Ribh's D'Coopage

[Ribh]

Bob, I now hate flying, but I don't fly American. Last four flights, well 3 and almost flights I had with them convinced me that I'm not going back.

Your assessment of visiting AUS is akin to visiting the states. Where to start and where to go. I've lost all hope of visiting AUS as I would need at least a year to see everything I wanted to.

I think I've shared before but my dad was a pilot & there were only 3 international airlines he would fly with. Probably non now. Money over maintenance & trust the public to be ignorant. It gives me the heebiejeebies.

What you need to do is plan a month or so for each state over 7 years ~ starting with us of course. We now have 2 international airports, one @ each end of the state so what you do is fly in @ one end, travel through the state seeing what you want to see & fly out the other end.

 

[LozzyR]

@CrazyChookChookLady : I'm going to answer your comment here rather than on MJ's thread because if I'm going to rabbit on I'd best do it on my own thread. I'm going to state a couple of obvious points first because I have heard of tourists who expected to do The Sydney Opera House, The Great Barrier Reef & Uluru all in the same day so: Australia is BIG. John & I used to laugh in Europe about how many countries we'd been through in one day! I think our biggest day was about 6. That doesn't happen here.

In winter it snows in some places [some places it's been known to do that in summer] so depending on what you want to see you need to plan your time & whether you are going to do your travelling by car, train or plane. That will decide where a lot of your money goes & how long you can stay.

That all said I am going to assume you want to see the country, not do the culture vulture shuffle. Because we are so big every state is different & has a different climate. MJ lives on the edge of a desert. You get some of our big wineries there & the Great Ocean Road hugs the coastline of Victoria, next door. If you want to experience the outback some of the biggest & most isolated properties do take tourists. You'd have to ask your tourist guide but some of the properties are absolutely incredible. Our beaches are incredible but they are all dangerous. I can't emphasise that enough because every year tourists drown because they've never heard of rips & just go in anywhere. In summer the big beaches are all patrolled by life guards who put up flags to mark the safest areas & post about the conditions. We have one deadly species of octopus & some nasty jellyfish type things so check before heading into the water anywhere.

Then there is Queensland. We are a very cool state. We have the Great Barrier Reef up north & the hinterland has amazing walks, spectacular waterfalls & birdlife you won't see anywhere else like the cassowary. We have the largest sand island in the world, Fraser, & some big & amazing national parks. We go all the way from monsoonal tropical up north to a more temperate climate on the border. We have Steve Irwin's zoo [expensive but worth it I'm told ~ I've never been] & some lovely touristy places like Maleny [they have a cuckoo clock shop ~ sorry, I'm a big kid @ heart]. You really need months rather than days or weeks to even begin to see this country because everywhere is just so different & the distances are huge. I've barely scratched the surface & have no real idea of the sort of thing you'd really like to see. Just driving out west you're likely to see kangaroos & emus & of course if we all want to try & meet up...oh.my.

...and that’s so much more detailed than my list of cities! Ribh’s right though; there is heaps to do and see and some will depend on the time of year you come. Still check out the Lonely Planet website, we loved our LP books travelling through Europe.

 

[BY Bob]

A regular environmental hazard then.

I have been called that.

 

[BY Bob]

Alpia, Aoife & Wrold.
The new girls are all grooming & sun/dust bathing. Aoife was the only new girl to roost on the top bar last night & she wasn't moving for anybody. As she's quite lowly ranked I was surprised but she'd managed to wedge herself between Lottie & Ha'penny. Good choice if you're a Campine & want to stay where you are.
View attachment 2032269
My big girls don't seemed stressed by the change.
I had a senior moment this morning & left the run open. Everyone was out & heading down the path to the vegetable garden!

And then there are the eggs. Beatha & Mhari have laid consistently every day. Still has novelty value round here.

View attachment 2032280​

Beautiful assortment of wonderful colored eggs.

 

[BY Bob]

"I'm telling you, he's got walnuts!"
View attachment 2032284

YOU SHALL NOT PASS!!!

Without paying the walnut toll of course.

 

[BY Bob]

I had been waiting for this for a while.
View attachment 2032261
Looks a lot better than yesterday. Not quite there yet.
View attachment 2032262

Now you don't get many post like this.

That has to definately be an improvement over what you described.

 

[Ribh]

I had put my big girls back in the coop & fed both lots before heading back inside where I said to the man: Do you hear that? The sound of silence.

I looked out the window.

All the Littlies were in the sandpit dust bathing frantically. The Bigs were snuggled in the leaf litter soaking up the last of the sun. It was very peaceful.
Roosting is still a little fraught as everyone jockeys for position but we are getting there.

Morrigu & Mebh.​

 

[Shadrach]

Alpia, Aoife & Wrold.
The new girls are all grooming & sun/dust bathing. Aoife was the only new girl to roost on the top bar last night & she wasn't moving for anybody. As she's quite lowly ranked I was surprised but she'd managed to wedge herself between Lottie & Ha'penny. Good choice if you're a Campine & want to stay where you are.
View attachment 2032269
My big girls don't seemed stressed by the change.
I had a senior moment this morning & left the run open. Everyone was out & heading down the path to the vegetable garden!

And then there are the eggs. Beatha & Mhari have laid consistently every day. Still has novelty value round here.

View attachment 2032280​

I do like the look of your Campines Ribh. Need lots more pictures.

 

[Ribh]

I do like the look of your Campines Ribh. Need lots more pictures.

They are the hardest to photograph of course. If I can catch them they can be handled though so I have high hopes of them settling soon. They aren't quite the screamers Tuppence & Ha'penny were when they arrived & they are nowhere near Ha'penny's size yet. While she wasn't quite game to eat from my hand Beatha [Araucana] did eat from the small tub I was holding this afternoon. Another small step in keeping everything as calm as possible & ensuring everyone gets enough to eat.

 

[rjohns39]

Good evening folks