Koalafications

West Head has been on our list of places to visit for a while. And we found the drive there very interesting, even if the road was long and winding. Again, I was amused by seeing another Blackbutts Road, fnarr, fnarr, but of more interest was seeing some bridges across the road, hung from tree to tree, so that animals can safely cross the highway. Sadly, we still saw a couple of corpses by the side of the road.

As I said to Liesel, I’m always fascinated to see two bodies of water come into contact with each other. Sometimes, there’s a marked difference in colour, one more green than the other, for instance. Here, though, there was a very distinctive line between, I think, the Hawkesbury River and Pittwater.

From West Head, you can see Palm Beach in all its glory. We’d not walked up the path to the lighthouse on this visit, so it was great, from our vantage point on the other side of the water to see Barrenjoey Head standing proud. It was once an island, joined to the mainland via what we now know as Palm Beach, after the last ice age.

There are a number of walking tracks off the road leading to West Head, but we discounted some because they were described as ‘hard’. Some of the others were closed for reasons of safety: ‘Unstable edge’. Another one we couldn’t do because we couldn’t see where to park the car safely. Yet another would have meant negotiating a large puddle that straddled the path, and who knows how deep it was? And what monsters lurked beneath the surface? But we did have a nice wander up and down a couple of challenging paths.

As we ate our picnic lunch overlooking Pittwater and Palm Beach, we enjoyed watching the three young ladies next to us as they took out their equipment and began painting the scene. I don’t think I’ve ever seen paint in so many shades of blue, but by the time we left, they had pretty much captured the sea and the sky perfectly. Me, I just point the phone and click, job done. I often wish I had the patience, and the talent, to paint scenes like this, especially when photographs don’t really show the scale of a landscape.

No need to say that, yes, of course, we encountered a couple of massive spiders on their huge webs. A brush turkey came sniffing around for food, unsuccessfully. Well, shh, Leslie threw a small crust of bread, eliciting a roar of disapproval from Liesel and me.

The Red Hands Track was a challenge, but worthwhile, once we found the Aboriginal hand prints on the rock. These weren’t as easy to spot as those we saw a few days ago. The sign was almost apologetic, saying that although Australia had been inhabited by people for tens of thousands of years, these prints were only 2000 years old.

Always on the lookout for exciting wildlife, we jumped for joy when we crossed paths with this specimen.

We drove away via a different route, though the road was just as winding, passing by Akuna Bay. We expected a nice, peaceful bay, with maybe young children fishing, the water gently lapping on a beach. Instead, the bay was full of boats, Yachts of all shapes and sizes, scores of them, possibly hundreds. How they navigate in and out is a mystery to me.

I think Liesel and I were both slightly envious of the many cyclists enjoying the ups and downs of these virtually empty, quiet roads.

We stopped for coffee in Glenrose. Or was it Belrose? Shop names were evenly divided between the two names. As Google Maps would have it, we had coffee at Three Beans Glenrose Villiage (sic). It reminded us of the indistinct boundary between Chessington and Hook.

If we weren’t very lucky spotting kangaroos and koalas in the wild, we were much more fortunate seeing this beastie.

Tossed away in a shopping trolley like an old sock. Someone will be very disappointed when they get home. Funnily enough, we’d seen another wild avocado on the pavement, down the road from Helen’s, just a few days ago. Maybe they’re planning a takeover.

We set the controls for Long Reef one more time, specifically the pie shop. The server apologised because the only pies left were vegetarian. Oh well, that’ll do, but I was cheering inside. A pie plus leftover salads from yesterday’s barbecue, lovely. Accompanied by one of our favourite Disney films on TV, Brave. And then we started watching Haunting in Venice, the new Hercule Poirot film with Kenneth Branagh, but one of our party didn’t enjoy it. I won’t name the culprit, but she’s even older than me.

