A day spent at Australia Zoo is never not a day well spent. Even if it was a bit chilly and very windy.
Robert was unfortunately not on the show this day at the Crocoseum, but still a great and educational experience as always.
A couple of weeks ago, the three of us did something really good for the environment, we planted some trees in Tallebudgera Creek. The day was really beautiful, there were so many people from the local community who seemed to be doing this quite a lot. The mood was great, people were laughing, we all were efficient and we were surrounded by countless kookaburras. It was a beautiful morning that did the nature and our souls good.
The rest of the day was spent by the beach, mom took a dip in the ocean on this side of the world for the first time. Glorious with winter bath’s (21C in the ocean), isn’t it 😅
After 14 months in Australia, my mom has finally arrived after one hell of a trip. All went well, she slept most of the way, but taking off at 9pm local time, flying three flights for 25 hours and landing 6am local time must be rough. We were lucky to have a super early flight and landing late at night. But flying in so early in the morning, we had to keep her awake until it was time to go to bed to make sure she wasn’t suffering from too much jetlag.
I do believe we did a good job of keeping her awake. Breakfast at Alkemist, 6 koalas and hundreds (probably, I lost count) of kangaroos at Coombabah and dinner at Fricken Chicken in Broadbeach. It would have been on the beach if it hadn’t started pouring along with some distant thunder out at sea.
Elise’s last day in Australia after visiting us for six weeks came and went so fast. It was not without issues though, but we managed to turn a rather problematic situation into our advantage 😊
24 July
This was the best day in Australia yet! Coombabah Lake Conservation Park was incredible. Such beautiful nature and so much wildlife.
In summary, we saw 5 koalas, two of which I spotted myself (people here are very friendly of pointing out where things are), 5 kookaburras and endless of kangaroos.
Can you spot the koala in the canopies in the picture below? This was our very first one, only five min into the park.
Here is a zoomed in one:
Our first kangaroos (except the one I saw lurking in the high grass beside the M1 a few weeks back): 
Kookaburra number one: 
Koala number two (this one was harder to spot but we got help): 
Koala number three (this one I spotted all by myself): 
Zoomed in through my binoculars: 
This could have been northern Sweden: 
And in the same park there is practically a jungle: 
Koala number four (also spotted by me, but pretty hard to miss): 
Three different kookaburras (the last one was so big it was floating out on the branch): 
And koala number five (we got help with this one, super hard to see): 
A super pregnant roo: 
Here you can see the joey’s feet sticking out of the pouch: 
And also the face sticking out ❤️ (I got this on video and it is probably the best video I have ever filmed): 
We left Queensland today, and not just for a short while on foot, but actually going down south for a bit with an Uber. 45 minutes south of here lies Byron Bay, home to Australia mainland’s most eastern point. And also hometown to Parkway Drive.
We got up at sunrise, took an uber with an amazing driver all the way down to Byron Bay. First thing we notice, the wind. Holy schmoly! I think it was windy back in Kirra as well, but I doubt it was as windy. This was ridiculous! And with the clear skies and lots of sun, I just knew we would be dead by the time we came home. Which was true.
We started by walking around in central Byron Bay, just to get the feel of it. Had breakfast at The Hum, close to the beach. We then started walking toward the lighthouse. Our initial plan was to watch the sunset from up there, but we got too tired and were on our way home when the sun set.
On our way up there, we stopped all the time, looking at the beautiful nature. There were signs telling us there were wild Koalas in the roadside trees. But we never saw any… We stopped at The Pass, a pretty cool rock formation and Fisherman’s Lookout where I saw some whales through my new binoculars, but due to the wind, they were shaking so much it was hard to see. Tons of kitesurfers! Some jumped extremely high. Lunch/fika at The Pass Cafe where they had saffron buns and really good smoothies.
When we neared the Cape Bay Lighthouse, we noticed a lot of people standing by the rails overlooking the ocean. Of course, the ocean is beautiful. But we quickly learned that there were so many whales out there! Like countless of them. Breaching and breathing everywhere. There were two swimming so close to the shore that we could see their shadows under the surface and follow them exactly where they went. It was magical! I saw it all through my binoculars and could count the humps on their backs. MAGICAL! Mikael managed to film them.
We had a second fika up at the cafe by the lighthouse to gather some strength before trying to get back home. Which turned out to be harder than we thought. No Uber wanted to drive all the way up to Coolangatta, across the border. So we had to get a normal taxi, for three times as much. Not fun. But oh well. We came home and had the sweetest taxi driver and his son drive us back to Kirra.
All in all, Byron Bay was small, cosy, but windy. And the best part were all the whales! Don’t really see what all the hype is about though if I’m being completely honest.
Sunrise in Kirra. 
Downtown Byron was tiny. Reminded me a lot of SLO, CA (San Luis Obispo) which was nice. 
Julian Rocks, a pretty cool diving spot that I wish to dive soon. 
On our way to the lighthouse. 
Lunch/fika at The Pass Cafe. They had saffron buns! 
The Pass. 
So many kitesurfers. 
I actually managed to get a picture of a whale. 
Our second kookaburra.
WOW! We have had the most amazing day down in Burleigh Heads today. We were told that Burleigh Head National Park was incredible and it sure was. We followed the Ocean View Track in the national park. There were beautiful beaches in the beginning at Tallebudgera Creek, and it was almost a jungle feeling inside and along the small walking path and then we walked along the ocean with amazing views over the ocean and northern parts of Gold Coast. I will let the pictures speak for themselves. The coolest thing we saw was a Kookaburra sitting on a branch overhanging the walkway. It was just sitting there while we took pictures and lots of people walked by. So cool! A group of people we met along the way just told us that there was a Kookaburra ahead of us. People are so friendly here and just tells you about these things to brighten other people’s days.
After the short “hike”, we sat by the ocean, watching the surfers down below and just soaked it all in until the sun set behind the buildings. We had sushi at Oi Izakaya, a small place in Burleigh that had amazing sushi!
Today, we have taken a ride on the local bus and it worked just as well as the tram. Practically locals, haha!
Bemm 