last day at the wetlands!!! :(

hello people,
Well as usual we woke up this morning and started to pack to leave. It was kind of sad though because we really didn't want to leave this place so soon. We decided to make the most of it and packed as fast as we could so we could get out the door! We were out the hotel at around 8:30am !!!! early huh!? Anyway we practically ran down to the wetlands and to our surprise the people that ran the place remembered us from yesterday!!!
We went inside as fast as we could and being smart came to a conclusion that we should have breakfast so that we could stay out in the wilderness for longer!!! We scoffed sown our breakfast and we were outside in a flash!
It was a relief to finally breath the fresh air and peace in that I think we just stood there for about 10mins gathering it up!!! Then we away and walking. We thought it would be smart to miss the fishing to day and went straight to looking for our favourite animals in this beautiful place. I was the first to spot mine, well one of mine, which was the honeyeater. And I sat there and watched this pretty bird do it's stuff!!! Pheobe was pushy so we didn't stay as long as I would have wanted but we were soon walking again and Pheobe gazed in the pond/lake for I don't know how long, gazing at the fish swim by. At times she would jump up and point out a fish that she recalled to be massive, they were usually only about 10-15cm long so obvioulsy she had never cooked fish!!!
We walked around admiring for ages and when Pheobe finally looked at the time, it was 12pm. We had to catch the plane by 2:30 so we were running back to the hotel before you could think any wiser! We suprisingly reached the hotel at a record of only 15mins, we could run when we wanted.(Joey look out I will smash you in the next race of ours!) We grabbed our stuff and caught a cab to the Sydney airport, arriving there at around 2pm, once again we were late. We grabbed a coffee and some lunch and ran through customs.
We were on the plane just in time. We had seated ourselves and about 5mins after we were on the move heading to King George island where we would then go to Antarctica!
So I will talk to you soon but the air hostess said to turn off my laptop, so cya at Antarctica!!!
Mon xo

The Hunter Wetlands(really this time!!!)

Hey people,

Well we woke up at 8am this morning so the early night did the trick. We took about 30 mins top pack up our stuff because we didn't have much to pack away because we didn't stay long. You never guess what happened though, while we were packing Phoebe brought up the topic of Bob. Do you remember, the rat? Anyway, I just ummed and ahhh when needed and then thought it was time to tell the truth. I told her everything and she wasn't very happy but said he should come back!

We called the cab once we had, again, found reception and then we were away from the lodge and heading to the Hunter Wetlands by 9am.We arrived at the hotel we were in at about 10am and we were walking distance from the wetlands. We decided to go out and have some breakfast because we hadn't had any yet.Once we had had breaky we headed to the Wetlands and it was about 11am by then.

The Wetland scenery was incredible. It was so peaceful and we were very, very relaxed. We decided to go fishing first and we caught lots of tiny fish that were very colourful. We tried terribly hard not to kill them but I accidently slipped on the wood and stepped on one. Phoebe thought I was scared and did it on purpose, as if!!! I swear I didn't!!!

Once we had done enough fishing we went for an hours walk around the park. It was stunning and we couldn't believe all the different species of birds there. The wetland has over 213 bird species living there. There is 72 typical wetland birds some such as geese, ducks etc. Them there are 67 water birds and 9 migratory species. Some of my personal favourites were the honeyeaters and cuckoos. There were so interesting to watch. The mammals were also very cute, including foxes, different rabbits and also mice, rats and bats. (the bats we didn't see though because they are nocternal) My favourite was the banidicoot. They were so cute!!! They were little brown mice like things, with long tails and brown fur. They were about 3 times the size of a mouse really but their features were alot the same. They also have massive ears!!! There was also different species of frogs, reptiles and plants. Oh we also saw a really big snake and it scared the heck out of Phoebes and I!!!

After the walk we were rather warm so decided to go canooing. Neither Phoebe or myself had been cannooing in our lives and we were kind of nervous, but once we were out there we soon picked up the hang of it and had so much fun. We nearly capsized at one point!Once we were off the water we were very hungry and decided to get luch at the cafe Nourish which was surrounded by bush and the birds kept flying by so gracefully. We could have stayed there forever. Lunch was very nice but extremely expensive!!! It cost more than our stay at our hotel for one night!!!

Once we had had our luch it was about 5pm so we decided to head home, well to the hotel!!!We were really tired and fell to sleep without dinner at about 7pm.

I think we are going to go for another walk at the wetlands tommorow before we head to Antarctica!!!!

Oh my gosh I can't wait to go see the seals in antartica, they are my favourite!!!

Bye for now

mon xo

P.S. here are some pics of the wetlands!

NSW!!!

Hey people!!!,

Sorry about the title of our last post, I got confused!!!!

Anyway Pheob's and I had packed last night so we were ready to leave in the morning. We had to check out at 10 am so it wasn't so bad. We slept in until 9am and then got up to check that we hadn't forgot to pack anything the previous night. (which we should have checked twice but I will tell you about that later!!!) Anyway once Pheobe was sure (not!!!) that she had collected everything we were out the door and into town for 1 more breaky in Townsville.

We arrived back at the hotel to collect our belongings at about 9:55!!! We were running a bit late. Anyway we collected our things and headed in a cab to the Townsville airport. Our flight was leaving at 12pm we ariived at the airport at about 11am. So we didn't have time to look around but of course we picked up one more coffee and headed through customs.

The flight was peaceful and I slept most of the way only to be woken by Pheobe yelling at me about some strange thing. I calmly told her to settle down and tell me what happened. She said she had left the fluffy toy Nemo she got from the boat warf in Townsville, at the hotel along with her new hat from a very expensive shop in there too!!! I was trying to be very sympathetic but it was pretty funny because everyone was staring at her, so I struggled not to laugh but she realised I was and she got pretty angry with me!!!

