Day 76

Second day on North Stradbroke Island we ventured out of Amity over to Point Lookout.  There was a sketchy bus system that picked us up, a little 20-person unmarked bus that pulls over when you flag it.  The driver was really nice and dropped us off in the middle of nowhere to wait for another bus, which was normal sized with a really cranky driver.  But we made it to Point Lookout, and it was worth it.

I have seen a lot of nice beaches, and this is definitely near the top of the list.

Our view from the top.

We sat there for a while looking for whales, taking turns with my camera and the binoculars to look for them.  We saw quite a few of them!

Looking for whales!  And yes, that's a dropoff onto rocks about three feet ahead of me.

It's a lot steeper than it looks here!

Looking for whales.

Humpback whale!

After whale-watching we walked over to another lovely viewpoint, just a few hundred metres away.

There's people fishing down there.

It was gorgeous but I don't think I'd want to go swimming here.  Mostly because there's no way out.

Sure was beautiful though!  And the water was crystal clear!

My beautiful mama!

We had to leave Point Lookout by about 3pm, since that was when the last bus ran.  I don't know what kind of bus service ends at 3pm, but hey, whatever.  We took the bus back and went hunting for more wild koalas.  We got lucky and found a mama and baby!

We also found another pair of koalas:

And of course, we found a lot of other good wildlife too.  And by 'wildlife' I mean jumping spiders, which are by far the most adorable of all the spiders.

This spider is lime green!  How cool is that?

Okay, so this one isn't totally adorable.  He's kinda cute though, right?

This little guy was quite the model.

It's cute!  You know it is.

C'mon, look at that face.

Look at it closer.  It's adorable, admit it!

And there was more!

"Help!  I'm drowning!"  (This is a rubber floor mat, actually.)

My obligatory artsy insect photo.  C'mon, he's cool.  Beetles are great because they're big and harmless!

It's an osprey!

I figured out what this guy is: a white-bellied sea eagle!

No idea what kind of bird this is, but they were everywhere on the island.

This is a Little Wattlebird.  Yep, real name.

He looks a bit... intimidating.

That wraps it up for North Stradbroke Island!  Next up is Far North Queensland.

And for those who have had difficulty posting comments, it should be cake now.  When you are typing your comment, there is a little box below that says "Comment as:" with a dropbox next to it.  From the dropbox you can select your google account if you have one, OR you can write your name with the "Name/URL" option (you can leave the URL part blank), or you can comment anonymously.  If you choose to post anonymously or with the name/url option, you will have to do the CAPTCHA thing--but everyone should have a google account anyway!  So no more griping about how hard it is, got it?  :)

Cheers,
Ashton

P.S.  Don't forgot to scroll down for photos of baby dolphins!