Did you know that a Koala had two thumbs, or that a wombats pooh was square....?

.... No? Neither did we until today! Yesterday we sat and had a look through the mountains of tourist information leaflets we seem to have acquired since being here in search of something to do today. We found a leaflet advertising trips to see dolphins in Jervis Bay with a company called Surf Kangaroo which
Sounded pretty interesting so we thought we would give that a go.

So we called and booked it yesterday and were told to be outside the central hostel at 7:30 am this morning.... Now I have to say the thought of being up at
Such a time on a Saturday did not fill me with pleasure, but never the less we made it in time for our guide for the day, Steve to pick us up in his bus.

From the very start I have to say that Steve was absolutely brilliant. He had us smiling and laughing the entire day and was an absolute mine of information that admittedly I will probably never need (unless I start taking part in Ozzie pub quizzes), although it was interesting all the same.

The day started out with a trip to Simbijo Wildlife Park, where we got to meet a Koala close up. The handler brought it out and let you stroke it and stand with it, although apparently it's illegal for you to hold one in NSW unless you have been on the course.... weird!





Next stop was Kiama to see the blowhole - basically a hole in the rock where the tide comes in that causes water to spurt into the air if the waves are big enough when they crash into the coast. It was a nice area and the blow hole was pretty cool too, but we soon had to move on.









Next was Berry, a historic town local to the area. Here you got the chance to have a wander round and do a bit of shopping if you wanted too. Had a look in the window of an estate agents to see how local prices compared with home, and although they were a bit higher than Belper costs in the main they weren't too unreasonable.

Back on the bus we went and on to Jervis Bay. Steve was telling us that when Captain Cook originally landed he had mistakenly marked Jervis Bay as a swamp land area. It was thanks to his mistake that Jervis Bay is still home to the local population of around 70 dolphins that live in the area. Apparently the area is very rich in a particular kind of sea weed which keeps the water very fresh, which allows certain kinds of bacteria to grow. This attracts larger creatures which eat these bacteria, which in turn attracts larger and larger predators until you reach the dolphins. Many of the other bays nearer Sydney no longer have this sea weed because of boats anchoring, and people fishing with nets, or dragging channels out the bays so that larger and larger ships can get in.

Eventually the Ozzie government came to realise the damage they were causing and how important Jervis Bay had now become and designated it as a protected area so that the naturally occurring sea weed won't be disturbed and therefore not upsetting the balance of the eco system.

We arrived in Jervis bay just in time for a picnic lunch and a quick wander down the white sandy beaches, before heading off on the boat. It was a very beautiful area I have to say.



We got on the boat out into Jervis bay and for the first hour things were looking pretty bleak in terms of seeing the dolphins. Eventually a group of 7 or 8 dolphins showed up around the boat including a mother and her young one. They were fantastic to watch, but I have to say that trying to get a good photo of a dolphin on a boat loaded with other people all trying to do the same thing is far from easy! Needless to say we failed miserably, and for this trip at least flipper and friends will have to remain the one that got away.






Back on the bus, this time heading for Kangaroo Valley to see if we could spot some other wildlife. One thing that really shocked me was just how green everything looks outside of the city. I remember being in Oz about 13 or 14 years ago and just how dry and brown everything was outside of the cities.
Apparently there have been a few good rain falls around Sydney this year which is the reason things are looking so nice.

We arrived in Kangaroo valley and managed to not only spot Kangaroos, but Wallabies, wombats, kookaburras’ and some other beautifully coloured birds all within the space of about 15 minutes.




Back to the bus we went again, for our final stop of the day Fitzroy falls. Unfortunately by the time we made it to the falls the light had almost gone (due to the boat being late back in and putting us behind schedule), but the last glimpses of the sun setting over the valley still looked pretty impressive as you can see.






Finally we made the trip back into the city, getting back for about 8pm. We must have driven around 400km in total that day, but I have to say that it didn't feel anything like that much due to the way the trip was arranged and in particular the quality of the guide. It makes a nice change to come across someone doing that sort of job that is so enthusiastic about what they do and that managed to make it such an enjoyable day all round. Would thoroughly recommend it to anyone!

I think on that note I've said quite enough so I shall leave it with our resident food and drink correspondent to fill you in on the evening activities.