Tuesday, October 28, 2014

Australia zoo

This zoo really broadened my view of Steve Irwin and his impact on conservation as a whole. This zoo that he opened does amazing things for animals all over the world. On top of the 100 acre zoo he has built a 5 million dollar animal hospital and rehabilitation center. His wife and kids now carry on his legacy on how important it is to save the wild life and more specifically not to be threatened by it (focusing mainly on alligator awarness)  and to bring awareness to all endangered animals. I was truely blown away with how much their family does for animal protection. They have started oganisstions to help save many different endangered species as well (like whales, Tigers, elephants etc)
The zoo it's self was pretty cool, in terms of the variety of animal species it's not huge. However they do have quite the mix of crocs and gators as well as snakes. In my opinion the best part about the zoo was being able to get close and personal with kangaroos. Food for them was $2, which is enough food for 2-3 people to get use from. The Kangaroos are super friendly and so cute and soft! I wanted to fake one with me.
They also offer options to interact with the animals, but it comes with a price. Jess and I paid $25 each to hold a koala and get our picture taken. It just seemed like a must, plus who can resist the cute, cuddly, furry things! 
We also attended 2 different shows while we were there. A bird and croc show and a tiger show, they were ok pretty neat. Here are some other pics from te zoo. 
We paid $95 total foreign he shuttle and entry to the park. It was a bit pricy if u ask me but our bus driver was pretty cool. He worked with Steve for 3 years and knew him pretty good. You could tell how much he loved him and is truely sad he is gone. He even adopted a tiger for $2000 to help save it. Pretty cool he gave us all the photo of him the tiger and Steve and his wife. He also showed us a nice little move made after steves death where his family and friends depict there favorite memories of Steve. He truely seemed like a great guy. 

At the zoo Jess donated $10 to good saving koalas and $5 to save tigers. I donated $5 to save tigers, she gets the golden sticker today for saving both. It was our good deed of the day. I would love to do more but need to wait till I have the money to do so. We also went to the animal hospital and paid a $2 donation to get a peak in te operating room. They have glass windows and information about saving the wild life all over. We saw a sea turtle getting surgery for something as well as a koala and a bird. It was pretty neat. 
Sad story though one of the plaques up talked about how people in Asia cut the fins off sharks and through there body's back in the ocean. They don't even kill them they let the Sharks die a slow painful death, all to sell the fins mainly for a shark fin soup! I can't believe people do that! So inhumaine! 
Being at the zoo made me sad I didn't go to school for marine biology like I always wanted to, but maybe I can run operations at a place similar haha who knows. Anyways the zoo was pretty cool and we had a fun day! 

Sunday, October 26, 2014

Byron YHA

Such a great hostel. It was so open and continued the vibe the whole town had. Also no one wears shoes even in the grocery store, bank ... It. Doesn't matter lol. 
James and Tim the 2 best friends, until James left te next day, but they were traveling for 7 weeks together. James made this great video of there trip with videos he took on his GoPro. I can't wait for him to send us the link. We went body boarding with them that day. So fun minus all the wind. It was so windy sand was blowing all over from the beach. The waves were also super crazy. But overal suh a great day.

Nimbin

This town is like no other! It's pretty much street of hippie shops and every few steps you get asked if you want weed or cookies. Such a hippy town, but pretty cool to experience. This is the tour bus we were on. The couple that owned it were great so friendly. They even brought there dog along for the ride.
we stopped at a market on our way to Nimbin, I wanted to buy everything!

Surf festival in Byron

We happened to catch this surf festival in Byron bay. It was amazing everyone was so chilled out and relaxed. 
I wish everyone lived life like this haha

Byron bay

We walked up by the light house, then down to this little inlet with water. It was so clear I couldn't resist but jumping in.

Thursday, October 23, 2014

Manly bay and opera house photos

We took a ferry over to manly bay. Which allowed us to get some great photos of the opera house and bridge. The ferry was $14 for there and back. So worth it, we even got to see whales in the harbor in the distance. I saw some splashing but also saw 2 really good views when the whale's nose came out of the water and then flipped it was pretty cool. I still wanna see more up close! It's whale season though which is awesome. Some guys told us how you can track the whales on the computer and see where they are. There is one whale they follow closely that's albino and this year has a calf with it! So amazing! When we were in front of the opera house we asked a couple to take a pic for us come to find out they were from Rochester more specifically pittsford! Haha they were leaving for a cruise in a few days. 

My artsy port hole pic.

Manly bay the water was so clear! 
Manly bay was very pretty we even ran into some people from Cleveland, such a small world.

Monday, October 20, 2014

Sydney

Sydney opera house day and night so beautiful. Just amazing to see it in person! 
Was an art show but the city liked it so much they kept it up permanently. It's called The Forgotten Song. When you walk through it softly plays the songs of birds that have been pushed out of Australia. It also has the bird species written in the stone walk way.
The rocks, the oldest part in all of australia it's where the first settlers arrived. The first settlers were all the convicts from Britain. The view was pretty here you can see the opera house in the distance.
Signs put up to save the local communities from the governement who wants to buy the houses and selling them to wealthy people who will renovate them.
On our walking tour today... Jess taking intense notes lol this is why her blog is better than mine haha
Different view of sydney at night
Asian noodle night
Market. So pretty and such great food.


Sunday, October 19, 2014

Melbourne!

Melbourne
Didgeridoo shop!! I wanna get one so bad! 
Great ocean road
Bird stop
Feeding the birds
Selfie
Koala in tree sleeping
At the 12 apostles 
It reminded me of the Goonies 
Could live at this spot
Forever!
Other great features of Melbourne
Rochester street
Loved this haha had to take a photo
Went to this great market the finders keeper market. I wanted to buy everything!
Balloons with confetti in them so cute
Plants in glass jars
Loved these cards
Coffee camper store? Pretty cool place to serve coffee. Loved the idea of it!
Melbourne, some gardens we walke through 
Not sure how she doesn't fall over... Plus she just bought another bag to add to this trifecta haha