Monday 10th March

Thank you for the e-mails we’ve picked up since we got here. It’s great. We have free internet access for as long as we like – another reason for staying the extra night and catching up on the blog and mails. We also have breakfast included, which is quite unusual, but very good – plenty of cereals, juice and toast and tea and coffee, so we started off the day well. They also do the laundry for $5, so we left a bagful and it’ll all be done when we get back this evening.

First off, we went to the Billabong Koala and Wildlife Park on the way to Wauchope, west of Port Macquarie. We got to stroke a koala! They’re lovely. Very dense fur, more so on the male than the female we’re told – the female feels more like sheep’s wool. The other koalas were eating or sleeping, but the one on display was obviously more used to being petted and just looked bored by the whole thing. Then we went on to walk in the kangaroo and wallaby enclosure and stroke some of them too – no keeper here, and there were about 6 animals loose. One had a joey in her pouch but he/she wouldn’t poke its head out – we only got to see an ear, a foot and a bit of a tail! There were other kangaroos in pens around the enclosure, some albino ones too – all of whom were being treated for some ailment or other. It was at this point that I couldn’t resist falling into the arms of a handsome Australian chap. They had a reptile house and I plucked up the courage to go inside! Those of you who know me well, will realise what a feat that was. I am terrified of snakes and even sit with a cushion in front of me when they come on the TV – I know, that won’t save me from them, but it’s a self-preservation thing. Apart from turtles, a small crocodile, and some lizards, there were Inland Taipans (the most deadly snake in Australia), Coastal Taipans (second most deadly), some kind of adder (third) and another poisonous one – I’d reached my limit by then, as well as 3 or 4 pythons of varying types – I don’t mind them quite as much as they’re bigger and don’t move so quickly. Wasn’t I brave?

After that pulse accelerating experience, we got back in the car and drove to Timbertown another few kms further west. It was originally a logging camp but has been recreated as a visitor attraction to show how the loggers lived and worked. It is very authentic as all the buildings have been built with old timbers, and original items have been donated from families whose ancestors were involved in the logging business. It’s an 87acre site and has over a km of narrow gauge railway line running round it with a little steam train that runs every hour. We also sat through a bullock team demonstration – 8 bullocks pulling a load of 3 tons, which in their terms is not a lot so to add a touch of realism, the brakes are kept on the cart. The bullocky (driver), Craig Lockwood, was a really interesting speaker and told us about the animals – they all have names and different personalities, so have their correct places on the team, and all about how they were used, and are still used in places like Tasmania, to extract timber from the forests. When you stand next to one of these huge beasts, it makes you realise how puny we are in the scheme of things.

It was time then to make a quick dash back to Port Macquarie to the Koala hospital to see more koalas, but we just missed seeing them being fed and in fact only saw one on his branch so that was a bit disappointing, but at least we got to stroke one earlier. Tom drove us down into town for drinks and a snack (the perceptive among you will have noticed that we didn’t stop for coffee and stickies today – we’d had a good breakfast and just bought bottles during our travels) as we were starving, after which we found a hairdresser and Tom had a haircut. Mine needs doing too, so I shall have to find a salon in the next few days.
On the way back to the motel we stopped at a sewing shop, but it was closing so I couldn’t buy anything – boo, hoo! Still, there’s always tomorrow………..Dinner this evening was Chinese just a quick walk down the road and there was so much, we have enough left for dinner tomorrow night as well. So now it’s time for bed. I’ve caught up with all the blogs now so Tom can’t nag me any more – but he will anyway – so I can go to bed with a clear conscience.

Goodnight all once again.