Kangaroos!!!

Well the day has finally come....the Collier Family saw kangaroos.  We knew Addie would be excited, but the rest of us were surprised by how excited we were also!

Up to this point, our weekends have been spent trying to put together our house.  All of us are done with shopping.

Also, after being here for a month and a half, I think that we are all getting a bit homesick.  The weekends are the hardest time because we do not know other families here yet to hang out with.  The girls are getting tired of looking at us and without their toys, things are getting rather boring.  Our sea shipment was pushed back a week, so we are going to HOPEFULLY get our things March 6th...hopefully.

SOOOOO, it was time for an outing...Australia style.  Caversham Park ( www.cavershamwildlife.com.au/ ) is natural wildlife reserve about 45 minutes north of our house.  The descriptions online does not do it justice.  The park is actually part of a HUGE park with lots of different things to do.  You could spend the entire day there...it is their Six Flags ;)  Next time we go we will bring our swimsuits and a picnic.  They have a splash pad, picnic areas, PLUS all the animals.  It honestly was a great day.

The park is organized by the different regions Australia, and the animals native to that region.  We saw birds, flying foxes (bats), Wallabys, Wambats, Koalas, Dingos, reptiles, and of course KANGAROOS!

Morgan has really become interested in animals of all sorts, so she and Dustin were very interested in reading about the different animals, where they came from, etc.  Addie and I kept trying to imitate the sounds the animals MIGHT make....we were almost charged by an Emu, got a Parrot to say hello, and annoyed several of the other spectators near us ;)

We thought we were going to get to hold a Koala Bear, but apparently that is against the law in Australia, so we settled for petting one while they were sleeping.  Their fur is not as soft as I thought it would be, more fuzzy.

There was an interactive show where they showed us birds, a lizard, a possum, and a wombat.  The wombat was the start of the show and quite honestly not that attractive.  They are HUGE and reminded us of a pig with fur.  She was very sweet though and let her handler hold her like a baby.

In the middle of the park are the kangaroos.  You have to go through a double doored gate and then you are free to roam the grounds with the animals.  It was incredible that they just were laying around and letting everyone pet them.  There were babies, adults and mothers with their babies in their pouch.  I did not know they exist, but there were even white kangaroos.

You were able to get food to feed the kangaroos.  I think some of them were so lazy because they are fed so much =)

There are TONS of pictures, so I am going to post them to Facebook to be able to explain them all.

All in all, it was a great day and we are so glad that we went.  It goes without saying that when you come to visit, that we will visit Caversham park =)

Each day we count our blessings that we are here in the is beautiful place, but there are also days that are difficult.  We miss our family and friends....and everyday normal life.

I got really upset the other day because another expat told me while it is hard to make friends in the new location, it will be harder to go back home and pick up with our friends.  She said people do not want to hear about how "wonderful" our life was.... I am here to assure you, that our life will NOT be all wonderful.

So I hope that you still want to hear about our adventures and time here.  And please make sure you keep me updated on what is going on with you all!  We are interested in that!!!!

Hugs to all
Amy