where I've been

I may have to bail on this blog. Not sure it it's my computer, my connection or my willingness to figure out how to do this easily. I keep trying to upload pictures and write and generally something goes wrong so it all goes away. Since I'm internet service is pricey and I'm usually doing this in the evening after a full day, I get frustrated. So at any rate, what have I been up to?

I just finished a whirlwind tour of The Great Ocean Road and The Grampians National Park. I took a fun helicopter ride around the 12 Apostles, which you might know if you watch the Australian Open as I do. The Pinnacles in the Grampians is a hike that my legs will remember for a long time. It wasn't too long, just lots of rocks to climb up and jump down off of. The titanium rod in my leg was not happy about it.

Couldn't quite resist being a Koala for a minute, or actually holding a koala named Bilbo that I was holding. That happened at a "wildlife park" which I didn't really like because it had too small of cages for some of the birds and they also pick some animals to be handled by people, so visitors can have pictures taken. I did succumb to the picture taking, though not with the baby kangaroo who seemed to be only a few months old. And since these are wild animals and sometimes don't take to the taming then you end up with the wallabee that I met on a path and it proceeded to kick at me and get me more than once with his clawed feet. It was not good. The rest of the tour was fun, most of the people were mid-twenties and I treid not to feel too old. 17 of us with people from China, Singapore, Japan, Argentina, England, Finland, Germany, France. Last night after most people were in bed and most of the alcohol had been drunk, some of us had to wander through the small town to see if we could find any kangaroos. Success! 2 of them were hopping down the main street in town, apparently looking for some good grub. We got within a few feet and they didn't seem to mind having 5 rather drunk people creep up on them, food was much more important. May try to get a few more pictures up tomorrow.