Heron Island

Heron Island is on the southern tip of the Great Barrier Reef. The island has only one resort and on top of the diving around the island it's also a bird sanctuary. We expected a quiet tranquil island and little did we know what was coming.


The island is surrounded by beautiful white sand and it's a hatching ground for sea turtles. Too bad we didn't catch any hatching this time but we did see a nest with sand moving on the top. We waited for over an hour and still no signs of little turtles though. :-(

Birds are everywhere on the island and they are very very noisy 24/7. You could definitely smell them too and I was a little worried about bird flu to be honest.

One of the beaches is full of rays, gracefully gliding in the shallow water.

You definitely have to watch where you are going before you jump in.

Since it rained and rained with gale force winds blowing all week we amused ourselves with bird watching. An Eastern Reef Egret.

Bar Shouldered Dove.

I believe this is a heron....rather nasty creature. This particular one pecked at a little chick.

The infamous Mutton Bird. There are about 20,000 to 30,000 of them on the island. They return to their nests in the evening and begin to cry all night. The spooky cries sound like a sheep being strangled...very freaky and very Hitchcock .

Black Noddy Tern - there are close to 120,000 of them on the island. They were everywhere. This one is regurgitating food to its chick.

A Noddy Tern chick.

They all seem oblivious of human.

Our chopper ride out. I was very nervous because of the strong wind.

Another island and reef nearby.

I think we will stick with the South Pacific islands next time. Heron (and other Australian beach resorts) is expensive for what you get. While our room was comfortable we didn't really feel pampered; the service was very mediocre and food was average. Despite being the only resort on the island we didn't feel alone....we were constantly surrounded by kids and people. All in all it was very average and we will think twice about visiting other GBR places.

Byron Bay

We are so glad we didn't stay in Byron Bay. We made a brief stop and decided to keep going. The beach was crowded and noisy...the place had just got that scruffy feel to it. Think topless sweaty hairy guys in flipflops. Yuck!

The main drag in town reminded us of a cheap part of town in Bali.

Lennox Head, on the other hand, seemed nice and tranquil.

Ballina

Ballina is a funny little town. We totally enjoyed our brief stay at the hotel and the meal at a local restaurant was excellent - what else could we ask for?

The romantic Ballina Manor. I like staying in historic buildings when they are recently refurbished haha.

We thought the place was odd cos you get very nice manor houses and waterfront properties in town but at the same time there are places like this one. We almost ate in there just to see what the giant prawn is all about.

Sunset by the river front.

Australia Zoo

One of the reasons for this trip was to touch a wombat (don't ask me why but I love them). We were told to go to Australia Zoo where interactions with animals are encouraged. Home of the late Steve Irwin the place is pretty casual and fun, just like him.

We didn't get there on time and as a result we missed the patting registration. :-( We got to watch someone else touch one instead. It sucked!

Now which one is the wombat?

The fur looks a bit like beaver fur.

I got to touch a roo and a koala instead. Better than nothing I guess. They both felt very weird..nothing like I had imagined. Unlike dogs and cats roo fur grows from tail to head! Strange. And koala fur actually felt like a sheep.

A curious (perhaps a little nasty) emu.

A fellow visitor at the zoo entrance.
We saw tigers, elephants, birds, leopards...the usual zoo stuff. Wished we had more time cos we had to skip the dingo pit!

Australia Zoo
Steve Irwin Way, Beerwah, Queensland 4519, Australia. Tel: 07 5436-2000

Koala Hospital

All the koala bears in this hospital have been rescued from around the Port Macquarie area. Yearly admissions are between 200 to 300, mostly caused by bulldozing of koala habitat. Poor little creature!


They all seemed rather sleepy...maybe it was the heat.


To adopt one go to the website.
Koala Hospital
Lord Street, Port Macquarie, NSW 2444, Australia. Tel: 02 6584-1522 (free entry)

Hunter Valley sights

I was the perfect designated driver while my husband drank himself silly in Hunter Valley. I have to say the wines are not as nice as the ones from Margaret River but it's a good and easy getaway from Sydney.

Wyndham Estate. We learned that only 40% of the grapes they use come from Hunter Valley. the rest are brought in from other regions anyway. It's cheating if you ask me!


One of the vineyards in the area.

Bonus! The place was full of kangaroos!

Refreshing view outside our room at Tuscany Estate.

Sydney sights

As usual we walked around downtown Sydney eating ourselves silly for 3 days. This time we decided to check out the fish market and we wished we were there with empty stomaches. Everybody else was gorging on fish and chips and sashimi we were too full. Dang.

Trouts.

Too bad we aren't oyster fans.

The 2.5 kilo lobster kicking and fighting for its life.

More local fish.

We wandered along Darling Harbour and decided to check out Cook's boat Endeavour. We had an interesting tour on board but I couldn't even see myself living on board for more than a week.

wine grapes

We couldn't really resist not stealing wine grapes. They're so much smaller than the normal grapes and our official tasting notes: very tart and soar. D'oh!