Roos and the Wobblies

Day 38/63

We spent Monday by driving to Hillsville, where Tomlins family members have a big following. We also got to see the retired grandparents’ huge new place there – they moved from England this spring and were looking at downsizing… This however, is not the ozzie way, they got a huge four bedroom villa for their investment. The elder Tomlins seem very happy about their turn of life and move to Australia – they certainly don’t seem to miss Europe at all. That’s what’s going on with everyone we’ve met that have immigrated to Australia. They never want to leave and claim that they miss nothing of the poor weather Europe. There is a thought. So if you ever heard someone describe Australia as the promise land – they were not pulling your leg, mate.

We drove mainly to Hillsville to visit an animal sanctuary called ‘Healesville’, where they have got roos and other wobblies in very natural conditions. We saw a Koala dining with her youngling on her back, which apparently is very rare. The Kangaroos were a bit lazy and just slackering around, until it was food time and suddenly they were very active. We could touch them as well… Feels like a dog’s fur, for your information.

We also scouted the Tasmanian devils, which really look like small angry, black things, something like a cat, but fat. Like a mopsi, but evil. We saw iguanas, but the wombats were asleep. Echidna how ever were quite active and so was the cutest thing there: the Platypus. So many animals that I had never seen for real…

My time in Australia has been very well spent, I feel. It was weird to be in a country again, where you understand the language, where people understand what you are saying… And the culture feels somewhat familiar. Of course there would have been so much more to see, I’d love to see Uluru and Tasmania, so definitely, I’ll be back some day. When it was time to say goodbye to the Yimmlies, we were all quite sad. Ten days goes much faster than you think. Time to move on, see other continents and other adventures.

When you are travelling around the world, it’s not only your body that needs to adjust into the constant change – the mind is even slower adjuster. But I suppose that’s a good thing. These days will not escape my thoughts for many years to come, I’m sure.