- Nov 30: arrived Sydney, drove to Woodberry – Backyard Wildlife
- Dec 3-4: Sydney – First Days in Australia
- Dec 5: en route to Brisbane – Australian Beaches
- Dec 6-7: Brisbane
- Dec 8: en route, night in Kempsey
- Dec 9-16: apartment in Newcastle – In and Around Newcastle, NSW
- Dec 17: Jenolan Caves – Wildlife at Jenolan Caves, Jenolan Caves
- Dec 18-20: Sydney
- Dec 21-24: Newcastle
- Dec 25: depart
Category Archives: travel
Australian Beaches
I wrote recently about my memories of beaches around the world. The beaches I was newly observing as I wrote were Australian ones, such as these that we visited during a road trip from Newcastle to Brisbane and back. This was a fairly small territory, considering Australia’s overall coastline (it is a continent, after all), and amazingly blessed with stunning beaches. All of these shown were easily accessible by car (plus, sometimes, a very short walk). Some had lifeguards, some did not. Many were empty or nearly so, except for us.
Australian Creatures
We visited an alpaca farm, then a petting zoo with koalas, kangaroos, a cassowary, wallabies, and emus – in addition to the more usual petting zoo denizens.
Wildlife at Jenolan Caves
We reached Jenolan caves in late afternoon, and were so awed by our one-hour tour of Chifley Cave that we decided to stay overnight and visit another cave the next day. In the evening, we walked over to Blue Lake, a small, dam-created body of water just outside the main entrance to the cave complex. I had overheard someone say you could see platypus in the lake, and that turned out to be true. I’m told that platypus are ordinarily very shy, but this one must be accustomed to tourists. The evening chorus of birds and insects was delightful, I captured that, knowing that not much of what I was seeing would be visible in the video.
When Trouble is in the Air
Jenny Holzer, The Living Series