The Ausie experience

It's been great hanging out with Anne-Maree and her family. Really fabulous. I felt like I was getting the real deal: And here it is - The Works Burger. It is: one patty, cheese, fried egg, pickled beets, lightly grilled pineapple, lettuce, tomato, onion, bacon, and bbq sauce. In-n-Out doesn't make 'em like that. And yes, I would eat another one, beets and all. :)
I did run Anne-Maree ragged though. Here we are in Morpeth hunting down some Alpaca yarn. Found some after posing in the bathtub-bench.
I also got another view of the Pacific, from the "western" end. It is beautiful. The breakers were huge - and ice blue.
I left New Castle this morning and drove up the Pacific Highway - incidentally, the number assigned is also 1.
I'm up closer to Brisbane now at Julie Barratt's. She lives out in the bush - and I can already tell there are tons of stars! So beautiful. I hope I get a chance to really look at them.
On the way up I stopped at Billabong Koala Refuge.
I got to feed a kangaroo! I also fed Wallabees.
In this photo on the lower left you can see one of the little albino kangaroos. They really grab your hands and hang on, but they are very gentle. What is more nerve wracking is when one realized that you have food and it comes bounding toward you. They are big and move fast. But I trusted it to stop and not run me over. Whew!
I also got to "pat" a Koala. They are so sweet. They just hang on to the keeper like a teddy bear. So adorable. The reserve also had two big wombats - I didn't realize they were that big. Several birds, and all kinds of other stuff.
Have a big day tomorrow. Lecture to a class, meet with the librarians and artists books, go to the gallery and install some work, mini workshop with some girls who come after school to the gallery, and then??? We'll see....
Whew!