Razorlight

Razorlight were playing at the Metro Theatre and we had tickets!!!
Needless to say it was great.

....and now that we can finally tell everyone Pea's first ever concert.
It was 'jumping' Caroline assures me.

Dans la Tête (In the Head)

Antoine Betrand, a young man, leaves his girlfriend Anna, and enrolls in the army. It's a day of conflict, and Antoine gets hit by a bullet in the head. Antoine then arrives at the gates of Heaven...

Negotiating With Your Dentist

Negotiating with your dentist in a businesslike manner.

Dugongs in Sydney

The Sydney Aquarium has recently received two new inhabitants. The Mermaids of the seas Dugongs.
And they have housed them in their own enclosure which they share with little fish and 2000Kg of lettuce a day! When visiting the enclosure you are able to walk around above the waterline, and the best bit, where you go down under the waterline and walk through huge tunnels underwater enabling you to come face to face with these magnificent animals.

Dugongs, as are manatees, are also known as sea cows and grace the seagrass found in coastal regions making them particularly vulnerable to boating and unfortunately also poaching.
You can find manatees from Florida in the South of the US down to Brazil to the west coast of the Africa.

The habitat range of the Dugong is also very wide from the east coast of Africa to Fiji unfortunately they both are classified as a vulnerable species. Dugongs have some of the fiercest natural enemies to deal with including sharks, saltwater crocodiles and killer whales. Their distribution in Australia is from Shark Bay in Western Australia to Moreton Bay in Queensland.

A Massive Underground Ant Colony

A massive ant colony (apparently abandoned but for a few ants)

Procrastination

What is...?

Simon's Sister's Dog in Fed Up

Simon’s Sister’s Dog has got his eye on one thing, and one thing only – food! And he doesn’t stop until he’s devoured every tit bit and scrap of dropped food from the Christmas dinner table and has reached bursting point.

To learn more about the RSPCA (UK)'s campaign against pet obesity please visit: http://www.giveanimalsavoice.org.uk/

Don't forget RSPCA Australia.

Kangaroo Valley

We wanted to celebrate our Christmas differently this year. Instead of going to the beach like we have done in previous years we decided to go to Kangaroo Valley. Caroline: Not to see kangaroos, but to see WOMBATS. This year's Christmas it was all about celebrating Christmas in different surroundings. Caroline:....and to see wombats!!!
Kangaroo Valley is only a 3 hour drive at most from Sydney and you can drive a wonderful scenic route down the coast to get there.

Unfortunately for us the weather was terrible on Christmas Eve. And we took the quickest route straight to our cabin, thinking that is where we would spend the rest of the holidays. Friends of ours heard of our plans and joined us at the Glenmack campground in their campervan. Don't know how many trips we made back and forth to theirs.
Christmas Day started good, Santa had bought everything on Caroline's Christmas wishlist (don't know when she'll ever be able to see her Sex and the City movie and Mamma Mia! with me around, but that is besides the point) she was a happy bunny. And for someone who didn't make a wishlist I can't complain, either. Thank you for all the cards and presents we received from everyone, by the way.

On Christmas Day it became evident we were in for a few very hot days with temperatures in the mid to high 30's. Ideal for a Christmas on the beach. But not this year.
We spent many hours sitting outside by Phil and Pip's campervan enjoying a talk, a cold drink and the bbq's. Our party did get gatecrashed by a big Huntsman at one time. After relocating it we found another one in the back of our car a few days later. NO free ride for him and it was a good thing he jumped out by himself. (I don't like catching them, give me a snake any day)

Kangaroo Valley is one of only 7 valleys in the world that is completely enclosed and Morton National Park is ideal for bushwalking. And that is exactly what we did. We came across some great views and some beautiful waterfalls, we met only a handful of people on each track, if any.

The highlight would be of course the WOMBATS!!! Not far from Kangaroo Valley is a campground where you literally fall over the amount of wombats present. Only near dusk. We learnt about this place over a year ago and only now found the time to go there. It was well worth it. The campground is huge. 3Km long up to the back paddock with wombat burrows left and right. According to the security guard over 150 wombats reside there.

We were not disappointed. We spotted 13 in the 3 hours we were there and we stayed near 2 for at least an hour while they were eating grass no more then 30 meters away. It's one of those moments where you just sit back and take in the moment, we might never see it again. To complete the picture there were also 2 Kookaburra's flying around them, landing beside them occasionally....

We can't wait to go back.

If you care about the wombats' plight you might enjoy the documentary found here: War of the Wombats.

......and if you'd like to help with Wombat conservation please click the banner below.