Yesterday I went with Sue to see Koalas in the wild.
The place was a ‘koala habitat’ near Nelson Bay, which is to say a narrow strip of bushland between a residential suburb and the bay itself. There’s a well maintained path that winds through the bush, which is inhabited by koalas, bandicoots, echidnas and many different bird species.
From what I had read I figured we had a decent chance to see some, and as we walked we constantly looked up. But our efforts were in vain, and aside from plenty of birds we saw none of the furry beasts. Regardless the walk was lovely, and it would be nice to live locally and be able to do it often, and perhaps one day see a koala! (We found out later there are only 3 or 4 koalas in the habitat, and the last sighting was over a month ago.)
Next we headed to a small amusement center run closer to the bay. Called ‘Toboggan Hill Park’, this is essentially a toboggan run built down a hill with a few other things like mini golf or roller skating added on. Sue said it’s been there forever, but I don’t remember it and doubt I had ever been.
The run is 1 km long, and you start by getting winch-pulled up a hill for a couple of minutes to get to the top. This stage was surprisingly strenuous, because the toboggan has no backrest and you’re supporting your own weight against the slope! Once you reach the top gravity takes control, but you can adjust your speed with a handheld brake.
I decided I’d go at full speed since this would likely be the only time I’d ride it. This would mean no braking at all, and about 40 seconds to the bottom. There’s about ten turns (the above photo I found on the internet) but they’re not particularly steep and the toboggan doesn’t ride up much. I ignored the brake and had developed impressive speed by about halfway, but then I misunderstood a suggested braking sign for a required braking sign and – like a fool – slightly applied the brake. This single incident reduced my speed a lot, and even though I once again reached a good clip by the end I wish I had completed the entire course like a bat out of hell!
It was a lot of fun, and I dearly considered a second go. But at $10 a ride it wasn’t worth it twice.
Afterwards we went to Boat Harbour for another walk. This was part of a longer 20 km walk all around the end of the bay and as you can see the weather was beautiful. In fact it’s been warm enough here (about 70F at noon) it’s hard to believe it’s winter this weekend!
The walk wound around the scrubland on the cliffs and right up along the rocks. I imagine whales and dolphins would be visible from the walk but we didn’t see any. Aside from the ever-present birds, the only wildlife we saw was a (deadly) small brown snake on the path, which we kept well away from as it slid into the brush!
The above is a pic of my dinner almost every night: a ham and salad sandwich. It’s delicious with a fresh roll, shaved ham and beetroot.