First of all, watch this fascinating, 3-minute BBC video on the Lyre Bird. I'm serious, watch it!
Cool huh?! WE SAW ONE!! It was a female, smaller and with less tail-plumage, but we stalked it into the forest while it scraped around for food. We were able to get within a meter before she realized she had onlookers and bolted. Supposedly, they're shy animals that aren't so easily spotted, so our timing must have been just right!
While hiking at Mount Tamborine today, Paco and I explored two different waterfall loops, Witches Falls and Curtis Falls. Luckily, we got to Witches Falls before the crowds, which meant an unspoiled walk into a rainforest dreamland. Several different species of birds, including the Laughing Kookaburra, Rainbow Lorikeets, Cockatoos, King Parrots, and this elusive but loud Whipbird (listen here), were chattering in the trees, flitting between branches with their mates, or even trying to find new mates with bright plumage and fancy calls. As we descended into piccabeen palm and eucalyptus rainforest, I felt like I was the first human to ever discover this land. There was a true magic under the stretched palm fronds and shadows of the eucalyptus canopy.
The human crowds unfortunately broke the spell not too long after we finished Witches Falls, but Curtis Falls was an adventure nonetheless. This is where Paco spotted the lyrebird, and a camp of Little Red Flying Fox (bats) hung overhead. We even saw an adorable pademelon, a small, fluffy relative of the kangaroo!
Last weekend, and our first weekend here, we visited Stradbroke Island, another wonderland. Straddie (as the locals call it) is one of the barrier islands here in Moreton Bay. We took the car over on the ferry and explore just about the entire island. Here we saw our first kangaroo, koala, and wallaby, signaling that indeed we are officially living in Australia! Ha!
From the picturesque Point Lookout on the northern Pacific corner of the island, we could see "whales como arroz" blowing up waterspouts as they traveled south for their bi-annual, seasonal migration. Dolphins (and their teeny babies!Aw!) played around the edge of the rocks as surfers waited for the perfect wave in cool, crystal green waters. If this place was any indication of our future Aussie discoveries, there will be many more dreamland adventures to come!!
Cool huh?! WE SAW ONE!! It was a female, smaller and with less tail-plumage, but we stalked it into the forest while it scraped around for food. We were able to get within a meter before she realized she had onlookers and bolted. Supposedly, they're shy animals that aren't so easily spotted, so our timing must have been just right!
While hiking at Mount Tamborine today, Paco and I explored two different waterfall loops, Witches Falls and Curtis Falls. Luckily, we got to Witches Falls before the crowds, which meant an unspoiled walk into a rainforest dreamland. Several different species of birds, including the Laughing Kookaburra, Rainbow Lorikeets, Cockatoos, King Parrots, and this elusive but loud Whipbird (listen here), were chattering in the trees, flitting between branches with their mates, or even trying to find new mates with bright plumage and fancy calls. As we descended into piccabeen palm and eucalyptus rainforest, I felt like I was the first human to ever discover this land. There was a true magic under the stretched palm fronds and shadows of the eucalyptus canopy.
The human crowds unfortunately broke the spell not too long after we finished Witches Falls, but Curtis Falls was an adventure nonetheless. This is where Paco spotted the lyrebird, and a camp of Little Red Flying Fox (bats) hung overhead. We even saw an adorable pademelon, a small, fluffy relative of the kangaroo!
Panorama from the top of Mt. Tamborine!
Last weekend, and our first weekend here, we visited Stradbroke Island, another wonderland. Straddie (as the locals call it) is one of the barrier islands here in Moreton Bay. We took the car over on the ferry and explore just about the entire island. Here we saw our first kangaroo, koala, and wallaby, signaling that indeed we are officially living in Australia! Ha!
From the picturesque Point Lookout on the northern Pacific corner of the island, we could see "whales como arroz" blowing up waterspouts as they traveled south for their bi-annual, seasonal migration. Dolphins (and their teeny babies!Aw!) played around the edge of the rocks as surfers waited for the perfect wave in cool, crystal green waters. If this place was any indication of our future Aussie discoveries, there will be many more dreamland adventures to come!!
Point Lookout
Looking down Straddie's Pacific coast
Inlet at Point Lookout
Frenchman's Beach
Now that I've filled you in on the traveling, I suppose you want to hear about the real life part that got me down here. First of all, Paco and I had a wonderful pre-move trip to San Francisco, where we walked about in the Presidio, Golden Gate Park, Berkeley, and Oakland, and we had THE BEST seafood Cioppino ever in Little Italy. Our host was warm and welcoming, and I've never seen such a cute outhouse before! (Her shared house had a compost toilet in the equally cute garden! After all, it IS San Fran! Awesome IMO.) Secondly, jet lag is a real thing, but if you time it right, it wasn't so bad. Skipping a whole day on the calendar and traveling for some of those really threw me off, but I've slept quite well here. The flight was also not as much of a total nightmare as it's made out to be, but then again I had a fun travel buddy. :)
Evie and I are getting in our groove, and her extensive vocabulary, insatiable imagination, and mature awareness definitely keep me on my toes and keep me laughing (except when we're both tired...we're still figuring that part out...). The family seems to be as good of a fit as I had hoped for too. Paco has found a job teaching English, and he start TOMORROW! Yay! Our room is cute and comfortable, we live 8 houses from Moreton Bay, and the weather has been absolutely gorgeous since we arrived. Slowly but surely, we are making friends, and I am hoping to join a volleyball league soon to meet more new friends. I can drive on the left side of the road, which was easier to adjust to than walking on the left side of the sidewalk when passing oncoming pedestrians! Ha! I'm not used to living in a foreign yet English-speaking country...I still have anxiety when calling someone on the phone or speaking to strangers because I'm so used to struggling for my words. Everything here is so similar to the U.S. but different at the same time, so Paco jokes that it's like a parallel universe. There are the same fast food joints by different names, similar grocery stores and clothes styles, but Coles is the supermarket and Lowes in the cheap clothing store, and familiar-looking houses, cars, and people with unfamiliar names. It's quite odd and eerie in a way, especially since I'm used to a more stark culture shock. Oh, and for those of you who are wondering, I'm 14 hours ahead of you east coasters. That means I'm likely a calendar day ahead of you already!
All is well here, and I am happy. We are planning a coastal drive for a long weekend trip this weekend, so be on the lookout for more soon!
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