• North of Cairns is magical. It has tropical beaches, rainforests, animals, the Great Barrier Reef…and the people are relaxed as anything.
• Daintree is a really accessible rainforest. Looks like there are a lot of hikes (we did none because beach!) and waterfalls and animals and stuff
• We did find a 5m croc in the river, but only one
• I don’t really know why I love Wujal Wujal so much, except that it is a large waterfall, set in the rainforest, hard to get to, no one is there, the surroundings are awesome, even when it flowing “lightly” it’s a good looking waterfall, the pool is giant (and dangerous), you can climb up to it or not, and it is incredibly peaceful as well. In another 12 years I’ll say hello again.
• Kangaroo Island’s koala population was cut from 30,000 to something like 13,000, which I think made finding them a lot harder. [Ed. note: This is because the koalas on the mainland got the clap and they have been shipping healthy Kangaroo Island koalas over there…cannot make this up.]
• That island though, at night, oh man – drive slow, keep your eyes peeled, go hiking around dusk, and every animal except a platypus will be out to play everywhere you look.
• The Great Ocean Road is one of the highest-rate scenic roads in the entire world for a reason.
• I’m glad we took our time on it, because it allowed for dirt road driving through the rainforest for an entire morning.
• The only animal, besides a platypus, that I didn’t see in the wild was a wombat. But the area all around Kusciuszko has lots of wombat signs (and some roadkill wombats, sadly), so I know they’re out there…
• We were driving along the road up there, and boom. Emus. Just chilling. Who sees wild emus eating on the side of the road? This guy. Combine that with the cassowary She found us, and the ostriches we saw in Africa a few years ago, and we’re doing well finding wild Struthioiformes [Ed. Note: Fancy name for big, weird birds I assume?] (kiwis and rheas are all that’s left to find!)
• Pebbly Beach has kangaroos. On the beach. They live in the forest and come out at dusk. And they have no problem being cuddled and petted as they munch on some greenery. Cuddly kangaroos on the beach.

 

Photos – because after three weeks in a country…

And where we’ve been so far around the world…

And all the stops!