Kuranda Koala Gardens

Today we had the chance of a lifetime – that being the opportunity to hold a koala bear.  They’re so cute and squishy!!  Well, at least this one was.  I’m not sure one out in the wild would be as friendly.  We’ve heard that the bigger ones (up to 4 feet tall) are actually pretty mean.  They wouldn’t think twice about clawing you to death. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Being able to hold a koala is a rare treat, holding one when it was awake is even rarer (They sleep 22 hours a day). 

Their fur is really soft. On their bottoms they have a cartilage plate that allows them to sleep in a sitting position for long periods of time.  This is pretty firm but still covered with the soft fur.  You can see from the pictures that they do have really long claws which allows them to hold on tight to the trees.  Their hands are actually made up of 2 thumbs and 3 fingers.  How would that be? 

This experience was so cool.  I’m not sure where it would rank on the list of cool things we’ve gotten to do but it would definitely be near the top!

The koalas were the main attraction at the park.  In addition to these there were other neat animals. Here’s a few we saw.

 

There were lizards all over the park, both in cages and out walking free.

 

 

 

Crocodiles having a lazy morning in the sun. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

friendly kangaroos              

 (they were real – they look stuffed but they really were alive).

 

Long-necked turtles.  They looked like a turtle with a snake for it’s head.  Kind of creepy. 

 

 

 

 

This lovable animal is the Common Wombat.  The kids thought it looked like a furry pig.  It’s in the Macropod family with the kangaroo and koala.  They have pouches and long claws. The thing that sets them apart is they are a burrowing animal.  They dig a hole the exact diameter of their body. 

This comes in handy if they are attacked by predators (dingos and other feral dogs).  If this were to happen they’d jump down head first into their hole and then plug the opening with their fanny.  Their backside is made up off a really hard cartilage plate like the koala.  The caretaker told us it could take a significant amount of damage and they wouldn’t even feel it. 

This wombat is named Poppy.  The lizard in the picture decided a while back that he was going to live with Poppy.  He’s moved in and now drives other lizards away. The caretaker said he is free to move around the park but he doesn’t.  He just stays here with Poppy.  Poppy doesn’t seem to mind, she’s even willing to share her food with him.  Kind of funny.

 

This Kookaburra wasn’t actually in the park but outside in the village.  Kookaburras are one of the animals that are famous here (like the kangaroo and wombat – you see them on t-shirts and other things).  This one was pretty friendly.  We saw him eat out of someone’s hand.  When I asked if I could take a picture the gal who was feeding it started to tell me about one she had fed one at home.  She said she made the mistake of feeding it a piece of steak, after that it wouldn’t settle for anything else.  This kookaburra liked cheese. 

 

As we were leaving the park we saw this van.  We thought it was great.  How could you not be happy driving around in this van?

 

 

 

 

Before leaving Kuranda (which is situated about 15k above Cairns) we took the opportunity to go and see Barron Falls.  The falls were gorgeous.  You could see the falls from the top or take a long ramp down to the bottom of the falls.  It was a great day for a hike.

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is a view from the hill as we headed down the mountain back to Cairns.  It’s a beautiful area.  The Saints here call it heaven. 

Trinity Beach

We’d only been away from the beach for a few hours when we arrived at Trinity Beach, a suburb of Cairns, Queensland.  When we arrived our room wasn’t ready.  So we decided to walk down to the beach a couple of blocks away.  We hadn’t been there 15 minutes before the kids were in the ocean – and not in their swimsuits. 

 

It started out that they were just getting their feet wet, then they got in a little deeper.  Before we knew it they were wet above their waist.  It was actually pretty funny to watch. 

 

It wasn’t until later when we were walking down the beach that we saw this sign. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As we were leaving for church we saw this walking stick bug on the top of our car.  It was so cool.  Yes, we moved him to a safe place before we drove away. 

We looked up the church in Cairns and found there were two branches.  This is by far the biggest congregation we’ve found since we left the States. 

As always it was wonderful.  The Saints welcomed us with open arms.  We met lots of people, including one sister whose son works in Provo at the Riverside Country Club.  She really wants us to look him up when we get home. 

During Sacrament Meeting the Branch President spoke about the upcoming missionaries in the branch.  He mentioned in the next year if all who planned on serving actually did they’d have 11 out from their branch – that’s 10% of their active membership.  That’s amazing!

 

As with many of the other Australian branches, Cairns has a lot of Polynesian families.  I thought these little guys were so cute in their lava- lavas. 

Shoes are somewhat optional in Australia.  Most members wear them to church but it’s not uncommon at all to see people walking around the grocery store, mall and other places without shoes. 

 

 

This is the inside of the church.  You enter the building and walk down a hall to this area.  The chapel would be on the right of this picture.  All the classrooms, chapel, cultural hall (really small) open to this courtyard.  It’s really pretty.  Hannah was wondering why we don’t do this in Utah.  Nicholas quickly reminded her that we’d have to shovel snow both inside and outside of the church. 

