saturday 19th march

big touristy day. we set out about 10 this morning with the intention of visiting dinosaur world which also incorperates a reptile and bird park. all we knew was it was somewhere between denmark and walpole. after a brief stop in denmark for fuel, we were on our way again keeping a sharp lookout for tourist signs, saw some interesting sounding ones (particularly the chocolate lounge which bek and i have decided we will have to visit) but kept going until we found dinosaur world. we enjoyed the dinosaurs and the reptiles but the birds were the feature of the visit. there were a number roaming free, talking to the visitors, sitting on shoulders and generally being cute as well as quite a few caged birds of various species. robbie was in his element and once again a couple of birds thought i was a bit of all right too:

this guy kept saying "hello darling" very cute

this one was a bit partial to robbie

this guy was very friendly

until he decide he wanted a piece of me, bit me on the neck and on the finger, little sod.

it was pretty much lunch time by the time we had finished and once again we were in a place with no food, we seem to be good at that. we thought we would keep heading toward walpole in the search for food, we saw a sign for peaceful bay which said food so we decided to go down there, well all i can say is it was indeed peaceful, there was however no food to speak of, so a packet of chips each to keep the worms from biting and we continued on our way. we reached walpole before we found a meal, we were pretty hungry by this time so we pulled into the first cafe we saw (wooz and suz) which turned out to be quite good, certainly the lime swirl cheesecake was rather nice.

the tourist/information centre was just across the road so we went in there to see what might be about and after talking to the chap in there we headed back towards denmark armed with information on what to stop and see. we drove into coalmine beach and got out for a look to find a group of pelicans on the beach:

we were able to get quite close to them before they moved off down the beach, they were'nt very worried about us though as they only moved a few steps away before settling down again.
very close by was the hilltop lookout which had some beautiful views:

from there we moved on to see the tingle trees which was quite spectacular, particularly the large hollow ones which you could walk through:

we spent quite some time in and around these trees. from there we moved on to the circular pool, so named apparently because the water moves in a circular motion somewhat like a whirlpool, not that i could see that, maybe there needed to be more water running for this to be noticable:

this pair were having a frolic in the bottom pool

we really should have some sneakers in the car for rock scrambling as we always seem to be wearing thongs when it comes up.

time to head for home however robbie couldn't resist a photo opportunity when we spotted a paddock full of kangaroos:



after that it was definately time for home for a scratch dinner, weary but satisfied having had a lovely day.