Sydney to Armidale

The Queen Victoria Building mall, Sydney

QVB mall interior

    Only two more days to go and this amazing vacation will be over. It's so hard to believe because we have immersed ourselves in Australia -- so much so that when a man asked me yesterday where we were from, I answered "Australia" without thinking!
   Today we started off visiting a Koala Hospital. The stories about how these little guys happened to be wounded, sick, or hurt was heart-breaking. Apparently they are attacked by dogs frequently (they don't move at lightning speed), are hit by cars on the road, or are subject to a couple of major physical complaints: conjunctivitis at the top end and runny bottoms at the other end. One currently in the hospital had such bad burns on her feet that she will never be able to be released. Her home was burned by a bush fire, which is another threat to these animals. Anyway, it was fascinating and neat to once again see the animals up close.

At the Koala Hospital, Port Macquarie

   It rained fairly heavily off and on for most of the day as we traveled north heading to Brisbane along the Waterfall Highway and through the Gondwana Rain Forest,. We went through the Dorrigo, New England, and Guy Fawkes National Parks. We stopped to view waterfalls several times, as this is the area for them. Being in the rain forest during the rain was apropos. The fog was so heavy at times that I had to slow down to a crawl because I couldn't see oncoming cars.

Gondwana Rain Forest

Dorrigo - note wide streets, typical of many country towns

Dangar Falls near Dorrigo, 30m high

 

Driving in the clouds

Upper Ebor Falls, Guy Fawkes River N.P., 115m high

Lower Ebor Falls, 600m high

   We're staying tonight in Armidale, a beautiful town on the New England plateau with many lovely old buildings. It advertises itself as the highest city in Australia (at 1000 meters!!!). We turn the car in tomorrow evening in Brisbane, after adding over 4000 kilometers to its odometer (plus the 1200 we put on the camper in the Outback)! I'm ready for some limousine service!!!!
   There will probably only be one more post as we arrive in Brisbane tomorrow evening, then we have all day there to reorganize and repack, and we leave for the airport on Sunday morning. We'll be gaining a day on the trip back but will stay overnight in L.A. - we should be back in Flag on Tuesday.