Still More Inspiration

We went to a place called Cohunu Koala Park on our trip to Australia. It's a place that takes sick and injured koala bears and nurses them back to health. There are also kangaroos that are tame and will literally eat out of your hands. It was a cool way to see some interesting animals up close.

One of the big attractions is you can actually hold a koala bear in your arms! They are such gentle creatures, it was an honor to be able to actually hold one. While the lady wasn't looking, I slipped my Red Sox cap on the little fellow and snapped a picture. The koala lady got a bit miffed, but she was good natured about it.

Anyhoo, I went to big HUGE Labs and made a poster of the photo (that's Mrs. Hotdogman and one of the kids with the koala):

Brisbane Holiday

I was perusing the 'net looking for Hotels in Brisbane as we continue to plan for our next trip "Down Under" when I found some very interesting beach info on the "Gold Coast." The Gold Coast is the coastal area near Brisbane and it has some of the most stunning beaches in the world. There are miles and miles of beautiful white, sandy beaches that are home to dolphins and dugongs. Many folks encounter these gentle marine mammals while travelling to the beach from their Gold Coast Accommodation. Australia is a very outdoorsy country and is filled with opportunities for sailing, jet skiing, snorkeling, diving or just chillaxin on the beach. This is my kind of place!

There's also a slew of great restaurants in Brisbane. Restaurant 2 offers fine dining and a typically robust wine list-Australia has FANTASTIC wine. There are also, as you'd expect, a whole host of seafood restaurants in Brisbane. If you get tired of the beach and fine dining, you can take a day trip to the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary. While there you can hand feed Kangaroos or even hold a real live koala bear! We went to a similar place in Western Australia. Generally speaking, these koala sanctuaries rescue injured or sick koalas from the wild and nurse them back to health. Since they can't be released back into the wild, they spend their days entertaining and snuggling tourists. They're such gentle creatures. We put a Red Sox hat on one and snapped a picture!

Whatever we decide to do while staying in our Brisbane Accommodation, we probably won't have enough time to do everything we want to!

Down Under

I have been to Australia. My wife has a whole bunch of cousins down there in Freemantle and Perth. What a gorgeous part of the world! One of my wife's cousins has a 42 foot catamaran and they took us out sailing for a few days. We saw dolphins, whales, octopii, skates, sharks, penguins and sea lions. We even did some fishing for "breakfast herring."

We really want to go back and explore other parts of the country. Much of Australia is still very unspoiled and "wide open." I imagine it is a lot like the USA was at the turn of th 20th century.

One of her cousins now lives in Sydney so we've promised to go visit there. We might not need a hotel in Sydney for our whole stay, but I hate to impose for too long on friends and family. He's an aspiring Aussie Rules Football Player, so we may get to go see some games while we're there. Sydney is far more metropolitan and populated than Freemantle, so it will probably be a more urbane visit.

My wife's always wanted to go to Brisbane, since she was born there. I don't know much about the city or the area, but the opportunities for coastal recreating, bushwhacking and urban exploration are abundant. We don't know anyone in that part of the country, so we'll need a hotel in Brisbane.

Melbourne is way down south, so you could go skiing there in the (northern hemisphere's) summer time. I'd prefer to visit in the winter (their summer) and travel the great Ocean Road while exploring the miles of deserted coastline. There's lots of good wineries in this part of Australia too. We'll definitely need a hotel in Melbourne, especially in wine country!

When we visited Freemantle, we spent nearly 3 weeks exploring the region, I'd like to spend a year in Australia on "walkabout" (OK, maybe "driveabout") the next time we go.