As I mentioned previously, I hadn’t seen a koala since arriving in Australia.  Yesterday I got some great shots of several.  I had to go to the Moonlit Sanctuary, though, to get them. 

And for an extra $20 Australian (about $13 US) I got to pet one.

After the visit to the Sanctuary, we stopped at three wineries for samples and one stop at a cheese shop to have a small sampler plate.  The wine was good but I preferred the cheese.

My friend, David McKern, has been carting me all around this part of Australia.  In three weeks you can see a large part of New Zealand but 12 days in Australia is like trying to see the US in 12 days.  It can’t be done.  But we’ve seen a lot.  We’ve been up and down the Great Ocean Road multiple times moving from one location to another and back again for sunrises and sunsets.  The same for the Grampions mountains northwest of the coast.  We’ve been up and down the mountains multiple times to different lookouts.

Lastly, today we visited the Redwood Forest in Yarras Rangas National Park a little more than an hour from David’s home.  There are 1476 redwoods here.  Not quite a John Muir location but who would have expected a redwood forest in Australia.

To wrap up this blog post, I decided to publish a short Australian/USA thesaurus.

What is:

AUSSIE                   USA

Give way        —      Yield

Take Away    —       Take out at a resaurant

Bonnet           ..        Car hood

Boot                —       Trunk

Windscreen   —       Windshield

Brekkie           —       Breakfast

Chippie          —        Carpenter

Sparky           —         Electrician

Powerpoint  —        Plug in, electrical outlet

And my favorite road sign…only seen once….

Traffic Calming Devices……Speed bumps.

I leave tomorrow, Monday, Dec. 9 from Melbourne at 11:30am. and arrive in Dallas at 12:5o pm…also on Monday.  Those are local times.  Actually, I leave here at 6:30pm Sunday night CST in the US and arrive in Dallas on Monday at 12:50 pm also CST.  I fly to Sydney, change planes, and then fly non-stop to Dallas.  I pick up one day crossing the International Date Line.

I get home Tuesday the 90th day since leaving Girard.  It’s hard to believe I’ve been on the road for three months.  There may be one more post after I get home.

Thanks for following the blog!

Ron