Oz Zoo by BB: a visual assault

Last week, the Granite Glen gang visited Australia Zoo.

G'day Steve... the man was looking at us from almost every vantage point on the road in, and from monitors scattered throughout the Zoo. It could have been creepy but was somehow kinda reassuring. It certainly helped assure Dash and TLW they were in the right place! After all, for many months my son actually thought Steve Irwin and Australia Zoo were one and the same thing... "There's Stralya Zoo, Mummy, on the tee bee again!"

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And while it's not like we don't have a gazillion animals around here at Granite Glen, our kids were excited beyond belief at this particular adventure. They are utterly addicted to Bindi the Jungle Girl (Dash is quite convinced they could get married, even though she is four years older. Hang on a sec, that's the same degree of cradle-snatching I have on his father... watch out Ms Irwin!). Dash quotes Steve Irwin endlessly: "Those animals are be-oooo-teeful Mum - and they are being 'dangered!" and "It's a little ripper... er, Mum, what's a 'ripper'?"
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So having been well and truly brainwashed - through the marvels of DVDs and kids' television - before entering the gates of the once-modest, now-multi-squillion dollar Zoo, my kids were primed to the experience. SSB... well he was excited to get an entry discount for being an RACQ member! Keep it in mind people...
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Nonetheless our six hours there were quite something ... it's really best I shut up and show you what I mean. After all, I took several thousand photos... if you are game for a few, get a cuppa and settle in.

Please note that I may not shut up completely... c'mon, you regulars knew that already! I will add comments as uttered by kids along the way... ready? Been to the loo? Alright...

Let's go pussycat!

First stop, Koalas... hello!! Hello??

Dash: Are they alive?Is that all they do, Mum?

Me: No. They eat leaves too.

There were feathered creatures too... they flying around variety and the kept safely away from people variety...

Dash: Did you know that Cass'waries can kill people with their horn?

Me: Really? I thought that was Rhinos?

Dash: Yup. Them too.

Dash and TLW fed elephants like seasoned professionals...

(i.e. no screaming or soiling of underwear).

It was a bit wet, but pretty 'mazing!

Then Dash worked off some adrenaline on the jumping castle.

Me: Pull your jeans up please!! (I was ignored, as usual!)

Next stop: close-up with baby alligators...

Ooooooohhhh....

Then we entered the Crocoseum where this look prevailed on my children's faces... OK probably mine too... luckily it was too cold for flies! TLW decided to chew a nail as she watched in awe...

And this was why...

The SNAP! echoed around the stadium...

*shudder*

Couldn't agree more TLW!

Of course there were slimy slidy legless things too...
Beautiful and shudder-worthy at the same time!


And tortoises. I heart tortoises. I adored Harriet who used to star here and passed away around the time Steve left us - I mourn them both. This dude (above) is a slightly different variety, but still possesses that same ancient fascination enjoyed by the fabulous Harriet.
We even fed kangaroos... Dash was besotted with this guy, who held his hand still with a paw to munch the pellets from his palm...

Scruffy the wombat had a couple of stalkers.

He didn't seem to mind. Wombats are laid-back like that!

But for me, Bush Babe the nature-lover, seen-everything, been-there-done-that wench... this sight (just a couple of metres from us as we walked along a pathway) was the piece de resistance...

Now THAT is cool...

Signing off for a wee break

(I really need to start taking my own advice!)

BB

Fairytale Dash-style: Snow White

Yesterday, The Little Woman was “reading” to Dash in the back seat of the Prado.
This was a lovely change from bickering, and poking toes over the imaginary centre line of the bench seat. We were enchanted as our three-year-old entertained her big brother with a fanciful version of the pictures in the book she had selected from the pocket in front of her carseat. As his sister waved expressively and made up stories (as well as words!) Dash put a hand up cop-style, closed his eyes and said in an very patient tone:
“No, no, no.

That’s not right – this is the right story!

Let me tell it right…”
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Dash: There was a beautiful bride one time and her name is Snow White.

TLW (chiming in): Yeah, and she lived with seven Santas.
Dash (still patient): That's right. And she fell asleep because she got sleepy... Oh no hang on… she swallowed an apple from a bad lady that had some bad poison on it.
Then she died.

Me: Really? She died?

Dash: Yup!
Anyway, then the king came along and he carried her off on his horse.
And the apple fell out of her mouth...

