My New Lens! :)

So it was my birthday almost 3 weeks ago, and I was spoilt rotten. But it didn't stop there. My lovely family topped it off with a brand new lens that I received today- and I don't think I'll ever be able to use any of my other lenses again- I'm totally hooked! And just in time for a beautiful Maternity Shoot this weekend- hoping that the rain holds off! Thank you my wonderful Family! :) 

Australia Zoo Part III: Birds of a Feather

Ha, I said I was going to drag this out didn't I? So here is part 3 of our Aussie Zoo adventure- the Birds! I have to say that my favourite bird was definitely the Andean Condor that they brought out during the wildlife show- he was huge- and he was still a juvenile! You see them on Discovery channel doing that kind of hop/jump when they're heading over to a carcass- but it was amazing to see this huge bird bounding around in person! There's a rain forest bird avery that you can walk through with heaps of birds bomb diving you as you walk through, which JBV got a kick out of! Then we came across the "Birds of Prey" exhibit. We couldn't see anything in there! JBV wanted to go in, and wouldn't listen to me when I was trying to tell him that this wasn't like the rain forest avery- you couldn't walk through it! And he was a bit skeptical when one of the workers told him the same thing, adding that it wouldn't be wise to go in there with these meat eating birds anyway! But as we were walking away-  a wedge tail eagle came bounding out of the scrub. This thing was so huge, and didn't seem like it could fly! But JBV quickly changed his mind about wanting to go in with these birds!

Australia Zoo Part 1
Australia Zoo Part II: Where Crocs Rule! (and lizards too!!)

And check out my Flickr Page for these photos and more in high quality

 Andean Condor

 Wedge Tailed Eagle

 Australian Darter - Shag

 Red-tailed Black Cockatoo

Blue and Gold Macaw 

 Juvenile Scrub Turkey

 Bush Stone-Curlew

 Cassowary

 White Egret- This guy is actually just a wild bird that hangs around during the croc shows to pick up the bits of food the croc misses!

Emu

Australia Zoo- Part 1!

I have been just so exhausted with work, that I'm finding it hard to get through these photos, so I'm going to post them in a couple of batches! But let me start at the beginning...!!

Australia Zoo has never really interested me. We've done it a couple of times a few years ago- and I've never thought much about going back. But you gotta keep the kids happy! And they'd been bugging me for ages! Plus the Zoo has a special at the moment- prove you're a local and you'll get unlimited entry until Nov 30 with the ticket. So we did it. I had a day off last week, so we packed the kids up in the car and headed off bright and early- they didn't have a clue where we going! Master J was cracking the poops because he was going to be late for school (I wonder how long that will last...!). As we were driving down the highway he saw a sign advertising Australia Zoo, and continued to bug me about wanting to go there- just as he does every time we pass the sign! But their faces when we pulled up in the car park- as they say- PRICELESS!
To be Continued.....
Check out my FLICKR

Photos are in NO particular order- just posted as I Process!

Wallaby

 Echidna

 Saltwater Crocodile

 Saltwater Crocodile's tail.... 

 White Egret

 Red Roos

Another Kangaroo



A goat!

Rhinoceros Iguana



Andean Condor (vulture)

Before the Rain

Today was the first day of my 3 day weekend. And its cold, wet and miserable! Just last week, it may have been bloody freezing at night, but the day in the sun was beautiful. So since there wasn't much else to do, I went through and found some photos from our fishing expedition last week! A bit of a mixed bag, from fish to birds to grass! :)

As always, don't forget to check out all my photos HERE!



Gympie Duck Ponds

Here they are, as promised! Lol. After our trip to check out the rock pools, we headed home through Gympie so we could stop to feed the ducks. This is something I used to do with Granny and Poppy when I was a little girl! We would make a day out of it, and it was always an exciting trip!! So we took some old rolls and bread with us, and the kids loved it. There were all sorts of ducks, swans, geese, water hens, ibis and corellas. There was even a nest of eggs, as well as a very quick fly through from a stunning blue kingfisher (which I of course missed with the camera!) So I think I may have gone a little bird crazy with my photos anyway! Once we'd finished feeding the birds, the kids spent some time on the new awesome park they have recently opened there! We even briefly caught up with an old friend there. It was a great way to end a great day with the family!
Photos in better quality HERE