Sunday, April 19, 2009

Crikey! It's Easter Break!!!

For this last week Kat, Elyse, and I took off for a road trip up the coast. After making a huge Easter brunch for ourselves, we headed to Byron Bay for their world famous blues festival. We got to listen to the likes of the Drive By Truckers, Blues Travelers, and James Hunter, among many others. We barely caught a glimpse of John Butler but since he's such a hit in Oz his stage was flooded and we found ourselves out in the pasture straining to see and hear his show. But he plays around here a lot so we're just going to go see him again sometime!

After the blues fest we went north to Brisbane and visited Steve Irwin's Australia Zoo. In the US we mostly know Steve Irwin as the crazy Crocodile Hunter on TV but here in Australia also known as a great conservationist and the zoo that he created helps keep up his legacy of conservationism. But it also makes for one amazing experience! The zoo has Koalas, Wombats, Emus, Kangaroos, Echidnas, and all sorts of snakes, lizards, crocodiles and birds of Australia. And unlike most zoos I've been to these animals are active and some are interactive. We actually were able pet Koalas and Wombats and got to feed Kangaroos and Wallabys right out of our hands!!! I can honestly say that this likely the most fun zoo that I've ever been to - and since I love zoos that's saying a lot!

Following a brief stop in the hippie town of Nimbin we headed back down to Byron Bay again for some post-festival relaxation. Byron has an amazing beach that stretches out of sight on the horizon and the town itself is full of shops and great food stalls. It's the quintessential beach vacation town which is what makes it so likable. It also helps that the weather was perfect :)

I apologize that the photos are so heavy with zoo pictures but there's two good reasons: first, I like animals; second, my battery ran out and I wasn't able to charge it up again!

Easter Break