Friday 12th December

Monday 8th December
Haircut for Jen! And a very nice one too. The hairdresser horrified to hear that it'll now be dark by late afternoon in the UK.
Then we went a few km. to Mogo Zoo - an excellent little place, good breeding programmes. Including for snow leopards, white lions and red pandas. Also some very nicely performing otters, and best of all a fantastic tapir enclosure with swimming tapirs, J. in paradise. Harry of course had his photo taken with them, he is a very well-travelled baby tapir, thanks to Rebecca who was one of my pupils last year.

Tuesday 9th
A sunny day in Australia at last! We headed up into the Snowy Mountains, which you can see from Moruya. Stopped off at a lovely litttle National Trust village called Tilbe, kept in 19th century style, Then on for a long way, up and up a road which became like a rollercoaster till we came to Piper's Lookout, we were lucky enough to see the sea across the plains, a beautiful view. On the way back we stopped at the coast, a nice town called Bergamui, where we were good Samaritans and rescued a snake-headed turtle which was sitiing in the middle of the road! We've now re-acquainted ourselves with most of the Aussie wildlife - kangaroos, wallabies, echidnas, kookaburras, magpies, rosellas and other parrots, cockatoos, galahs... etc. etc. The only one we were used to seeing in Victoria which we haven't here is koalas - in fact in the forest at Bergamui therewas a notice saying : Zero Tolerance for Koalas! Don't know what that's all about, nor do the people at Sydney Zoo.

Wednesday 10th
A visit to the excellent little Botanic Gardens at Batemans Bay, lots of wildlife and good info on native vegetation. Then a couple of beach visits, to Broulee again which we love, and Tuross Head - lovely tombolo beach, great pelicans!

Thursday 11th
Packed and cleaned up at the house - thanks, Andy & Erica, we really enjoyed our stay there, very comfortable and restful. Then drove to Sydney to return the car, arrived at this gorgeous little hotel - the Russell at The Rocks- late afternoon. More thanks to E&A who recommended it to us. One block back from Circular Quay, within 2 mins you can see the Opera House (15 mins walk) and the Harbour Bridge, so we had a good stickybeak around then caught a ferry to Darling Harbour for dinner. Hordes of flying foxes were also heading for their dinner, from the Botanical Gardeens where they spend the days roosting. Darling very noisy and lively, especially at 10pm when huge dinner-cruise boats come in, each one more huge & fanciful than the last. Walked back through central Sydney, again very lively, but blissfully low-key when it comes to Christmas - no street lights, and only a few decorations in shops and restaurants. Yet they say it's frenzied here!

Friday 12th December
Set off at 6.20 am to do a trip booked from England, little idea what to expect but it was wonderful - despite the rain which gradually become more torrential and is even worse 12 hours later! Starting at the Opera House at 7am we went for a backstage tour - really fascinating and exciting. Massive!! Then a huge breakfast in the Green Room backstage, and a water taxi which arrived on time to the minute, to Taronga Zoo, where we rode the cable car from the entrance up into the heart of the Zoo. What a place. We were met by a keeper, Elli, who took us off for a 2 hour+ Experience - meeeting koalas, stroking bilbies and echidnas and wallabies, and seeing how the food is prepared and generally learning all about the native wildlife. Ending with morning tea (of course, all in the tour) and 2 toy wombats, friends for Harry. We trailed on through the rain, saw the Malaysian tapir (very bad-tempered, not like the lovely Brazilian ones), and watched the amazing penguin and leopard seal underwater tanks before giving up on the rain and coming back to the hotel. Forgot the reptile house, superb, including a Komodo dragon, enormous. The best zoo we've ever seen, surely in the world? If you come to Sydney, you must do this tour. Better weather expected tomorrow, we're fed up of this Welsh weather now!