Cassowaries everywhere

K: It was a day filled with wildlife. We visited the zoo in Daintree which was quite an experience. I would call it an exotic zoo, of sorts. Our visit started with me getting to "hold" Teddy, a red-winged cockatoo. Apparently, Teddy likes women and having his picture taken.

We also were given bread to feed the kangaroos. That was an experience. We have been used to seeing the smaller variety of 'roos, not the six-foot-tall variety. As we crossed the croc pond bridge, the 'roos must have heard or smelled us coming. About six of them were approaching, hopping towards us with the leader in the rear. They are very friendly and don't want to harm you at all. It is the 4-inch-long rear claws and very sharp front claws that do give you a bit of a pause. When the leader fully stretched up on his hind legs, grapped Viggo's shirt pocket with one hand and the bread with another, it was quite a sight. They continued to follow us around the zoo until we finally convinced them we were out of bread. They were very fun!

The zoo houses two adult cassowaries. They are beautiful creatures, but it was confirmed how dangerous they can be. The zoo owner had been previously attacked by one of the adults when he slipped and fell. He has scars across his chest as proof.

We also saw crocodiles, dingos, emus, monitor lizards, possums, gliders (a type of squirrel), a wombat, and tons of birds (kookaburras, owls, parrots, eagles, egrets, doves, herons, etc.). Needless to say, a little different than the typical American zoo.

Roo on top of a feeding disc	The road-crossing cassowary
An accident you don't want	That's a big ... roo !
Feeding the roos!	Wombat
Emus	Captive cassowary adult
Tall Roo feeding	That was a tall one
Teddy

V: We thought the cassowary was a mythical bird, really, ... until one crossed the highway in front of us. Wow, what a cool sight to see it slowly, nonchalantly cross the road, and head on down the side of the road, looking for a path into the forest. Very neat that one was, as we were protected inside the vehicle.

But I didn't feel so protected when I almost literally ran into one as I was bringing a bag to the car, parked at our lodgings in Mission Beach. I was walking a path, and heard a little underbrush noise to my right, and then, voila, the cassowary crossed the path right in front of me. I froze, and hoped it wasn't coming my way on the path, and looked for some object to put in between the two of us. Fortunately, it was just interested in foraging at the base of a tree right by one of the hotel's rooms. So I just hustled up the path to the car, leaving it behind to my left. That encounter did gave me ... pause, shall we say.

Imagine being in the room 602, coming out, and "Oh, hi, Big, Potentially-Lethal-Kick Cassowary!"

Australia Day Parade in Adelaide

After the 4,985-kilometer meandering drive south from Darwin, it was good to be in a cosmopolitan city like Adelaide. And just in time for a parade!

What a festive vision the Australia Day Parade was in Adelaide, on January 26! The photos show the variety of multi-cultural participants in the parade.

Australia Day is their national holiday, basically their 4th of July.

There is a lot of discussion going on here about changing their flag, as some feel it is too "colonial", and needs to be a design without any semblance of the Union Jack on it.

I guess they could always just put a kangaroo and an emu or cossawary, or a can of beer on a yellow and blue background, and that would be quite representative of the Aussies.

We took a paddleboat ride around the River Torrens, in front of the bandstand area where a free concert was held that evening, topped by fireworks over the city.

As you see, an American contingent was there, along with the Irish, some old-time bicyclists, the Brazilians, so many others, and, apparently, Gandhi was also in attendance!




























Given the Australia Day holiday, we thought it appropriate to include some random observations about Australia and Australians thus far. Keep in mind, we are not yet on the east coast and more cosmopolitan cities.

- Board shorts are an everyday clothing staple.

- Typical male Australian is adorned with board shorts, tank top, flip flops (called thongs here), and a tattoo(s).

- Consistently bad beer (James Boag's, Crown, VB, Cooper's, Cascade, XXXX Gold, Toohey's)

- Ordering and paying for food at the counter in a restaurant. Probably reduces need for wait staff. Thus increases owner's profit. And no one tips, at all. Taxes and service charges included in bill.

- Brazilian bikini waxes advertised on the radio (it is summertime).

- America is not the only country with a weight problem (see large, yellow-shirted fella in a photo above).

- Wine with screw tops (actually very convenient).

- Where are all the dogs (and we don't mean dingoes)?

- Girls all 'tarted up' in the evenings, while their escorting males are still in board shorts.

- American influences of KFC and Subway everywhere (and not much else other than imitations of Target and Burger King).

- Extremely friendly, chatty, and good-natured people.

- Yet, there is a very palpable governmental presence in all media, with ads in theaters and on radio reminding people to have bushfire evacuation plans, and anti-smoking and anti-drinking campaigns, and admonishments to put on sunblock, wear hats and long sleeves to ward off skin cancer, all quite "in loco parentis", as my Concordia College friends will surely know what that means!

