I came to the land down under....

Silence.

I guess this is the best way to describe this month's action on the blog-o-sphere. But I'm back (on the blog, not home), and have tons and tons of stories to tell.......A good old room-mate once told me that she couldn't post her facebook photos out of chronological order, and once she told me that, I too developed the compulsion for order of the chronological sort, and so (with t

he exception of this post), I will recou

nt my adventures from the beginning.....or at least from where I left off...

But first.

Australia. Yup, I arrived here about a week ago, drank an ice coffee, said hello to the people I'm staying with and collapsed. literally slept for days. Now, almost a week of venturing not further than a 10 kms from the small Sydney burb, I feel rejuvenated and ready to roll!

First impressions of Australia are as follows:

great. nice. warm

(although they are still in winter). friendly.

at least that was the first day. and today. the rest of the days it has been raining. I guess there is something comforting about exploring a new place whilst in the rain. actually, the rain may have been one reason why my exploring has been limited to a 10km range.

But today we got out and about----to a animal refuge called Koala Park in West Pennant Hills, NSW (New South Wales). The park itself started in the 1920s to help safe the Koala from extinction. During that time Koala's were being killed for their furs and this park and safe haven was created for Koala's to live....the park eventually expanded to care for all of aussie-land creatures.... In addition to Koala's, there were Kangaroos, Wallabies, Penguins, aussie birds, dingos, flying squirrels, pretty much everything aussie. The Koala's were the cutest things ever!

All the hens, roosters, peacocks could not be caged...and at one point we spent 5

minutes watching a peacock chase, but never catch, a turkey. They were running in and out of cages, squawking (the peacock,not the turkey). it was hilarious. I couldn't decided if the turkey was outsmarting the peacock as the peacock always seemed to miss the turkey, but the peacock seemed super iritated by the turkey...kind of like the peacock was the older sister (or brother) chasing the younger smaller turkey.... i was cheering for the turkey (wonder why?) ......

Tomorrow we are headed to a surf festival on Manly beach. should be fun (and I'll take loads of pictures). I must also say that besides today, my brain seems to always forget to grab the camera when we leave the house. Maybe it's my subconscious reminding me that i have 1900 photos that i have yet to go through.........

But before I begin the adventures in Aussie-land......back to the Middle East....