Day 77: To Bris-ney Land!

Saturday 20th February 

Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary at Brisbane

We fed the kangaroos!!!

Distance: 181km

Total Distance: 12122km

In the morning we drove the long distance from Byron Bay (why are we leaving this place?!?) to Brisbane. From here we'd be leaving behind some members of the team behind (Good Bye Katie, enjoy Oz, I'll come find you in the UK!), but got two new ones (Hello Katie, welcome to the team!)

The main most important activity of the day though was the wildlife sanctuary! The main stars at Lone Pine Koala Reserve have their name on the door. They're cute and cuddly, don't move much until new leaves are added (then they move like cats after nip), and had a million photos taken of them.

We had a quick lunch before splitting into smaller groups to explore. Lone Pine isn't a huge place. It takes maybe 15-20 minutes to get across the public site. Yet the space is actually mostly a pastoral reserve for the kangaroos, with a couple of emus thrown in for company. We bought some kangaroo pellets with lunch then went off to pet roos.

We all had a great time split up amongst the various groups of grazing, sleeping, and playing kangaroos. One youngster bounded over the short grass of the hill from his shade under the eucalyptus tree at the sound of my paper bag. Having fed him I tentatively introduced myself to a mother with a large joey collapsed in her pouch-only hind feet and tail protruding-resting under the shade. I sat down alongside her. She ate hungrily, nearly finishing the bag. That was until the large buck arrived. He came bounding over from the other side of the enclosure, over the shallow hill, and slowed just as his head reached my hand. He wolfed down anything he could get is mouth around. I was a little worried about what he would make of it when I'd run out. Yet I didn't even feel a lived to show him the empty bag, he merely accepted it and chose to move on. To his other hunger for love. We all looked on as he tried to make moves on the mother with joey. Anyway...

We enjoyed watching and feeding them. Their heads look a bit like hares or rabbits, but elongated like a horse. Watching them move was interesting. It's one thing to see the YouTube videos, another to see them really swing their tails for balance in a corner or a whole mob pass across the face of a hill. Of the two emus on was grumpy, but the other one people could stroke its neck.

After a long time here we moved on.

Wombats, fat, round, sleeping on their backs, moving whilst dreaming.

Tasmanian Devils fighting for territory, then going off in a huff before having a bath.

Dingos

Many, many, birds

Platypus!!! One sitting quietly, the other doing laps of the tank.

I'll do a better run down another day. For now, it was amazing.

Day 75: Learning to Surf and the Coolest Hostel in Byron Bay

Thursday 18th February 

I learned to surf! I was amazing! LOL

Distance: Bus, 109km, on a surfboard...~5 feet?

Total Distance: 11826km

Today we were moving out and going surfing! But first we needed breakfast.

Across Australia there are small, beautiful, parks in each township. Many of these, in addition to public toilets and drinking fountains, have public barbecues. They look like a cube made out of brick, with a steel top and a rain cover. This one was beside a river, under the trees, with a circuit box to one side. The circuit box had sockets. We had a kettle. Time for tea!

The public barbecues are gas and the top gears up. We covered them in oil, heated, then threw on bacon and eggs. Breakfast of champions, greasy sandwiches for breakfast followed by watermelon. The barbecues are a great idea and very helpful. Yet they wouldn't work in the UK. Our guide pointed out that they'd get trashed or never cleaned (we cleaned this one thoroughly). I'd like to add that we get so few barbecue days in the UK there'd be a queue. Better to have those disposable barbecues- provided no one sets the bins on fire when disposing of them, as used to happen when I lived in Edinburgh. 

We joined Mojo Surf School at a bay south of Byron Bay. We stretched out all of life's problems and knots in our muscles before we felt hip and cool enough to challenge the surf. Then we clambered around on the sand and over our boards getting the low down on surfing 101. With our rudimentary knowledge we were let lose onto a specific portion of the ocean. For two hours were tried to catch waves and get up, without going to hospital afterwards. At times we had to shift position to ensure we were in the lifeguardable zone for our hosts. Then, one by one, our teachers gave us pointers to improve our game. 

I really enjoyed it! I needed the pointers, but I kept at it. Getting up the few times I did was exhilarating, even though each time I knew I wasn't getting it quite right. The sea was quick to point out my failing and dump me into the water after a few yards. Still, even as I tired (and it is tiring), I tried to get what I could out of experience. I'll have to try it again in the future. I'll never be good, but it's a fun activity to try out.

Afterwards we washed off in the brown, tannin filled, wars of the fresh water lake. It was cool and pleasant. The colour and tannins come from the trees and leaves that fall in the feeding rivers. Supposedly the tannins are very good for you- as they are from tea and red wine. Paddle, wash, dry, then we were off to Byron Bay.

At Bryon Bay our guide took us up the the lighthouse, past some of the most expensive neighbourhoods. He has an ex who has an uncle up here. I wonder if she's still available? Would have to be cougar though, I guess.

Our hostel was the coolest, most hippie hostel I've ever seen! It was used in the film Inbetweeners 2, as backdrop to scream "new age" "hippie" "gap yaah" and "exotic". I can't decided if I love it, or if I merely find it thoroughly entertaining. I'll have to come back for a long holiday to find out.

