Koala's and Horseback Riding

As hard as is it is to believe, I turned down going to happy hour on Friday.  The guys from work were going and as much as I wanted to go, I said NO!  Partially in part because I had just completed an extremely hard workout at the gym which included so many lunges that I lost count (which I have to thank Florian for my inability to sit down the rest of the weekend without being in extreme pain).  I picked up my reserve at the library (which I will do an entire post on in the near future) and sat down and read, which I haven’t gotten to do a lot of lately since I’ve been so dang busy.  I did decide to go to the movies to see Huntsman.  It had Chris Hemsworth in it and in case you didn’t know he’s from Australia.  I’d seen the first Huntsman so I wanted to see this one as well to see the story continue.  No need to see it in the theater though, renting will suffice. 

  

Rented a car early on Saturday morning and headed to the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary which was about 30 min. away.  So far the only koala’s I’ve seen have been sleeping in trees, as cute as they are, I want to see one move and boy did they move at the sanctuary.  We saw them walking around, eating, and sort of fighting with one another (if one wanted the branch the other one was sitting on).  They had other animals at the sanctuary as well such as wombats/Tasmanian Devils/platypus'/etc.

Two Tasmanian Devil's fighting - I can't say I wanted to pet either one of them, they were u-g-l-y!

                  This emu and I got pretty close, but I pet it and ran cuz I didn't want it to attack me!

 

We got to feed the Lorikeet’s which was fun (as you can see) they were really hungry. 

Is he cute or what?!?!

Got to feed the kangaroos again and caught one in action!

If you’ve never seen a koala actually move, well now you can say you have:)

They had a sheep shearing presentation which was really cool to watch.  This guy used to do this for a living so he made it look easy.

 Just beginning, lots of wool still on the sheep...

The sheep just laid there, totally relaxed as he got his hair cut...

All done!

Its Sunday already….man how the weekend fly’s by!  Woke up early and starting making the trek across town (ok, maybe like 3 blocks) with my suitcases to my new home.  Now instead of walking 10 steps to work I have to walk 3 blocks.  My new address is 26 Felix St. Apt. 114, Brisbane, Australia 4000.  

Here is the view from my balcony.  I went with the river view as many of you had suggested! 

I have moved into a furnished apartment but let me tell you what they didn’t supply me with.  Hand towels for the bathroom, pot holders, pans for the oven (like a cookie sheet), or any type of measuring spoons/cups.  I find that these things are pretty important so it looks like I’ll be going to the store in the next couple of days to purchase them – ugh!  

I get all unpacked and am ready for the adventure that awaits me….horseback riding!  Headed about 30 minutes away to Cherbon Waters for an afternoon trail ride.  I was assigned Tammy as my horse.  I immediately became the best of friends with her (well in my eyes).  I talked to her and pet her before our ride began.  The only problem I had with Tammy was that she wanted to stop and snack at every patch of tall grass that we came too.  I had to pull her away and tell her, it’s not the time to stop and snack Tammy – we have to keep up with the group.  This didn’t just happen once, it happened about half a dozen time or so, oh goodness.  Towards the end of the ride we got to trot with the horses and boy was 15 seconds enough for me.  You go from walking to bouncing up and down.  I must say, they make it look so easy in the movies.  Our ride was an hour long and the time flew by.  Another fun adventure Down Under!

                                                                   Here is Tammy!

                        Claire, me, and Ross (this was his first time on a horse in his life, crazy-eh?)

 By Sunday night I am pooped and ready for bed.  Monday will be here before you know it and you know what that means, back to work!