Koalas Koalas Koalas

Look at this teddy bear!

BIMBI PARK!!!

Where you CAN camp underneath Koalas!!!! Yay, out of the many reasons to visit Australia seeing Koala’s in the wild is a BIG one of them!!!!

 We were at a Caravan park in Melbourne, and had heard from a few different sources about places to stay to see Koalas in the wild, and one of them is called BIMBI PARK!

 Koalas were everywhere. We drove in late at night, and found a campsite to stay at. We were all tuckered out and sleeping in our makeshift camper, when at about 5 am we woke to some thing that sound like a lion roar!!! It was scary, I thought DINGOS! 

I would like to take a moment to briefly apologize publicly to Curtis for repeating far too frequently, “ Maybe the Dingo ate your baby.” Followed by many of the Seinfeld quotes I have stored from years of Seinfeld-emersion.

Then the noise bellowed again, rattling through the car, and vibrating through the metal in my retainer….shudder! This time however, it didn’t sound lionish, but more like a wild boar!!!

Holy heck I though, it scared me to the point of needing to pee, but that was completely out of the question now with roaming dingos and wild boars to consider, ESPECIALLY since the noise was coming from right. outside of MY door. 

Curtis proving how manly he was to me went to scare them off and clear a path to the bathroom! J

He dashed back in as if they were following him, to say in too loud of a voice for 5 am, “They are Koalas!” I popped out to check out the K-Siting!!! It was true. Koalas everywhere! Who knew that little Koalas sounded like ferocious beasts that prey on gentle fragile doe’s like me! 

I did learn from some lady-room bathroom banter that Koalas, if you get too close, will run up you like a tree to be held. However, as fairy tale like as this may seem, apparently they have sharp claws and can cause SERIOUS SERIOUS damage.

Oddly enough… remember the pink shirted girl in the Sydney Blog Post at the Feather Dale Wild Life Park????? That was me!! I was that close to SERIOUS damage. Few…

Any who, it rained the whole first day…like torrential down poor style. We stayed in and wrote blogs, played cards, sang recently made camp songs: like A Raccoon sits on top of the dumpster, and Lovely little Fire Flies ( I can’t think of which song it is a remake of..I may post a video so you can sing it too!)

Fire flies, they light the sky so nicely
Fire flies, they look like stars Yes, it is there disguise, they are
so very lovely fire flies

Fire flies they make the trees glow like it's christmas time, but you
will see them with the summer chime..they light the night walkways, it
is so sublime, lovely lovely little fire flies!

Fire flies they are like moonbeams shining in your eyes. They are such
dancing wonders fire flies.. They make your bad dreams shudder fire
flies they make each day seem like a million lives so very blissful
with lovey fire flies!!!!

Eventually we were hungry and needed to eat!

Pictures Below.One picture represent how cold and rainy it was, and one represents what a blast we were having. See below.

So we did, and we saw a Koala! It was a great first day. P.S Showers cost a couple dollars when there is a drought so bring your change!!

The next day we decided rain or shine we were doing it. Going on a wild Koala hunt that is, to try and get a picture!!! The weather turned out to be amazing..with light sprinkles ever 4 hours!! It was really great. Here is what we saw:… Well read Curtis’s take, and then…..

CURTIS Take: Seriously, when I heard the crazy lion roar just outside the car I was definitely startled and thought to myself, what in the world is that! I figured, guessed, that it couldn’t be anything too threatening in this area so decided to investigate, and let Julie if know the coast was clear. I slowly opened my car door and slid out and to my utter surprise saw Koala Bears just roaming around. It was really cool! We were there for a few days and saw a ton of Koalas everywhere. Totally amazing! Bimbi Caravan Park is just a few kilometers off of The Great Ocean road and definitely worth a stop over.

