I can’t believe it’s been over a month since we have returned home. Now that the children have started back to school, I’m finally getting around to writing about Australia. Honestly, it’s taken so long just because I didn’t know where to start. You see, Australia caught me off guard. I wasn’t particularly looking forward to seeing it like I was for some of the other places we visited. I thought it wouldn’t be able to compete with the exotic beauty of Southeast Asia. Boy, Australia proved me wrong. It completely blew me away with its beauty during our journey along Australia’s legendary Pacific Coast from Brisbane to Sydney. Having finally sorted through the THOUSANDS of photos I took, I’m finally ready to share our Australia adventure with you.
Our first stop was the city of Brisbane, the capital of the Australian state of Queensland. During our brief stop, we visited the City Botanic Gardens and took a walk along the Brisbane River.
City and river
Riverfront by the botanic gardens
We also took a jaunt out into one of Brisbane’s suburbs to visit the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary, the world’s oldest and largest koala sanctuary. It’s also where it’s possible to hold a koala and hand feed dozens of kangaroos.
A mama and tot enclosure where there were half a dozen mamas and their babies
A koala kindergarten class
When it was our turn to hold a koala and take a photo, the only koala willing to come was one of the heaviest males. Isabella had to brace herself:)
You not only get koalas at Lone Pine, you get to pet and feed as many kangaroos as you like
A mama and baby. And yes, the baby was as soft to touch as it looks.
Had them eating out of his hands
From Brisbane, we took a day trip with friends out to Lamington National Park, where this happened…
We had no idea what we were getting ourselves into when we bought that dish of bird seed
The face of both terror and joy
A moment of calm amongst the madness
Going to Lamington is not only for the birds but for this
And trees that are this much bigger than boys
And walkways that take you through the tree canopy
Want to know where else we visited in Australia? Stay tuned!
All The Pretty Places 
I really enjoyed reading about your year. My friend Sharon and her husband and their two kids (4 and 2), that I know from Daniel’s PEP group – JUST left a week ago for a year of travel. They are currently in Africa and then are moving on to Asia.
Then Michelle and Shawn are planning on going to Costa Rica for a year, maybe next year? I do love living vicariously through others. I wish I could travel like that (let me amend that – I wish I had the personality to travel like that.)
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I love hearing about other people’s travel too! Will your friend Sharon write a blog? If so, let me know the name so I can follow along:) That’s great for Michelle and Shawn. They seem to like to travel as much as we do!
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Lovely!! I can’t wait to go to Brisbane!! One of my fave places in the world. Such lovely memories.
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You should publish your journey as it would be a best seller. Your trip is sure an envy to many who read your stories.
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Thanks:) I definitely recognize how fortunate we are to have had this year!
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