Great Memories

Smart Family Vacations 

Months away from home living in 2 countries: 4
Rental cars: 4
Campervan:1
Motels: 11
Hostels: 2
Home exchanges: 3
baches: 3
Beds: 22

Smart Family Vacations

Kangaroos and Creepy Things

By Mary

During the rest of the trip we've seen more amazing animals.

We've seen Huntsman spiders (on the roof inside our car) and tiny spiders. Some look scary and some look harmless and usually it is the opposite-the big ones are harmless and the tiniest spiders are deadly. We found a strange spider with a web and the next day we came back and there was a cross that it created. It's called the St. Andrews Cross spider.

Leeches fell from the trees in the rainforest where they live. One got into our car and scared us. We took a dolphin cruise and luckily we saw Bottlenose dolphins. We got to swim with them in a net on the side of the sailboat.

We've seen kangaroos, bandicoots, parakeets kookburras and cockatiels.

Flying Fox

By Hannah

While walking through the forest, we suddenly looked up and there they were, thousands of huge Fruit Bats. We were told that on this trail we would see some bats, but we had no idea we would see hundreds of “Flying Foxes” with bodies the size of a cat and a 1 metre wing span!

We drove to a creek at sunset and hiked in to look for the bat colony. Hundreds of bats were hanging from branches, stretching, screeching and getting ready for their night adventure. It was fascinating to watch them wake up.

We walked back to the start and stood on a bridge waiting to see them take off. Eventually two left, then five more, and the number of bats kept growing until about 100 flew off the trees at the same time. It was like watching a horror movie, except these bats eat only fruit, which helps to pollinate plants and spread seeds. It was an amazing night and I would love to see them again.

Ocean Discovery

By Eric

Today we snorkeled at Fly Point in Nelson Bay. We saw Cuttle Fish, Sea Cucumbers, snappers and lots of fish. We even fed some of them! But the most exciting thing was when Dad, Hannah and I discovered this Green Sea Turtle! It was 3 metres down and eating kelp. We followed it and swam with it for a long time! It was about 1 metre long. It looked healthy but I could see a few barnacles on it. It felt like the movie “Finding Nemo” because we are heading to Sydney too. Luckily we have an underwater camera case and this is how we got these cool pictures and a movie.

Sea Turtle Hospital

By Mary

We went to the Shorebird Rescue Centre where there were sick and healing sea turtles. They had two kinds of sea turtles that had been rescued: Green and Hawksbill sea turtles. Most sea turtles get sick if they eat plastic bags because they mistake them for jellyfish. If they are sick their stomach fills with gas and they float up to the surface of the ocean. They get dehydrated from the sun and barnacles start to attach to the turtles. If they are not rescued they might die.

Sea Turtles dig holes in the sand to lay their eggs. Their eggs are soft so that when they fall into the hole they don't break. If the eggs are cool, they will hatch as boys. But if the eggs are very warm, they will hatch as girls.

When eggs hatch, the hatchlings wait until night to reach the ocean. They follow the reflection of the moon and the stars on the water. If there is any artificial light on the beach, the hatchlings will climb toward it and end up in people's pools and gardens and need to be rescued. Sea Turtles also get hit by boats, crack their shells and need to be rescued. Sea Turtles are endangered so please try to help keep the oceans clean.