Next: the oldest rainforest on the planet, outside of Cairns.

Mozzies as big as small birds, and birds as big as humans!

K: We are in north Queensland now, near Daintree Village and Cape Tribulation, almost 200 kms or so north of Cairns. What a dramatic change from the Outback and even South Australia. It is the Wet Tropics, and we are here in the rainy season. The terrain is rugged, lush and beautiful (think Jurassic Park), and the sounds of the rainforest are everywhere. It is actually the oldest rainforest in the world, older than the Amazon, and maybe the most bio-diverse. It is also one of the few places in the world where the rainforest spills right into the sea. Offshore is the Great Barrier Reef.

The area is also home to some of Australia's most dangerous animals, reptiles, insects and plants. Fortunately, we have seen none of them, but they include the stinger plant, green ants, various venomous snakes and spiders, the platypus, the centipede, and the famed flightless cassowary. The cassowary is as large as a human, has three spiked toes (the middle one extends when it is in attack mode), a purplish head, red wattles, a large horncomb, and iridescent black feathers. I hope that the only one I see is in a zoo. Their kick is apparently quite harmful, potentially deadly.
























V: We lodged at Daintree Ecolodge and Spa--an absolutely magnificent place in the wild of the rainforest. Getting there was a good adventure, as some of the roads were overrun by flooding rivers and creeks. Each bungalow was perched high on stilts, off the valley floor. Off the back of our screened-in porch, complete with hot tub spa, was a beautiful gurgling stream that lulled us to sleep each night. The sounds of the rainforest were omnipresent, and such a great change from urban traffic sounds, as you can well imagine.

In the morning, we were greeted by lizards of this and that ilk. A golden orb spider was our friend each evening at dinner. The chef at the restaurant here was great. I had the best grilled barramundi I have ever had. (It may well be my favorite fish; yes, Minnesotans, better than walleye!) Local rainforest fruits, vegetables, herbs and greens were healthy accompaniments to our meals. Karen, of course, had kangaroo, her new favorite meat. She keeps telling me that it is very healthy and lean. I like it, but not as much as she does.

We explored the canopy of the rainforest as we visited a natural preserve with a great walking trail, interesting exhibits, and a tower rising up through multiple levels of the rainforest tree canopy.

Oh, yes, and in an effort to keep a bit fit, we both took a stretch training class, working on our muscle flexibility. 'Mens sana in corpore sano' ... a sound mind in a sound body!

More from the Wet Tropics.... later.

Kangaroo Island

K: A day trip to Kangaroo Island, 13 miles off the coast of South Australia, was awesome! The island has a rugged coastline, many beautiful bays, turquoise water, conservation lands and national parks. There was much to see, and we did what we could in a day. Sadly, the count for kangaroo sightings was 2 live and about 20 dead. It is a little too reminiscent of deer in Minnesota!

We were fortunate to see many koalas in their natural habitat, sleeping in a tree or eating gum tree leaves. They are really cute but apparently dumb! It is interesting to discover how the animals in Australia are built to withstand the extreme heat. I was fascinated to learn that the koala has a brain the size of a small nut, and it rattles around in fluid in its cranium. Basically, the animal sacrificed the size of its brain to conserve energy. So if, in future, you hear me say to Viggo, "Stop acting like a koala", you will know what I mean.

We also saw dozens of New Zealand fur seals that hang out in South Australia, their mating ground. It was great fun to watch them hunt for food and play in the ocean and nearby rocks. They are large animals!

Birds at Vivonne Bay beach, Kangaroo Island	Flinders Lighthouse
Admirals Arch, Flinders National Park, Kangaroo Island	New Zealand Fur Seals at Flinders
Sunbathing seal... scratch my belly, please!	Formation called Remarkable Rocks at Flinders National Park
Rocks arch	Hollowed-out rock
Rock on	Koala bear, on the Koala Walk path
Catching ...	... some ...
...zzzzz's ...	let's eat ...
... let's sleep ...	I know ... I AM cute and cuddly... zzzzz ...

V: What a great day trip it was to Kangaroo Island! The koalas sleeping ... and sleeping, goanna lizards scurrying across the roadway, New Zealand Fur Seals sunning on the rocks, birds of beautiful plumage gathered in the trees, and a few kangaroos hopping about . . . although far fewer than we were hoping to spot.

"No, Karen, no, we are not bringing a baby koala to Philly. I'm sorry, no."

In Adelaide, now, awaiting the Australia Day parade. Then we fly northeast, to Queensland, to the rainforest north of the city of Cairns. Hope the Internet is working well up there.

Oh, I just have to shout out to Chuck and Alan in Philly. It was so fun to chat with them today via Skype.

Stay warm in Minnesota, North Dakota, and Philly, friends!