Tag Archives: koala

Jan29

The Giant Stuffed Koala reloaded

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The Giant Stuffed Koala reloaded

So it was Australia Day this week, and I changed my profile pic on facebook to this picture (as I’ve done for the last 2 years on Australia Day).

My Mum’s response?

“please do not bring a koala that size home. No room.“

My retort?

“I’ll just have to get a house in Australia for it then. ;) “

My Mum has a fear of me moving ‘too far away’ (note to blog readers, when I chose to go to university 2.5 hours away you might have thought I was moving to the ends of the earth). So she backtracked..

“No need we can put him in the hut and let him eat the hedge instead.“

I’m wondering if the builders can put in some eucalyptus in our garden. To replace the hedge. And then at some point I’m going to have to get a giant stuffed koala from Sydney to Edinburgh.

Jan25

Travelling Tuesday: The Giant Stuffed Koala

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Travelling Tuesday: The Giant Stuffed Koala

Last year, I posted this picture on Australia Day but I didn’t actually ever tell the story behind this picture…

Most readers will know (or maybe if you are new around here, you don’t!) that in March 2007 I felt I was being ‘called’ back to Edinburgh for reasons unknown*. A few days after I made that decision, my friends Kate & Vikki called me up from Los Angeles and said ‘Why don’t you come meet us somewhere?‘

Somewhere turned out to be Sydney, Australia.

3 weeks later. The day after I packed up my flat, handed the keys to friends about to be homeless and dumped a suitcase and many boxes in my Mum’s house. I had no idea where I would live or work or go to church on my return from Australia.

Because I flew out on Easter Monday, my Mum was able to take me to the airport, but on my return (a Friday afternoon) my Mum would be working so I needed my Dad or Step-Mum to pick me up from the airport.

“We’ll pick you up only if we have proof you’ve hugged a koala while you’re in Australia” was their response.

You have to understand that at the time my sister was 16 & my brother was 11/12 and they gave me my marsupial nickname. So when they heard Big Sister was headed to Australia – home of koalas – they were pretty excited.

So when I arrived in Australia, Kate & Vikki had asked what were the things I really wanted to do – and my answer was simple. 1) Hug a Koala and 2) Learn to surf !

On my 2nd or 3rd day in Sydney, we took a trip to Taronga Zoo where we’d been told that you could have your photo taken with a koala. However, when we got there, we discovered that you didn’t get to handle the koalas, but you just stood below them for a ridiculous price – at least in our potentially unemployed when we get home to Scotland opinion.

So we went for the next best thing – the giant stuffed koala next to one of the gift shops!

It got e-mailed back to Scotland and it made my family laugh, but they didn’t think it counted enough to be picked up from the airport in May.

Thankfully a week later I got a picture next to a koala in the wild when we drove down the Great Ocean Road, and then later I got to hug a koala on ANZAC Day at Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary in Brisbane. I had picture proof, they got it, and my Dad did pick up his very jet lagged daughter from the airport.

The nice appendix to this story was that last year I got back in contact with one of my Dutch friends (from a high school exchange programme) and he had been travelling in Australia, and indeed he has a picture with the very same stuffed koala in Taronga Zoo. :)

It makes me wonder who else has a picture like this one….!

PS It’s Australia Day tomorrow!!

PPS It’s Burns Night tonight…

*Unknown = to work in a pregnancy resource centre that I didn’t know existed. Yet.
Jan25

Travelling Tuesday: Australia Day

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Travelling Tuesday: Australia Day

Australia is a place that means a great deal to me. It is the one place I’ve felt truly ‘at home’ while being away from home. I remember how contented and at peace I felt when I was there despite some very crazy circumstances…like getting your passport & credit card stolen, or having a skin cancer scare, or being completely alone in an unfamiliar city thousands of miles away from family & friends.

I’d dreamed of visiting and even living in Australia growing up amongst many other places. Usually when I get to those places, it doesn’t meet up to my dreams. Australia exceeded those dreams.

Maybe it was helped by the fact I didn’t meet a single shark or spider while I was there. ;)

And so today is Australia Day. Australia’s very own ’4th July’. For a former prison it sure is a beautiful place.

I hope I make it back there one day.

Especially as I didn’t make it to Uluru or Palm Beach (known to us as ‘Summer Bay’)

Where the heck is my Jesus-lovin’ Aussie surfer dude?

I miss you Australia!

yes, of course there is a story behind this picture.

:)

More Australia Day posts:

David Goodwin

Dec1

Saltirey Times

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Saltirey Times

I had a fabulous day yesterday, I’m on holiday this week (realised I have 2 weeks worth of annual leave to use up by the end of the year…) and it was lovely to celebrate St Andrew’s Day.

Thank you so much to everyone who has participated in the St Andrew’s Day Blog Carnival. I’m so glad more people did it and it wasn’t just me and Carolyn! If you haven’t already, do check out the other posts. And if you’d still like to add one – it’s not too late. :)

Feel that may have to do some more blog carnivals on US Independence Day, Australia Day, St David’s Day, St George’s Day, St Paddy’s Day and so on. What do you reckon?

After putting up links to posts, my friend and I decided to head for Edinburgh zoo (free entry on St Andrews Day!). It was sunny but FREEZING. I had run out to my car in pyjamas in the morning to get my camera charger and then left my camera behind (doh!)

But check out which animal they had put on all the St Andrew’s Day zoo tickets…

We’re practically twins!!! Lol!

I caught sight of Ruth of Ruthy’s Ramblings at the Penguin Parade but she was busy directing parents and kiddles so she didn’t see me (rubbish!).

Then it was home time and I had some mother-daughter bonding time making some very, uh, patriotic fairy cakes.

My Mum took over from white icing duty while I ate my tea.