The main complex has a reception, travel agents, cafe, juice bar, bakery, games room, kitchen, beads, bracelets, and necklace stand. Beyond this is the swimming pool, dorm rooms, beach volleyball court, hammocks, didgeridoo lessons, surfboard repairman, green tropical lagoon, rainforest, and yoga/meditation/card reading workshop area. At the top of the hill is the Mojo Surf School camp site. Outside the hostel is a brewery that also does decent food.

Far behind the hostel is the campsite- it's an education to walk around. "Zero tolerance on marijuana" is obviously being challenged. There are tents on top of tents. Some are huge, some tiny. National and Buddhist flags abound. Plants have been planted and grown. It's like a British festival that's gone on too long. I walked around it casually enough to look like I might belong, rather than looking like a tourist taking a touristy tour of tourists. Talk about meta.

I walked around back to our glamping site deep in the rainforest. The hostel has these tents built as dorm rooms. Like polytunnels (the long white tunnels of plastic they use to grow soft fruits like strawberries), but with heavy coloured plastic, and a canvas building inside, each end solidly build with glass doors. They're lovely- although we have a moat of smelly lagoon water.

The bush turkeys and water dragons deserve a mention too. They're just about, chilling, looking out for scraps and picking up the sun. The dragons range from little ones that would fit in my hand to big guys the size of my arms. I like them- some of the girls are not so keen.

Special Broadcast: I saw a Wild Kiwi!!!

Sunday 17th January

I stumbled into a wild kiwi!!!

On my last day of hiking through the forests of Stewart Island.

I was into the last hour of the track. I'd been making good time since the hut. Most of my food was gone- I'd finished the last of my bread for breakfast, leaving me with a couple of cereal bars and an old bag a gummy bears. I needed to get back for lunch, preferably for some of the Kai Kart's beautiful, fresh, fish n chips. I was steaming along. The last to leave the hut, again, I wasn't due to be the last to reach Oban. I kept passing small groups with each kilometre. 5 hours to get to Obam? Nah, I can do it in 3. The route is relatively flat, and much of it is quite straight, if muddy.

Minding my own business, just thinking of stuff, trundling along... then something brown ran off the track and into the bush.

This area was straight for 200 yards. If I'd been looking at the track I'd have seen it long ago. Yet clearly neither of us was concentrating- we'd been a few feet from one another.

And there she was, under a log. I whistled a couple of bird calls- I've been using that trick a few times here, to make the birds think it's safe. Make it sound as though someone else has been brave enough to be the first to emerge after this strange man appeared. 

The she began to look around at the ground. She started prodding her beak into the ground, sniffing for insects in the muddy ground. In truth, at first, I'd wondered if she was a Weka- I've seen plenty of them, and they've a similar size, shape, and colour to a kiwi. But not the nose, they're smart and adaptable, but not so specialised as a kiwi (maybe why there's so many of them), scratching at the ground like a chicken in search of grubs. Once I saw this behaviour from the dark silhouette under the fallen tree I finally knew I was seeing my first wild kiwi.

Becoming more confident she emerged, as I filmed, from under the tree, prodding around for her lunch. Occasionally she would toss her head back, swallowing a delicious find with glee, before returning to the hunt.

Yet as she moved there was something wrong.

The first kiwi I ever saw was in Wellington zoo. Here they have a kiwi that only has one leg. He hops around in a manner that still worries me (he deserves a prosthetic), foraging in his enclosure as the public watch.

Equally I've seen lame chicken and ducks, even treating a few.

My kiwi was walking in a similar manner. Her right foot was swollen and she wasn't putting weight on it properly. Above the swelling was a small metal ring- an ID ring, evidently made too small for her eventual large size. She was quite big for a kiwi.

I would later go and tell the Department of Conservation officers. Next week there's a team coming in to look at the local population and treat any as necessary. Having a rough idea of were she was, and being territorial, it shouldn't be too hard for them to pick her up in the nearby area. 

She looked to be eating well and was still getting about on the foot so I'm not too concerned, DoC will sort her out. 

(NB- normally seeing a naturally nocturnal animal, such as a kiwi, in the day time, means it's in real trouble. Yet on Stewart Island they frequently come out during the day, particularly after heavy rain when the ground is soft and the insects are more active. It a feeding frenzy and they're not energy going to let the sun stop them!)

As time went by she happily carried on eating from a fruitful patch of leaf litter. In my view, however, along the path, appeared a number of my fellow walkers, from either direction. Thank goodness the path was straight here. I quietly waved my hands, put a finger to my lips, mouthed 'Kiwi', before pointing to the little brown fluffy volley ball rustling through the undergrowth.

Getting the message each party gathered cameras from pockets quickly but quietly, tip toeing towards me smiling. Muted gasps followed before cameras were raised and shots taken. Everyone was quiet, slow, and no one used a flash- we were all on our best behaviour to keep the little delight amongst us. She look it all in her hobbling stride, mooching about, scouring the mud for more crunchy snacks. We all shifted as she moved, no one wanting to leave. The group had grown to 11 people all staring in amazement.

Eventually she wandered off into the forest, though not with much grace. A fallen sapling of many branches barred her way. She took a leap at it, attempting to get through the branches. Most of her made it. But not the giant feet. They were lodged for a moment and wiggled, reminding me Yoda jumping head first into Luke Skywalker's supplies the first time they meet, or when the chickens get sent head first into something in Chicken Run. She wiggled through and went off on her way to see what else the damp weather had brought up.