Koalas

I could NOT fall asleep last night and after a day of diving I have no idea why! I hit snooze a couple of times this morning (and I am NOT a snooze girl) before dragging myself out of bed. Luckily mom was still sleeping too as she had set her alarm for the right time in Australia but still had east coast time on her itouch! After a slow start, we headed down the main street to the Wildlife Habitat.

Our plan was to have “breakfast with the birds” which received very good reviews. It was funny because I guess in their high season you have to get there right away or else all the tables are gone, but we got there 45 minutes into it and we were the second table! They have a buffet breakfast and birds are around you. At first I wasn’t that impressed but then two beautiful birds came over and started eating mom’s bread which was funny. After they were done with us they went to another table to drink their juice while they were up getting more food! The breakfast itself was decent but it was cool sitting amongst the birds. We then walked through the different parts of the park. They do a really good job of keeping the animals “natural” environments. We were able to hand feed kangaroos which was awesome. Again since it isn’t tourist seasons we were really the only ones with them for a while. It was VERY cool when we saw one with a baby in its pouch (although the baby didn’t eat). There were birds in the area too that got VERY aggressive and would try to eat the food so it was a workout trying to feed the kangaroos without the birds stealing the food. Mom found a kangaroo she LOVED (a cute little hungry fella!) and said it was her “Cho Con” of kangaroos!

We then made our way to the Koala presentation which was interesting, although let’s be honest we really just wanted our pictures with them! That was pretty cool, although they are not soft but rather bristly! Pictures to follow! After that we headed back to the room to cool down (it isn’t really rainy, just VERY muggy) and print out boarding passes for Sydney tomorrow!

We then decided we were going to take a drive north which is where the Daintree Rainforest is located. Not to be travel snobs (which we are) but we had already done zip lining etc. in the rainforest in Thailand so we really didn’t have any interest in doing that again and since we had a car we figured we would make the most of our time by driving ourselves.

Our first stop was Massimo Gorge which reminded us of the Kangamangus highway in North Conway, NH. It was cool because it is the rainy season so the river was definitely worth checking out. They had a couple of nice walkways and paths and after some pictures we continued on.

Our next stop was a restaurant I had read about as a resort and spa. The resort and spa is VERY nice (way too expensive for us) but lunch was beautiful as it was on a deck overlooking the river. The whole place was very tranquil and zen-like and we felt VERY relaxed when we left.

We then decided to head up to Daintree Village which actually ended up being NOTHING (well..a convenient store and a tourist shop). In order to see what Daintree really had to offer you have to take a ferry, but the rental car doesn’t have insurance for that, so we ended up driving through the “town” (we didn’t blink) and then back to Port Douglas.

We were EXAUSTED when we got back. We have been getting up somewhat early here and going to bed late but it has been nice and this is really the first place we’ve been able to relax. I think the rain also makes us tired. So after well needed naps (that almost turned into sleeps!) we headed out for dinner at what turned out to be a place with great steaks! We were both pleasantly surprised!

Now it’s packing (again!) and off to Sydney in the morning!

Hugs and kisses from Koalas!