Wombat Hugger

Let’s cut right to the chase:

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Yep, that’s me and a wombat. It’s a nine month old female, who was placid and soft and loved to be hugged right under her arms. It was awesomely cute 🙂

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Today I visited the above with Sue and her two kids. It’s an animal park about an hour south of Newcastle featuring a good collection of Australian animals.

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Going to the shows alone would fill your day. We saw several: venomous snakes, alligator feeding, dingo feeding, croc feeding, Tasmanian devil feeding.

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There were many opportunities for animal photos, including snakes, alligators, wombats, koalas and devils. In addition, free roaming animals included emus, geese, ducks and…

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Beautiful beasts they are. There were two types there, Eastern Grays and Kangaroo Island Kangaroos. As I said to Sue, how many other animals can you think of with the same word in its name twice?

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Inside a reptile house was the above statue. It periodically breathed smoke and spoke what sounded like the language of Mordor. As a child, I would have loved it. As an adult… well I loved it still 🙂

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Much fun was had by all; adults and kids alike. Especially the old guy that hugged a wombat 🙂

I’ll Rest When I’m Dead

Dad and I got an early start. Our destination was the first Broadmeadow farmer’s market of the year, and even at 8 am it was a hot and sweaty walk. On our way, we saw a swimming horse:

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The market was good, with plenty of fresh food and drink to be purchased. Dad bought olives, potatoes, mushrooms, grapes, eggs, tomatoes and avocados.

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One stall even sold livestock, in the firm of chickens (several breeds), rabbits and these guys:

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Afterwards… well things got a bit complicated. I’ll spare the details, but the bottom line is that I ended up with an appointment at a clinic to see a doctor, since I’ve been ill over a week now.

Walking to said clinic took me through dangerous territory:

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And past nostalgic locations:

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Happily, the doctor gave me a ‘your sick but you don’t need antibiotics’ bill of health, which required a celebration:

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And then an old dear friend picked me up for an evening of happy memories. But more about that later…

The Duchess

An uneventful day, but fun nonetheless. We went shopping 🙂

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My cold is lingering, and I felt a bit worse today. But my spirits are high, and much laughs were had. I didn’t buy the intriguing candies shown above, but I did buy this:

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It just exterminates your heart, doesn’t it? 🙂

Speaking of cute, go check out www.reptilepark.com.au and watch the banner cycle until you see the image of the baby koala. I’m going there on Monday. Cross your fingers for cute koala cuddling 🙂

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Fancy some twiggy sticks? Only $28.48/kg!

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Tomorrow I’m going to a farmers market in the AM, and then catching up with a dear old friend in the afternoon! Such is the life of a vacationing expat 😉

The blog title? We’re about to watch the film of the same name…