Koala Park Sanctuary is about a seven hour walk from Helen’s apartment, so it’s a good we had a vehicle and were able to drive there. We had a great time walking around, visiting the mainly Australian animals. Liesel said she preferred this place to Taronga Zoo: yes, it’s a bit more shabby, but it was much quieter, less frenetic.

I know with 100% certainty that this is a blue-tongued skink because that’s what the sign said. On the other hand, later on, we saw a rat in the enclosure with a wombat, and that might confuse someone if they read the sign, ‘Wombat’, looked up and saw nothing but a pesky rodent. The wombat itself was hiding in his house. Another wombat around the corner was indoors too. Too cold for them?

And this, according to the sign, is definitely a diamond python.

We saw a lace monitor trying to escape. But he’d come in very handy for someone who maybe couldn’t reach down to retie their shoes. Just call on the services of a lace monitor.

It was nice to see the kookaburras again. Last time we were here, five years ago, I’d recorded one of them laughing. I played back the recording today to see whether the bird recognised himself. Not a twitch of recognition nor interest.

Some of the other birds were singing quite nicely, but the mesh on the cages was annoyingly prominent for this photographer. Losing half of an otherwise decent picture because my finger was in the way, well, I can’t blame anyone else for that.

A couple of muzzled dingoes were taken for a walk. Despite the muzzle though, one of them managed to pick up some inappropriate food from the ground.

The long-billed corella came over to make friends. I didn’t have any food for him, but I did try to teach him some rude words. He wasn’t responding.

Lorikeets, emus, goats, sheep and, of course, kangaroos and wallabies were here to be spoken to and fed but only with the feed purchased at reception. As before, the kangaroos weren’t that interested in the same boring old food. They didn’t mind being petted a bit, though.

The cassowary was behind heavy wire too. And blimey, again, we were surprised to see how big their feet are, compared to an emu’s, say. Wouldn’t want one of them stomping on your feet at a disco.

But I think the highlight for all of us was seeing a couple of koalas up close. On our last visit, we were able to touch them but now, quite rightly, we can’t because they find the experience too stressful. The guide took us through all the koala facts he knew in a brisk ten minutes, then we members of the public were allowed into the koalas’ enclosure a few at a time.

What was funny was that as soon as the guide stopped talking, one of the koalas climbed to the top of one of the bare trees, almost as if he knew what was coming, and he didn’t want anything to do with us visitors.

Later on, in a different place, we found a pregnant koala. Since the joey is born not much bigger in size than the tip of your finger, she’s looking pretty big, I reckon.

We had a quick look in the gift shop and we had a coffee. Something possessed me to try it with macadamia milk. Nope, not for me. As with almond milk, which I tried once, I can’t see the point. I’ll continue to stick with old-fashioned cow juice in my coffee, thank you very much.

We had a date for a late lunch in Manly, returning to the Pantry. We parked at the far end of North Steyne, so we had a reasonable walk to the venue. The beach was very busy, and many people were in the water.

We three were first to arrive, followed by Helen and Brent soon after. Bambi was late, and it would be rude if I were to mention that she’d forgotten the date. So I won’t. But she and Gypsy were a little… delayed.

We had a lovely lunch, after which we bade farewell to Bambi and Gypsy for the final time on this trip.

The rest of us ambled along the road to Manly Pacific for cocktails. Well, I had a cocktail, a Dusky Rose Whaler, so did Brent, an espresso Martini. Liesel and Mom had coffee and Helen had a glass of rosé. Just so you know what to order when you take us next time, gentle reader.

And now it’s time. I want a drumroll on the table in front of you. Call up a nearby band and get them to play a fanfare. Nothing too ostentatious, just a little something to mark the occasion. I have an announcement.

I am pleased to announce that my daughter Helen is now engaged to be married to Brent.

Helen was flashing the ring a few days ago, and did I notice? With a little prompting, yes.

So, love and congratulations to Helen and Brent from Dad, Liesel and Leslie: we’re so happy that we were here to share this moment with you. And love from Pauline and Andrew too who were amongst the first to hear the news, and from all your friends!