My Trip to Australia, Part 5: The Great Outdoors

Kristen Aubut

During my stay in Australia, I got to spend a lot of time outdoors exploring my husband’s grandmother’s paddock, the woods behind her house, several national parks, country roads and zoos. During my exploration, I got to see some of Australia's unique plants and animals. From what I observed, protecting the country’s flora and fauna was high on Australia’s list of priorities. Here are some of the interesting things I saw while exploring.

We took a 4-wheel drive caravan through these national parks in New South Wales.




























































































This is a bathroom on the side of the road in one of the national parks. To decrease the disruption of wildlife and plants in the park by the running of sewer lines, this bathroom is built without any. Some of you outdoor explorers know what this means: a long pipe running from the toilet to a hole in the ground filled with bacteria to speed decay. Quite smelly I must say.


















While we walked through one of the national parks, we came upon a tree so large we could stand inside of it.


















When I think of Australia, I think of ghost gums. I love how the tree trunks glow because they are so intensely white. Ghost gums could be spotted all across the countryside.























Despite the many “Koala Crossing” signs on the sides of the roads, we never saw a koala out in the wild. But, we got to see these two cuddled up in the zoo.


















Kookaburras could be heard in the trees all around the house where we were staying. They have the laugh of a monkey, and, when they all get going at the same time, their noise can be deafening. Here is one perched on a log in the zoo.


















One of the animals Australia is known for is the dingo. They look just like a dog you may have as a pet. But, if you see one in the wild, I would not recommend trying to pet it.


















And, of course, Australia is known for kangaroos. We got to pet and feed them at the zoo.























This is just one of the many snakes we came upon during our stay. This one was sunbathing on the sidewalk.



















As we walked along the same sidewalk, we looked up, and going from a light pole to the tree just above our heads was an enormous spider web. There were dozens of huge spiders in it.


















Here is one of the sharks we saw while walking through a tunnel in the Sydney Zoo.