One day when the weather was looking a little sunnier, it rained on and off while we were there, we decided to go for a little hike to the beach. It is just a few kilometers to the beach from Bimbi Park and the trail takes you through some beautiful landscape changes along the way. We started out in the lush green forests and meadows that surround the caravan park, lots of Eucalyptus trees with Koalas in them all along the path. As you move further along the trail the trees give way to bushes and smaller brush growth, which eventually becomes sand dunes that lead you down to a large, beautiful, secluded and empty beach. We chucked a left once we hit the beach and followed the shoreline to Rainbow Rock waterfall, exploring various tide pools along the way. The tide pools are teaming with life. We saw all sorts of starfish, crabs, sea slugs, fish, and the like.

As I mentioned earlier, weather was a bit dodgy with rain on and off while we were there. This worked out in our favor though due to Julie wanting to read The Hunger Games book series. We started, and finished, reading the first book the last day we were in Bimbi park…we couldn’t put it down and within the next day or two finished the 3 book trilogy. The books were really entertaining and what made them even better was reading and sharing in the excitement together.

Here is what we saw:… 

The last day, like Curtis said, I decided to take some friends and fam up on the suggestion to read The Hunger Games. Good thing it was raining because we were glued to the book. Literally hours were passing. I was so enthralled my emotions were just taking over, and I could not stop reading. It got to be late at night, and I had downloaded the second book, but Curtis in his wisdom convinced me that we could continue the next day. We woke up…, and all my dreams had been full of districts, hunting, selling soaps, gale and kat… Peeta!! I felt like my friends were going through some great adventurous trying life experience, and I was off in some distant land at some Koala Park. I needed to go back and read more of their letters to me!!! 

We were on the road to Adelaid that morning, and we were fortunate to be right in a national park, surrounded by beauty. Curtis asked if I wanted to go see the oldest light house in Australia because he knows I LOVE lighthouses, and I at first convinced him that we should get on the road, but that I would love to. He then explained that it was not a problem and we could see it. He would drive if I got tired. Isn’t he sweet. All to give me what he thought I wanted. I reluctantly agreed..wishing I could go back to district 12 and where Kat and Peeta were…to try and understand what was happening.

We made some fun stops, and took nice walk ways to cool water ways..Curtis talks about, But for most of the time…WE READ!!!... Until, our Internet stopped because we were too far from any tower. We had voda phone, and while it is good, it is not the best Internet service for the west coast like it is the east.

Then… we waited to read. Until, we arrived at our next stop. We read all the books in those 3 days. Thanks to Curtis we got sleep and kept touring Australia!! Such Balance~

P.S I really enjoyed the books. They were like war books for me. I don’t do scary all that well. After any scary event I take a good dose of veggie tales, strawberry shortcake..etc, and then I sleep with my lights on. Ha ha Anyway, I felt like I was reading some amazing historical journal written by a teenager….that was an ancestor of mine. Well written..I hope the movies are done well, and that they are clean so I will go watch them!!! Be cool Hunger game movies..I’m willing you to be so.

Andrew's Hamburger's

In Melbourne

This guy, his name is Greg, and HE is the best!! He owns a burger place in Melbourne called Andrew’s Hamburgers. Curtis was searching for a good place to eat online and it was said to be the best spot to hit for a good burger in Melbourne.

We showed up at three O'clock, right when they were heading to close for an hour break, but an older gentleman said they would be open again at 4pm. So of course we were hungry and so we headed out to find the “other” best burger place in town.

However, every time we would ask anyone what was around or what they would recommend, they would say, “ You HAVE to go to Andrew's Hamburgers”. We would smile and say I know, I know, but they are closed, where is the next best burger place.

 Without hesitation they would say, “O, then wait or eat something different.” It was intriguing hearing this by everyone in town. So we decided to wait. 4pm rolled around and we walked up to see what all the buzz was about, and THIS guy, named Greg lets us in.

There was a little boy sitting at one of the ONLY counters in the place eating his burger. A mom and her little boy are finishing up their food talking to Greg over the ordering counter. The way he was treating them with such kindness and love I thought they were his family. Especially since we walked in at exactly four, and they were already there eating, but the mom called over to the other little boy sitting at the counter and told him to say thanks to Greg for the lunch. No family relation. He hopped off the barstool that was too big for him, bounced over to the counter, and said, THANKS GREG in a shout.