Me: It did? How did it fall out?

Dash: Well it was just really bumpy in some parts!

Me: What happened then?

Dash: Well, she just comed alive again, 'course!
The End
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SSB and I were quite speechless.

Dash gave us the thumbs up...

Fairytales rock, dude!

Ekka explorers

It's a fact: I love heights.
Always have - looooove looking down over the edge of tall buildings. Or hanging out the side of a motorised hang-glider a few hundred metres up over Noosa, or a helicopter over bushfires... the trait served me well as a news hound. I just love the view from up on high...

I'm a freak like that.

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So I have always wondered if my offspring would inherit this aberrant heights-lovin' gene... Or would they be normal with a natural caution of steep drops. Our recent visit to the Ekka (Queensland's biggest show/fair) helped explore this possibility.

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Just minutes after we arrived at Day One of the ten-day event, SSB and I sipped coffee and contemplated the gazillion rides, displays, judging arenas, (and various ways of spending a small fortune) when we spotted this:

And I asked Dash and TLW if they'd like to try that big red ride out? The one that goes about forty metres up into the sky?

They thought about it... with varying degrees of enthusiasm for Mum's brain wave...

The females took an immediate vote on it, and we joined the queue...

Hats off and hang on...

Dash is looking a little apprehensive (and suffering a bit of hat hair!) while TLW is ready to rumble!

Tummy's got left behind slightly as we started on the upward cycle... NB The booths are glass-enclosed and air-conditioned - just in case you are wondering where the seat belts are!

Lifting up, up and away!

And while we've only lived away from the city for 18 months, our kids have very few recollections of the "Big Smoke" and are as spellbound as any country kid glimpsing their first vista of crowds and city panoramas. And from the air...

It's quite something!

It was just the first day of the Ekka, and things were still pretty quiet on the ground (compared to how it will be by now). And see those city buildings in the background? I used to work in one of those - in my cream Cue suit, my red leather pumps and slicked down serious office-hair. That was seven years and a lifetime ago...

I snap out of my walk down memory lane as we head towards the top of the wheel's cycle - I think that could be our shadow about sixth from the left... or not. Heh heh. The pavilions below are chockablock with stands selling every "essential" item one could possibly "need", jewellery, showcasing horses, chooks, cattle, produce, and an avalanche of imported goodies. With salespeople ready to "do a deal"! Just ask SSB. And Dash. They are suckers for a good deal.. I kinda like the view from this distance better actually. I'm not a hard sell kinda gal!
But my experiment with genetics and kids and non-fear of heights?

Well, see for yourself...

Dash is warming up to the idea...

"I love that Perris Wheel thing Mum... Can we do it again?"

This one? Yup. That's my girl!

(Happy Ekka-ing Queenslanders!)

No More Mystery!

OK. I'm back. I'm bad. I'm whacked. But I'm glad.
(Apologies to the writers of Lethal Weapon there!)

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Mystery #1: Whereabouts of Bush Babe

Apologies to my four regular readers who have wondered if I have been knocked off my perch or given up blogging altogether. Not so. I missed it way more that you missed me!! But lack of Internet opportunity (and general respect for my hosts over the past week, who do seem to prefer the front of my head to the back view as I huddle over a laptop) has seen me temporarily abandon my posts. Luckily I had a Nikon handy to appease my need to record almost everything in my life...
So brace yourselves people!

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Here is just one of the places I have been with my crew...

So as I burrow through the eleventy hundred photos (thanks for this phrase Deb, it's my current favourite and is driving SSB to distraction!), here is the very non-mysterious answer to my last very hurried, mid-travelling post and

Mystery # 2:

Of course it was AN ELEPHANT's trunk.

From our humungous, elephant-sized visit to Australia Zoo...

You are all far to clever and I am delighted to have delurked a few of you in the process!! Welcome people... the winner however, was Melinn! Well done! You were just too quick. Many of you gave me a giggle with silly guesses - no-one's elbows or knees SURELY look like this?
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We all fell in love with the Oz Zoo elephants and got to feed this one - and she hardly snotted on us at all!

The lovely handler was very worried that TLW was too young to cope and would freak out... he doesn't know my daughter very well!! She was completely delighted but calm as a cucumber... he was totally impressed and told SSB so!

