In the morning, we went downstairs to inquire about going to the Rainforest Sanctuary. Fred, our host, offered to drive us there. Both Fred and Antonia have been very nice. It was raining pretty hard on the way to the Rainforest Sanctuary. We were glad that we went diving yesterday and not today.
Even though it was raining pretty hard, we decided to head into the Sanctuary. It made for a more realistic "rain forest". First, we walked through the rain forest aviary to see the koalas. There we saw Lucky, a four year old female koala. She was actually active and moving from tree to tree. All the koalas previously seen were sleeping the whole time. Theresa went a bit overboard with her koala video and picture taking, but it was understandable. Lucky was putting on a show for us. We stuck around for the koala presentation. Our guide, Peter Walsh, gave a 30 minute presentation and then....let us
hold Lucky! We finally had our chance to hold a koala after failing to do so in Adelaide and Melbourne. Her fur was soft and thick, with her claws sharp and also thick. We asked the woman before us to take a video from our camera of us holding the koala. She seemed a little nervous about it, but we figured it should be pretty simple to do. We got our camera to check out the video. Two seconds of video. Great, thanks. I was able to get a couple pictures of Theresa holding Lucky, and she got a video of me petting Lucky so at least we got something. We also paid to have a picture of the two of us with the koala. The picture is kind of funny, it looks like we're holding our new born child or something. Lucky was a very good koala, clung on to Theresa very tightly. In the picture, you can see her sharp claws on Theresa. We kind of felt bad, cause Lucky didn't really want to leave his tree. Perhaps the koala picture taking thing isn't so good for the sanity of koalas.
After the koala presentation, Peter gave a reptile presentation. We got to pet a python and a baby crocodile. If you ever have a close encounter with a crocodile, pet its belly. It's all soft and fleshy down there. Also, remember to run zig zag. It works if you're chased by a gator, so maybe it'll work for a croc as well.
We had lunch at the
Sanctuary which consisted of a buffet with the birds. Matilda, an eight year old larakeet, joined our lunch briefly. First sitting on Theresa's head then on my shoulder. Lunch included fresh barramundi, a local fish, which was very tasty, and a wide assortment of fresh fruit. There was something called Star Apple that we hadn't heard of. Afterwards, we joined Peter again for a tour of the rest of the sanctuary. We got to see and play with many varieties of kangaroos and wallabies and with an emu. We also got to see a tree kangaroo and an echidna waddling around. We enjoyed the sanctuary. The rain had stopped and the day ended up being really cool and damp, perfect for the sanctuary. Unfortunately, we forgot to charge up our camera battery after the long day of scuba so our picture taking at the sanctuary was limited. We luckily had just enough battery to get our koala pictures and videos.
We took the public shuttle back to the hotel and then headed to the beach a little before sun down. We got to swim for a little over an hour. Even though there was a safety net, it was a little scary because it was obvious that even if they couldn't go through, things could go over the net.
Things like jellyfish and sharks. We opted to not be the closest ones to the back wall of the netting. After the beach, we cleaned up and then met up with Paul, Janita, Ross and the kids for dinner at Zinc. It was our last night, so we were looking forward to a good meal with great friends. Sadly, Jonah and Mattea couldn't make it through the dinner, so Janita had to leave early. We didn't get to say bye to the kids, but I'm sure we'll see them in the near future. By that time, Mattea may be taller than Theresa.
We went back to Paul and Janita's to pick up some laundry and to say our goodbyes. Tomorrow, we're saying bye to Australia and hello to New Zealand.
For pictures of the day, go to: http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/sredir?uname=bigtandeze&target=ALBUM&id=5407633002384526097&authkey=Gv1sRgCMPqna-Vg8XvXg&feat=email
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