Dolphin Boat tour in Jervis Bay

One beautiful morning during our last week in Jervis Bay, we decided to take a boat tour of the Bay.  The Bay has a ton of wildlife (second in Australia only to the Great Barrier Reef).  Bowen Island at the mouth of the Bay is almost completely over run with Penguins and whales/dolphins are also frequent residents of the Bay.  Unfortunately for us, the Whales are seasonal & it was not the right time for us to see them.  So off we went in search for some dolphins in the wild.

 We were delayed leaving waiting for a group of tourists driving in from Sydney.

The beautiful wharf area in Huskisson where the boat took off from

 

 



The kids were happy to finally get going

One of the many secluded beaches along the Bay



 

 



It didn't take long at all to find some!

 

It was a large pod - the captain said probably 40-50 Dolphins

 

Some of the Dolphins swam along side the boat

 

 

We got to see them up very close along the boat - Kalyssa was so excited!

So close we could see theirs blow holes & eyes!

 

Tilman was not so excited & passed out

Our boat

It was a great trip and so cool to see so many dolphins in the wild and up close. 

Nowra Wildlife Park

With a few days of overcast weather and rain, we were looking for some different things to do with the kids.  We found a great indoor play area in the neighboring town when it was raining all day.  They loved it & K got to meet and play with some local kids.

The next day, it didn`t rain but was pretty overcast & not all that warm.  So we headed to the Nowra Wildlife Park.  The parking lot was practically empty so we were worried it was closed. As it turned out, it is just a small place that is very dead during the week (especially when the weather was suspect).

This guy greeted us in the parking lot

As soon as we got there, they told us we were just in time for the Wildlife show.  They were gathering the animals together for the show, including this little Wombat. 

 

Tom cuddling & sniffing the Koala - they are suppose to smell really good but we thought it was pretty neutral smelling

Sweet Koala face

We had formal pictures taken with all the animals in the little show.  But only Tom held the python though!



The baby Wombat (yes, that is a 1 yr old baby!) was very needy & wanted to be held while they were talking about the other animals.



The keeper asked if anyone wanted to take over baby Wombat holding duties.  I was happy to voluteer - he was seriously so sweet. 

 

 

 

There were Kookaburras buzzing around us.  We have also seen these guys in the wild

When the show was over, we woke up the Wombat (yup, he fell asleep while holding him!) and he walked back to his enclosure.

These birds were so pretty and had bright yellow legs too.  We saw them all over the place in the wild but never seemed to have a camera handy.

A true Albino Kangaroo

Very cool tree trunks within the Wildlife Park

This huge tree was growing on the side of the rock

 

The Llamas were ummm - playing `leapfrog` haha!

 

The park was in a very pretty location with the cliffs on one side and a river on the other

We spent a lot of time watching the Dingoes.  They got into a howling match with this group of orangey ones on the rock and the white guy below them.  We got some good video of it.  They were so loud!

More Aussie turtles and their extremely long necks

There were of course lots of reptiles

And lots of Kangaroos & Wallaby`s

On our way out, we noticed this Koala hanging out