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Dash and TLW are still reeling from their OZ Zoo experience, and my son appears to have recovered from the revelation that Bindi couldn't quite fit him into her schedule.

Seeing eleventy hundred scary crocs will do that for you.

Sorry... I'll shut up now.
Off to edit. Lots. Of. Photos.

And wash. Lots. Of. Clothes.

See you when I'm a bit more bleary!

Mystery (Away) Photo

If you have been reading here over the past week you will have a headstart on this week's Mystery Photo...

What do you think it might be?

Hint: it's not Bush Babe's neck, even though she thinks it feels a bit like it!!

Winner gets an 8x12 print of their Bush Babe image of choice. And a Mexican wave from us all!

BB

Rainy day blues, reds and roos

It's sometimes hard to drive around the roads here...

especially when I am in a bit of a hurry.

(And if you are up to speed at all, you'll know this is pretty much always!).

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You see, I have this hungry camera sitting beside me in the car, and well, there are distractions around me everywhere.

One day it's all dust and rich reds and azure skies and snowy clouds...

The next...

Muted hues, fleeting mirages of speckled silver,

soft-focus hills and rain-darkened wood...And then, when I get all fanciful and arty-farty and carried away with my own imagination... Mother Nature throws in a little something to make me sit back on my heels.

Like when I was heading home from town last week. I took the photos above as the rain dribbled over the windscreen and TLW snored gently in her carseat.

And then, when coming down the range towards Granite Glen, I met Old Man Roo...

This old guy is huge - a big Eastern Grey Kangaroo standing over six feet tall.

I have no idea how heavy he would be, but he would be formidable in a physical encounter.

After all, he is old. And he has survived.

He has seen droughts galore and the odd downpour.

He seems to have seen the odd fight or two, if that raggedy ear is anything to go by.

He is a little wary of me and my clicking black box, but doesn't flee. A younger roo would bound over the fence and high-tail it to the hills. But this old fella ducks under a wire and he cannot be bothered to half-hop, half-limp too far. His old joints are weary, and his bulk slow-moving in the soft misty rain.

He ponders me calmly, then turns slowly and shuffles away again...

I reluctantly pack my Nikon away again, glance at my watch and put the car into gear. And as we drive away, I know he will stop his shuffle and stare again.

Not at the blues or magentas or greens.

But at me, disappearing over the hill.

And for a moment, he will wondering what the bloody hell this particular queer human was up to! But then his flight of fancy will vanish. And he'll get on with the business of just staying alive.

Me? I'll wonder about him every time I drive by this stretch of road. And Ill probably be running late. Again.

Technology beats the dust: I dream of Jeanie

Some of you may have been wondering where the illustrious/notorious Jeanie has been over the past couple of days... well, folks, I have solved the mystery!

She has not been kidnapped and held for ransom... she is, in fact, here. Actually she is sitting on the couch beside me, blogging on her laptop as I am blogging on mine. The ultimate in sibling communication - SSB has given up on us both and 'hit the hay' (gone to bed, for you city-ites) as a pair. He thinks we are emailing each other!

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But really, I needed Jeanie here. Much more than V needed her (really!) or Eddie, or anyone! I needed her here for numerous reasons, not the least is the delights of her company (she will be rolling her eyes by this sentence). Among these fine and varied reasons for calling her from her sickbed to the bowels of the bush, is that I am doing battle with technology. And I don't mean just swearing when the internet connection fails (again!). Broadband satelite can bite my B*tt. Anyhoo, where was I? Oh yeah. Technology. Me. Fail. Call Sister. Jeanie.

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And like a knight (OK, princess!) on a white steed (OK white station wagon) she came!

And did a little bit of this...

And a little bit of that...

And shake it all around...

Anyone chicken dancing yet? Oh. I do get a bit easily distracted around computers... you may have noticed? I get distracted by things like this...

And this...

Now that IS distracting...

And so my poor Jeanie is knee-deep in Bush Babe bulldust (of the curly technological kind) as we attempt to sort cows (in reality and in the laptop) and get their danged progeny registered and performance recorded (blah, blah, blah!)...

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So I'm SORRY for stealing her... but you ain't getting her back properly til Monday at the earliest. I'm holding her hostage until the internet backs down, the programs currently revolting against me surrender, and all my poddies get their graduation certificates by email!

It's not too much to ask...

Yours Truly (Madly Deeply)

Bush Babe