rtw with lucy

Well,we finally met a real Aussie character- his name is Wazza Swaddling- he owns and runs the Platypus Bush Camp outside of Eungella National park in Queensland. We found him in our WWOOF book and worked for him for about 7 days. We helped him build his new house in the jungle and the girls helped him sweep and we answered the phone. Wazz- as he is known is a character who should have been the “crocodile dundee”- his place is set by a beautiful river with sulphur crested cockatoos flying all around. He is a bit crabby at times but we found him to be a genuine person. His camp looks like something from Swiss Family Robinson. The showers open up to the jungle and it is just you and nature for all the critters to see. He has a camp kitchen with a beautiful mosaic for a table. There is a river pool where you can sit at dawn or dusk and see
platypuses(if you are lucky), there is no electricity and sometimes he lights a fire for a hot shower. He proudly stated he has not watched T.V. since about 1980. Wazza is an avid environmentalist and takes care to protect his property. We cooked some food together and had several interesting conversations. We also enjoyed his two pet Cockatoos and his dog named “Dog” who loved to run and fetch pinecones. There are some beautiful mountain hikes close by to his place and one to “wheel of fire waterfall” was spectacular-I am including a picture from there. Our next stop is Fraser Island and then we head south to New South Wales. Cheers Mates-Gene

Before we left on this trip, we received many warnings from concerned family and friends–mainly the ones who were big fans of Steve Irwin and his show, “The Crocodile Hunter”.  Of course, Australia is known to have the most venomous snakes and spiders in the world, so we were a bit concerned ourselves, but figured that there are 20 million people alive down here, so it can’t be THAT bad.  Can it?

 So here’s the scoop on the deadlies:  haven’t seen any.  We did see some of the most poisonous snakes in the world, but they were at the Australia Zoo.  We saw the taipan and the death adder and the brown snake and several others.  The interesting thing about them is that they are somewhat opposite from our poisonous snakes, as are many other things down under.  For instance, almost all of the venomous snakes had a rounded head, rather than a diamond shaped head.  Their eyes were dark, so you couldn’t see whether they had slits for pupils or not–and really, who ever gets that close to a snake, much less one suspected of being poisonous?  Then the death snakes in Oz tend to have a solid pattern on them or nearly solid–not the big diamond shapes we see on our rattlesnakes.  We have been informed that the snakes around here are very shy, and you would have to be very unlucky to encounter one.  We’ve never gotten unlucky yet. 

 Another risk around here is the marine stingers, especially box jellyfish.  That one is simple.  If no one is swimming on the beach, we don’t either.  Not many have been spotted, but some have, and that seems to be enough for the locals, and enough for us too.  Erin and I shock easily so we really are careful.  There are lots of pools around here though, so we can cool off.

 So family and friends–relax.  We have no worries, but we’re not going to do anything dumb.  We did see a very big fish the other day, but he had absolutely no interest in tasting us!      Stephanie

Well, we were driving the other day and our transmission started acting up so we had to make a backword loop to Cairns and are waiting to get it fixed- We had already been in Cairns for about 5 ... [Continue reading this entry]

   Well, writing to you from Cairns, and I have a bit more to say about the birds, and other things. Well, the day did come that we went to Kuranda ( a real tourist town!) We went to the Heritage Markets, and lo ... [Continue reading this entry]

       In Missouri it goes-"buzz, buzz, slap! slap!"  In Queensland it goes-" crawl, crawl, AAAAaaaaaaeeeeeeeeee!!!"   The bugs here are pretty brutal.  I get mysterious bites on my arms and legs, and I don't know where they came from or how they ... [Continue reading this entry]

Well, we've been here almost three weeks now, and I must say that the birds are what amazes us the most.  They are such little comics.  The crows look much like ours, only bigger--heck, they're all bigger.  They say a ... [Continue reading this entry]