beautiful I had seen in a very long!

This weekend is a break from traveling. On Saturday I am hanging out with some girls from church and Justin will have to fend for himself! The last weekend in October we are headed about 4 and a half hours north to go to Flinders Ranges National Park for some hiking and camping. That is about it for now! We miss you all!

Some Underwater Pictures!

We went and dropped off our underwater film from the Great Barrier Reef this weekend and here are some of the pictures. They didn't come out very well, but what do you expect with a throw away camera under water! We were pretty bummed not to find out the picture of the sea turtle didn't turn out. I would have loved to share that picture with people because it was so amazing!

As for this past weekend, we just hung around Adelaide. It was wonderful to catch up on rest since we have been so busy lately. On Saturday night we went down to Glenelg Beach and walked around and had ice cream. It was packed! It was a really fun atmosphere walking around the beach at night on a beautiful spring night. It is so nice having a nice beach just a 30 minute tram ride away. On Sunday, we bought our plane tickets to Sydney and booked our hotel! We are excited! And we get to see our good friend Jess!! She is awesome and coming to visit us all the way from Colorado Springs! We head up there on January 21st. This weekend we are going to the Riverlands with a group of people from church for a weekend Food and Wine festival! We are heading up Friday night and getting back on Sunday. I hope I don't eat too much! I do like food! Other than that not much is going on around here. My birthday is Thursday and we are going out to eat to celebrate. That is about it! We miss everyone!!

Daintree Rainforest and Great Barrier Reef

So here we are! The Great Barrier Reef! It was absolutely amazningly beautiful! The water color was so blue it looked like pool water!

This is where we got off and on the boat when we were snorkeling. Just look at that water! We saw all kinds of amazing things snorkeling. It was exactly like Finding Nemo, but in real life. It is almost indescribable how beautiful it is under the water. It is like a whole new world of fish life. The coral was amazing! The coolest thing we saw were giant clams, barrimundi cod (huge fish!), tons of neon colored fish, and a sea turtle! The turtle was really, really big and he looked liked he was flying through the water. We have a whole roll of underwater film, so hopefully pictures turned out and we get get them on a CD and post them!

This is Justin on our boat on the way out to the reef. It was about a 45 minute ride to get there from Cape Tribulation.

Just finished with the day. What a great day!

Look at that water! All the dark spots are the reef. So amazing!

This is a shot at a scenic overlook on the way to the Daintree Rain forest

WARNING: There are crocs in these waters! You pretty much couldn't swim anywhere because crocs and box jelly fish were everywhere!

This is a picture of mangroves. This is where the crocs like to hang out! So avoid these areas!

This was at Port Douglas on the way from the Daintree Rain forest back to Cairns. It was beautiful!

More lovely scenery from a lookout!

This is Justin outside our Rain Forest cabin! It was pretty much the coolest place I have ever stayed. We were right in the middle of the Rain Forest! It rained every night and it was so wonderful listening to the rain and the sounds of the Rain Forest. I miss it so much!

This is inside our little cabin.

This is just out back of our cabin! I love the Rain Forest!!

This is at a place called Mossman Gorge. It was the start of the Rain Forest. It was beautiful!

Mossman Gorge

Mossman Gorge

Mossman Gorge. The trees there were incredible. The root systems were amazing!

Crocodile river cruise time!

Justin on the lookout for crocs!

Crikey! There is a crock in these waters! Yes, it was a baby croc, but a croc nonetheless!

Here is another little guy sunning himself on the banks of the river!

Watch Out! Cassowaries roam these parts!

Cassowary Country!

Justin kissing a replica of his most favorite bird!

Ahh!! Cassowary in real life in the wild! Justin was on the hunt to see one of the big boys ever since he heard about them back in Dallas. This one was on the trail behind our cabin. It is a bit blurry, but you can tell what it is!

Don't run over Cassowaries! See before and after.

Fitzroy Island. We went on a day tour to Fitzroy Island from Cairns. It was about 45 minutes from the city.

We took a hike to the summit of the highest point on the island and this is a view.

On the Island!

Getting ready to go swim!

Great snorkeling spot right here!

Look at that water! Amazing!

This is the beach we swam at, Nudey beach. Don't worry we kept our bathers (that is swimsuit in Australian) on!

So that is our trip in a nutshell! It was amazing and I highly recommend going to everyone! We miss you all and we will be back in just 6 more months! Crazy!!