And the finished products…

 

Apr28

Travelling Tuesday: Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary, Australia

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Travelling Tuesday: Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary, Australia

I was going to do New York City this week, but Connor already beat me to it and I didn’t want to seem like a copycat. :)

So since it was ANZAC Day at the weekend just past, and ANZAC Day just happens to be the day I hugged another koala (a real one, not a stuffed one), I thought I’d show you some of the pics me and my Brisbane friend, Pippa took while spending the day at Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary, on the outskirts of Brisbane, Australia.

KangarooLone Pine Koalasimgp1843sleeping koalaimgp1849

Some of the same pics and my blog post about that day can be found here. (It’s not really that interesting a read though…)

Apr27

G’Day from Cairns

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G’Day from Cairns

Well, after checking into my second hostel in Brisbane (which happened to be a building site cos they’re refurbishing it – didn’t do well with hostels in Brisbane clearly!) I had a moment of homesickness – I had to say goodbye to Kate and Viks, and realised I was all alone in Australia (and hadn’t slept properly for 2 days!) – no one was in my dorm when I arrived! after calming down and basically giving myself a very good talking to. I set off to go find lunch, and ended up meeting a girl called Pippa from Bristol who came with me on a search for some koalas to hug!

imgp1851.jpg

We succeeded in finding a koala to hug – and saw some cows pretending to be miniature horses, got up close with many kangaroos and a wallaby too at the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary which was 35 mins from central Brisbane. She then rescued me from starvation as I couldn’t get food as all the supermarkets were shut for Anzac Day – we did get some gorgeous Caramel Cheesecake which I bought for us in Starbucks though.

I returned to find one other person had arrived in my dorm – her name was Maz, and she’d just come back from Fraser Island – we had some really good chats – despite an age difference of probably about 30 years, we had a lot in common. It also turns out we’re getting the same flight back to the UK on May 3rd…what are the chances?

This morning I left Brisbane – I got accosted by yet another person trying to get me out of Christianity…this time I got a leaflet telling me that Christians who go to churches do not know God, and if I join a cult, I’ll know God and find peace, tranquility etc etc etc. I found the whole leaflet disturbing as it was so full of lies. I also am beginning to wonder what’s going on that I keep attracting these people trying to get me into other beliefs and religions!

I managed to get to Cairns – it’s not what I expected – very California, but the views of Fraser Island and the Great Barrier Reef, the Coral Sea etc from the plane were amazing. I’m in a lovely hostel here, met 3 of the people I’m sharing a room with (Aoife, Melissa and Amethyst) and planning to go exploring tomorrow. Not planning on doing so much now as I’ve done a lot of the things I came to do, and realised earlier that I only have a week left here! Feels like I’ve been out here for months….

I’ve managed to get some more photos up of Byron Bay on Bebo – I don’t have any photos from ocean kayaking unfortunately cos you couldn’t take your camera as it would have got soaked!!

I’d really ask for your prayers too, as discovered something today. Please pray for safety as I travel alone and wisdom in how to deal with different lifestyle and beliefs. Also strength – this trip has been a huge challenge for me – it’s been amazing, and I’ve had to rely on God so much…it’s been difficult not to be able to have my friends close by and the time difference has proved keeping in contact with people back home in times I’ve needed it most. I’ve learned a lot about myself, and not sure how I’ll find settling back into life in the UK and finding a place to call home in Edinburgh after 6 years of living in Aberdeen.

Love to you all – La x

Apr20

Touring Victoria

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Touring Victoria

Hello all.

Well we’re leaving Melbourne today. Been an interesting 4 days.

Our first day, we met up with Kate in the city centre wandering Melbourne on 3 hours sleep. The room we had at the Youth Hostel wasn’t the best – really dirty and the people weren’t particularly welcoming that we were sharing with. We went to the Elephant and Wheelbarrow pub our first night where we met some of the cast of Neighbours and….saw Dr Karl (aka Alan Fletcher)’s band ‘The Waiting Room’ play as well as Kym Valentine singing (Libby).

We got lots of photos, although because of the crowd and the light some of them haven’t come out too well. But trying to upload some for all you Neighbours fans (you know who you are…Graeme, Raz, Ben, Nicola, Carina, Crowe, Fi…to name but a few…)

The next day Kate was with her family in Melbourne so me and Vikki went to the beach in St Kilda, got lunch on the funky Acland St (I think it’s like an Australian version of Camden) and had an early night catching up on some much needed sleep in our new room which was cleaner and friendlier!! Oh yeah, and I had my first Australian cartwheel on St Kilda beach!!

Wednesday, we headed to the Dandenongs, where we lost Kate – she was meant to get on our train at Blackburn but was standing on the wrong platform… luckily we all saw the funny side! We went on Puffing Billy – who is friends with Thomas the Tank Engine it seems through the Dandenong range and saw some great views. We wanted to go up the 1000 steps to One Tree Hill at the National Park, but unfortunately the park was closing as we got there.

Dandenongs

Thursday (yesterday) we hired a car and drove down the Great Ocean Road…saw wild koalas, kangaroos, cockatoos, some amazing views and watched the sun set over the 12 Apostles as some penguins were heading onto the shore. Was spectacular. However, the drive was looooonnnnggg and we ended up almost getting lost trying to find our way onto the Princes Highway from Port Campbell in the pitch dark and didn’t make it back to Melbourne til 1 a.m….me and Viks are really tired this morning!!

12 Apostles

Today we’ll be heading back on the train making our way towards Brisbane and some of the beaches further North on the East Coast….we want to try hug a koala, snorkel at the Great Barrier Reef, and I want to build a sandcastle on a beach at Byron Bay!

Love from Downunder….will try to upload photos and blog again soon…