Happy Halloween to all! Whoooooaaaa

On the move

We are off traveling to stay with rellies and learn more about Australia. Our destination is Canberra the capital city of OZ. We are currently in Coff's Harbour with our cousins.  And Tomorrow ( Melbourne Cup Day)(Horse races) we will take a train ride to Sydney.

Camels, Ahoy!!

We rode a humpty back camel through the park.
Did you know?......
*The camels humps are made of fat? When water and food is scarce then stored fat produces a supply for the camel.
*Camels have the stinkiest breath in the animal kingdom
* Camels hooves are comprised of 2 toes to keep them from sinking into the sand.

ZIGGY- A DOG

As we have wonderful people looking after our precious dog back in Mn, we are paying it forward and have found a friend to walk each day.

Ziggy is a Cocker Spaniel /Poodle puppy, age 9 months.
He is cute, adorable really, and friendly. With loads of energy. He has long, curly fur the color of caramel.

He loves to run in the water with me and my sister. He recently moved down the hill from Nanny and Pappy. I was thrilled to find a dog living by us. Ziggy's owner said would you like to walk him for me, and I was like OMG, I was so excited. She showed us her house and all Ziggy's play stuff. We love to hang out with him he's lots of fun. He has helped us soo we are not so homesick. But we still miss our dog Pippy.                   LEONA & JUDE

Australian birds a study by L&J

Their are many different and amazing birds here in Oz

The Galah: A pink and gray cockatoo, lives in open country with trees.

Quail: various types and sizes. This variety grey with crest.

Lorikeet: rainbow variety. love grenenvalia bush. Lives in rainforest or woodland areas.

Australian Pelican (pic by Leona) Lives in coastal waters. Very large. wing span well over 60 cm. They have a tendency to get caught up in fishing line and hooks. We visited a nearby Rescue agency that helps these birds and also turtles found injured.

We saw a rare hawks billed turtle along with a green sea turtle when at the rescue. we learned all about how they lay their hundreds of eggs and the babies find their way to the ocean and if they survive they come back to the exact same beach to lay their own eggs years later.(pic by Jude)

Cockatoo: Many varieties found in all parts of Australia. Rare to spot them. We were able to find a spot where we saw a flock nearby. They make a lot of noise!

Laughing Kookaburra:
Kingfisher family,endangered species.Rare to see where we are (Ballina), but we did see one on the way back from the recuse center. Long beaks.Brown and white coloring with distinctive call. We have yet to hear the famous call.







So many wonderful birds we see and hear each day. Some we don't know the names of yet. They are prevalently heard at dawn and dusk, but you can hear the songs of birds all day. Generally you love it or you don't. We get seranaded by the butcher birds almost daily. we see them so much because the renter who stays at the house when Nanny and Pappy are not here feeds them. They like cheese. We named them Bon, Bella, Bretta, and Buck. They show up along with the magpies, that are a complete nuisance in our opinion. There are lots of amazing birds in Oz.