 

 

Nicholas went out the car, when he came back in he gave a little scream. We looked over to see what was wrong and found that somewhere along the line picked up this newt. It had somehow got in his hair.

These little guys (he was about 5 inches long) are super fast. Once Nick realized he was there, he jumped from his hair to the wall before he had a chance to react. He was pretty cute although I still wouldn’t want him in my hair.

 

 

 

 

This huge chess set is at a local shopping center.  The kids thought it was great to play with such big pieces. 

The two white birds you see in this picture are cockatoos.  They’re all over the place.  It’s strange to see such large birds flying around.  Parrots are also pretty common.  I have to say Australia does have some incredible birds.  On more than one night this week we wanted to strangle one of these gorgeous birds (we’re not sure which one it was).  It would start shrieking loudly around 4:00 in the morning and didn’t stop till the sun came up.  It was so annoying!  I suppose people just get used to it or perhaps that’s why shooting is not allowed in the city. 

Great Barrier Reef

One of the main attractions for Cairns (pronounced Cans – don’t ask me why) is that’s it’s a great jumping off point for the Great Barrier Reef.  The reef is more than 3,000k in length  but much of this is far away from population centers. 

From Cairns it’s about a 2 hour voyage to Russell Island.  Matt and I both got sea sick, although we weren’t the only ones.  The staff must have anticipated this and had garlic tablets ready and waiting along with barf bags.  We were instructed that once we used these we were to drop them over the edge of the ship (they were biodegradable) and the fish would appreciate the food. YUCK!!  It was a rough ride.  I’m not sure if the ocean was choppy or that’s just how the ship was.  We were just never so glad to see land (both coming and going). 

Russell Island is a tiny ----tiny spot in the middle of the ocean.  It’s mainly a bird reserve.  Cruise ships are allowed to use about a 50 foot by 20 foot patch of beach for the passengers to use as a base for snorkeling.  From the beach the reef is only 20 feet or so away. 

 

There were hundreds of birds on the island.  Maybe even thousands, we weren’t allowed to climb up the hill or walk around.

 

While waiting for the boat that would take us to shore the crew kept the passengers busy with this fish feeding.  It’s funny how both the fish and birds have learned that when the ships pull up it’s feeding time.  Before we had even dropped anchor the fish were circling.  The seagulls hoped to be fast enough to grab a bite of bread before it was snatched up by the fish. 

I’ve snorkeled before but having not done it for years I felt like I needed a refresher course.  Matt was also a bit nervous about it since he’s not a big swimmer.   So the first thing we did was get a snorkeling lesson.  Once this was done we were off to explore.  It was great.  Here’s a few of the pictures we took.

 

This giant clam was about 6 feet wide.  You could see it breathe.  it was so cool!

If some of the coral looks dead it probably is.  We were told that in order for new coral to grow coral eggs (seeds?  I’m not sure what he called them) had to land on dead coral.  The experts figure about 30% of the Great Barrier Reef is dead and that makes it a vary healthy reef. 

I thought this was interesting also, once you get past about 2 meters things start to lose their color until they eventually are grey and then black.  So if you see pictures of the reef in really vivid colors, they are likely taken with special lenses. 

 

Just before leaving we saw this sea turtle.  He seemed to be alone.  He also seemed pretty vulnerable out here in the middle of nowhere. 

 

 

It was a wonderful memorable day and by the time we got back on board to head home we all felt like this. 

 

 

 

It wasn’t until we got home that we realized how sunburned we had gotten.  We’ve been suffering the last couple of days and now the itching has started.  We’ll survive and even given this setback it was well worth the trip.

Mission Beach

We’ve spent the last couple of days getting caught up on homework and being lazy on the beach.  We’ve really enjoyed being back at the coast and love how green everything is in the tropics. 

I think I could live on a beach.  While we’ve been here the weather has been wonderful and the landscape sooooooo beautiful I hated going back to the bungalow.  This picture shows the walk down to the beach. 

One day I walked at least a mile down the beach just watching the tide come in and the creatures it brought with it. I watched this crab for a while; it was so interesting.

The wave brought this one in.  It was on top of the sand for a minute or so and then it scurried off and buried itself.  After a few minutes the waves would uncover it and it scurried off and did it again. 

 

When we first arrived and went down to the beach we saw millions of these little dots all over.  We couldn’t imagine what they were.  They were arranged in these patterns for as far as you could see.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Turns out it’s this little sand crab that’s making them.  The ones we saw varied in size from the size of a dime to a fifty cent piece.

When I came down to the beach early the next morning all of the balls were gone, the tide had flattened them.  By late afternoon they were back.  That’s a ton of work for such a little creature (there must be thousands of them).  It’s hard to believe they do this everyday! 

 

With the gorgeous setting we couldn’t pass up the opportunity to take a family picture.  Here’s a few we took.