Anyway once we departed the flight we were at the Sydney airport. It was very big and crowded so once we had our luggage we were soon outside and into a cab heading to Watagon Lodge where we were staying for the 4 days we had in NSW. Pheobe said that the lodge was a 5 star hotel and it was very exciting. I started to get very excited as we drove through the city, but we never ended up stopping in the city and we headed into the bush!!! That was when Pheobe was excited and I was starting to dred this trip after all!!!Pheobe started to jump up and down in the seat. Then we arrived at the lodge. I thought I was going to faint! It was a run down place that was made out of rotten wood and looked kind of scary. We got our luggage out of the cab and headed over to the lodge. Pheobe was extatic yet I was, well quite the opposite. So, we went inside and put our bags down and suprisingly it was kind of cute and cosy. There was a little fire in the corner and it looked like it would certainately keep us warm!!! The floor and walls were made from wood and smelt really great!! Then the beds were probably the downside being bunkbeds with a leather matress but we would only be spending 1 night in it and then we would be heading down to the Hunter Wetlands. Over all it was definately not a 5 star hotel(pheobe got that mixed up with 5 kms in the bush!!)but it was cute and Pheobe was happy so I'm sure I will survive!

The day quikly passed into night and got darker sooner because we were under all the trees. We had been for a walk recently, it wasn't masive but very peaceful. We found a river on the walk and we put our feat in but the water was freezing so we decided not to go in. The walk lasted about an hour and a half and we had collected some extra wood for the fire on the way back.

Once we were back in the lodge we started the fire and that was when we realised that we had no food!!! Pheobe and I went into a rush of panic and decided to order pizza. One problem with that though was we struggled to get reception so had to move around all over the site to eventually find some.

The pizzas arrived at around 7:30pm so not to late and Pheobe and I had time to settle down and use the coffee, tea, hot chocolate and biscuits that were here. So we weren't near to starving as Pheobe stated we would! The pizzas were nice and warm when they arrived and we ate them with no hesitation.

Then we decided and early night would do us good and so we are going to bed in about half an hour which will be helpful so we can head down to the wetlands early tommorow.

So I guess I will see you tommorow with the news of the wetlands. Here is a picture of our lodge so see what I mean by cute and very cosy.

Cya tommorow

Mon xo

The Hunter Wetlands

Hey it's Monica here,

Well Pheobe and I enjoyed our last day at Townsville. We had had so much fun shopping together and also enjoying all the different foods and experiences. And don't worry Chandler, Rach , Joey and Ross we did get some souviners from here!!! The beach was also incredible but the waves were incredibly big which made Pheobe and I hesitate at first site but soon collected our barings and dived in. While we had our swim we also sited dolphins and some penguins which the lifeguards said were 'fairy penguins'. ( Pheobe and I freaked when we saw the fins of the dolphins because we thought they were sharks fins. Without taking a second glance, which she probably should have!!!, Pheobe was out of the water in a flash and reported to the lifeguard that she had seen a shark. Imbarresingly, she was corrected that they were dolphins and she was back in the water in a flash!!!)

Anyway we had a brill time on Townsville and the coffees we had (a lot!!!) were brill. (Don't worry Gunther they are not as good as yours!!!)

Can't wait to go down to NSW tomorrow!!! According to Pheob's we are going to a place called the Hunter Wetland area. Hoping Pheobe hasn't got the map wrong because this was the one she insisted she do!!! So I am a tad concered about that but her enthusiasm is pleasing atleast!

Anyway I will talk to you when we are in NSW!! Here are some more pictures of Townsville to show you. Sorry we are in none of them but how burnt we had become over the last few days was embarrassing!

Bye for now,

Monica xo

Pictures and maps of Great Barrier Reef

Hey,
Well we woke up at 9am this morning and it is about 30 degrees already! We had our showers, got dressed and headed out onto the streets of Townsville for Breakfast. We both had the 'big breaky' it was amazing! So different to American Hot Breakfasts. Chandler, Rach, Joey and Ross you are missing out on so much!Anyway, once we had had breaky we went back to the hotel and got prepared to go to the Great Barrier Reef!

We left for the bus to the Boat Ramp at about 10:30am and we arrived there at around 11:30am. We then caught a sailing boat across to the Reef and were immediately stunned by the dense loads of coral, fish and different colours we saw below and around us and the boat. Pheobe forced me into booking a snorkeling class that morning so we got changed in to our swimmers and were taken into the water. Suprisingly the water was so warm and clear. We swam in the reef for about 2hrs!!! It was amazing. In the water in was so calm and relaxing, I swear I nearly fell asleep! In was also very quiet vthe only thing I could really here was Pheobe going crazy over things she had seen!!! I think my favourite fish was the Clown Fish. What an awesome name, huh? Anyway, it was orange and black and it loved the sea Annenomeas. Man, that was hard to spell!! And tehy were quite small and the tour guide said they had made a cartoon movie call 'Finding Nemo'. Which has Clown Fish in it. I so want to see it!!! The tour guide started to tell us about how some humans keep poluting the reef and are slowy destroying it!!! I was appauled and Pheobe started crying! But then they told us about an organisation that helps it so we were happy then!
In the rush to get in the water Pheobe forgot to put on sunscreen and is now very burnt and I am a little bit but definately not as much as Pheobe!
Once we were out and dressed we then caught the boat back to the boat ramp and then we caught the bus back to our hotel. We had a brilliant day and experience at the Great Barrier Reef.When we got back to Townsville we went shopping and had dinner out at a fancy resturant! YAY!!!
Anyway cya tomorrowMonica