We just celebrated Anzac day in Australia. Tuesday was a public holiday so we invited a few friends on an overnight camp out in Kuring Gai Chase National Park at The Basin campground. Before we moved to Australia all I knew was there were some of the most poisonous snakes and spiders in the world so I did not bring one piece of camping equipment. There was no way I was going to sleep outside. After living here a year, adjusting, and seeing some of the most gorgeous camping spots in my life I couldn't resist. Luckily we have wonderful friends who were much more optimistic about the camping scene here then I was and loaned us some of their tents, and sleeping bags.
We had such a wonderful time at the Basin campsite. You can either hike in or catch the ferry from Palm beach which is what we did. There are wild wallabies bouncing around everywhere, a beautiful lagoon to play in, hikes including one to some amazing petroglyphs around 1000 years old. At dusk hundreds of bats flew in which I thought was super cool until it was time for bed and the tree we were next to seemed to be their home base and they screeched at each other all night long. That combined with wallabies and other critters scavenging our camp all night made it a little difficult to sleep but no worries we have kids and don't sleep anyway. Other than that it was a really great site and the I think everyone had a great time.
Our camp set up in the background.
I love these trees, they are so perfect and beautiful.
One of Jason's hidden talents, making killer tin foil dinners. It was fun having him teach me.
Early morning sunrise!
Dedicated young fisherman.
Wallaby fight...Kids in the background, "FIGHT, FIGHT, FIGHT!" LOL
Try to use the picture of the plaque as a guide but this shot is head on legs pointing down towards me. The plaque describes this scene how the two peoples legs over cross as representing marriage and family. You cant see above the body figures is a crescent moon and circled by flying wallabies and fish.
The Lagoon
Not sure what bird this is but I loved its yellow mask. It did not love me...took forever to get it to look at me without running away.
Wallaby: "hmmm maybe she hasn't noticed I stole her kids watermelon...
Wallaby: "aw whatever I am just going to eat it anyway."
Packing up to go when mike passed out from exhaustion after a killer tantrum.
Sydney is always having some cool event going on and this is one of my top favorites! Sculpture by the Sea just finished up last week and I wish I would have gone a few more times to really see and enjoy everything. It takes place along the Bondi to Tamarama coastal walk and is littered with amazing pieces of art. These are a few of my favorites but there were so many more! I am already anticipating next year!
Liam was struggling along the walk but as soon as I gave him his own small camera he perked up and couldn't wait to see what was next. He usually gravitated to the natural beauty of the walk.
Last weekend we headed out on a tour to hopefully swim with wild dolphins, and I will post more about that in my next post because this story deserves it's own entry. While we were searching for Dolphins we saw a Humpack Whale near some sort of buoy field that appeared to be stuck. We also noticed there was another whale close by that kept surfacing. The marine specialist on board presumed them to be a mother and her calf travelling back down south. The crew alerted us that we would slowly move towards them to see if they could in some way help the whale. They started radioing for help and making sure the whale wasn't in too much distress. After a few moments it seemed that the Whale had untangled itself and was free. We were all so happy and relieved! As we started motoring away both the Whales approached our boat. This is extremely exciting because there is a law in Australia that only allows you to get within 100 meters (a reader clarified it is actually 300 meters for a mother and calf) to any whales with your boat, but if they approach you its OK. We have previously been on Whale watching tours and seen some amazing things but never ever been this close to a whale and its calf. It was unforgettable in the best way.
Approaching the Whale when it was tangled in the Buoy.
Here is some Video footage we got on our iphone. It completely took us off guard or we would have grabbed a better camera for video footage!
The following are some of my favorite photos (out of hundreds) I was able to capture of these magnificent creatures. It was like they were giving us a private performance to the Humpback Whale Ballet.
Thank you to Dolphin Swim Australia and the boat crew for an incredible and unforgettable experience. We will treasure these memories for ever.
