Day 7 - Warning there may be some cuddling!!!

Hello you lovely people, I hope this finds you well.  It finds me on top of a cliff in a campervan, with the wind and ocean roaring and V gently snoring on the bed behind me as I wait for the sun to arrive from you up there to us down here, in a beautiful little town called Robe. It is now Sunday morning here, day 9 of our big adventure and I am trying to catch up with the blogging!!  So lets see if my brain serves me as well as my brain and I can recall the events of day 7 which indeed did involve some cuddling....

We were heading off into the beautiful hills surrounding Adelaide once again to visit a gorgeous little wildlife park that Jenn took me to in March, and that I fell in love with instantly - The Gorge. We would have the pleasure of 3 of the Hutsons for the day, so we rose early (which is always a feat for V, not really a morning person and come to think of it, he has no trouble falling asleep at night either....) got ourselves together and headed out in the even more glorious sunshine that was far more befitting a holiday in Australia.  

We arrived at the wonderful Hutston home and once the kids had finished their brekkie and had been herded into the car with the customary rucksacks and provisions that only Sue could provide (me and V had some water and crisps in a Coles plastic shopping bag, more bear essentials than Bear Grylls....) we were off.

After trying to think we kind of knew where we were going and avoiding sat nag to try and get a rather more scenic route (namely the one Jenn had taken when we went) we found ourselves arriving via a stunning gorge road, hardly surprising as the park was called The Gorge.  That is one thing I love about Oz (among many) everything does exactly what it says on the tin....the Fence Rental Company, Dave the Cleaner, The Pie Shop, The Goggle factory to name but a few (there have been far more witty examples but at 6am and with my notebook out of reach on the front seat and me not too keen to replicate the squeezing my fat arse through a small gap to reach the said front seat episode again, that is all you're gonna get) and before you knew it we were in, meandering through the lovely bush setting soaking up the sun and getting acquainted with the animals.  Although there was a plethora of those to see, at this moment in time there was only one critter on all our minds - KOALA!!!! 

The main attraction (in my eyes) at this place was that it was one of the only places where you can actually cuddle a koala.  And I mean cuddle.  Not stand near and touch, but cuddle.  Put your arms round the cutest little non bear bear and give it a good old squeeze. And actually have your mates take your picture (or the keeper if you are a billy no mates) with absolutely no fee involved.  Good on ya The Gorge.  So, after we spent some time watching two stationary alligators, wondering if there were indeed real and if the turtle that seemed to be having a staring competition with one of them should actually be in there with them, we took our place second in line to wait.

Now as you all know, queuing is a tricky business and being English there are strict rules to be followed....namely you don't push in (some may recall the kerfuffle from the last trip, no-one gets in front of me when I'm waiting to cuddle anything, let alone a koala) so after some 'the back of the line is right over there dear'  the keepers bought the stars of the show out.  

The pictures will do the talking but needless to say it was magical.  V went first and the smile on his face was priceless, then me, then the kids (the koala was actually over half the size of Ollie but he managed her beautifully) and finally Sue, and after we had said our goodbyes to Claire (for that is what she was called) we left the throngs of screaming kids and adults behind to wander some more. 

Heaven.

We made a little pit stop back to the alligator enclosure to find that they were actually real and had moved, and that indeed the turtle should maybe not have been in the enclosure as it was now firmly clasped between a rather large alligators jaws, head and legs popping out of its shell everytime the alligators jaws came down with a bone crunching snap. Ooops.  Me thinks Trevor the turtle took a wrong turn when we went out for fish this morning (or indeed woke up in a strange place after having too many beers the night before, we've all been there Trev) and the staring contest we witnessed earlier was the result of Trev surfacing from the pond to find himself not at home with all the other turtles in the pool down the way, but in fact face to face with near certain death.  Poor Trev, and I'm sure the children that were left sobbing with every crunch will be fine soon.  Ollie and Ella not included as we all wished we had zoom lenses....

Kangaroos, wallabies and camels fed, joeys in pouches marvelled at, quokkas and panthers found, fears conquered by snake touching (V waited till he couldn't see it's head which made it easier apparently) bogens told off for poking monkeys with sticks and throwing things at turtle eating alligators because 'they ain't doing nothing' (should have been here an hour ago mate) and then grassed up to the keepers (my good deed for animal kind) we enjoyed lunch in the shade of palm trees with the noisiest gaggle of colourful parrots you could imagine (they were even noisier than the group of Chinese tourist all squawking and trying to get pictures) and the pool of turtles that were all wondering where Trevor was with that fish...

There then occurred a brief moment of anxiety as Sue began to feel a funny sensation in her mouth after eating a chocolate and nut cookie.  This sensation got worse gut she assured me that she was fine, although I could see her out of the corner of my eye doing a magnificent gurning impression as she attempted to feel her top lip.  Said lip now looked like she had undergone some back street botox so it was clear that an antihistamine was in order, something which I had abundance of back in my case but not in my bag.  A trip to the kiosk resulted in the lovely lady behind the counter going home (next door) to get some and telling me she had an old epipen out back that some ex worker had left behind as he no longer needed it (I dread to think why), so lip thankfully receding we headed home, first heading up a dirt road in an attempt to fox sat nag, but with the fuel on red and an impending potentially life threatening allergic reaction still a small possibility, we turned around  finally finding the lovely scenic route we had hoped for on the way out.

Our 'see you in a bit' goodbyes made we quickly headed home to change before a final night get together at the wonderful Crawley household.  And wonderful it was, all the gang were there (Crawleys, Hutsons, Heggies and Bells - even Jenn on facetime, only the Millers missing as they were back in England) and we sat on the decking watching then sun set below the hills, and then ate amazing food, drank, swapped stories, laughed, danced, played musical chairs (I won of course)laughed some more, ate some more and then with full bellies and happy hearts, tearful goodbyes were said to the Bells and Crawleys (and 3/4 of the Hutsons) until next time we visit this beautiful place. But happy tears as a return trip is never too far away and always a definate. They had taken V to their hearts and welcomed him in the way they welcomed me, which I know is a wonderful feeling.

I drove the rather tipsy V home and we headed to bed, knowing that this was our last night with the dinging of the bells and the rumble of the trains (well I heard them I'm not sure about him) and an early rise ahead of us to get packed up and out early, back to see the Heggies and Sue in the morning before heading out on the next leg of our adventure. 

But more about that next time (doof doof Eastender music plays) so until then my faithful followers it is TTFN....xxxx