Greg smiled and told him to work on the things they talked about, and next time they would go over some other ideas. The boy agreed, and then the family left. Realizing they weren’t his family brought my attention back to the small burger shop, and Greg standing there smiling at us with the same kind of friendly family attachment he had just offered the small family that left.

I ordered a burger they have been making the same way for something like 2 or 3 decades. It was Perfect! I have been to a lot of restaurants and this burger was innovative for 20 years ago! No wonder, when I turned around there were awards and pictures all over the wall. It wasn’t like a boasting wall. It didn’t give you that feel. Everything was very down to earth, and the plaques and pictures of his awards and volunteer work, and customer letters were more like stated credentials. They were well deserved!!

The little hole in the wall location looked like it was coming from the same era as the movie Grease. Grease lightening playing in my mind. Greg looked clean cut like a T-bird, comb in pocket, t-shirt, pants, and black apron. In the most mellow way possible he stood cooking our burgers. Any moment, Olivia Newton was going to come in and they were going to start singing Summer Nights together… Anyway

It was great, he had a love and ease with his customers. He knew each of them, or treated them like he did. He had a walk-in-the-past type of genuine kindness that seems rare these days. Curtis even changed his order in the middle of Greg cooking our burgers to get the Burger with “The Lot”. Greg did not seem inconvenienced at all. In fact he smiled this totally agreeing smile, as if to say, that is a good choice too, and acted like it was an opportunity to give us something he knew we would love.

In no time we had our ABSOLUTELY perfectly made burgers. We were pretty hungry so we sat down and just started to eat our “Andrew’s Hamburgers with The Lot.”

 I mentioned to Curtis that I didn’t think we had paid yet. He jumped up to pay, but Greg said, “No no sit down…Pay after you eat and decide you like it…Enjoy your food.” He was so inviting. So that’s just what we did!

 Each layer was incredible, and if any of you have ever seen me cook or know how particular I am with making food meld together with flavor and texture…this will mean something to you.

The buns are cooked slightly, just thick and soft enough with a crisp hint to the bun, but definitely not greasy. He makes an over easy egg that he replicates for each burger with precision and it is evenly cooked to a T in ever bite, which is very hard to do. The burgers were amazing. The meat patty had great flavor and was totally eatable to the center. The cheese and tomato combos were brilliantly executed in size, thickness and type!!!

                                            WELL DONE ANDREW’S HAMBURGERS.

It was huge and I ate every bite, and I never do that with almost any burger, except the ones I make at home. The meal came with a huge stack of thick steak fries that were cooked evenly. Never too much potato or not enough flavor or over cooked. AWESOME! It would be something if I was the only one who felt this way, but it was something-ELSE, that 10 other people that came in felt this way too. 5 of us were new, and 3 veterans where selling it to the new comers who where trying to decide what to order…and those of us who had already ordered and were eating joined in the choir.

It was sooo good, we could not help but share our raving reviews with everyone that entered in!!!! We also wanted to share it with the world here on our blog. If you ever have the chance to go to Melbourne… then go my readers, go and visit Andrews Hamburgers… But not from Christmas through January 30^th because they are on vacation to recharge their batteries and be the best they can be for the rest of the season! If you eat meat then definitely stop in, if not I believe they have vegetarian meals that I’ve heard to be just as good, but couldn’t tell you from experience!!

Thank you Greg for making our experience the best it could be. Truly a great cook and person!


This is our Melbourne addition to the photo book. Melbourne is a very Artsy town.. We realy enjoyed driving through and seeing all the roadways, bridges, overpasses, and buildings that were unique art formations. If you love to take pictures.... we saw a lot of fun factory photo-shoot opportunities. We stopped off and drove through their Gardens, parks, around their harbors, and just took it all in because we got the same pictures in Sydney.


              Melbourne Montage...we came, we saw, we toured!