The invitation from Australia arrived many months ago and needed a lot of planning as this would be the longest time away from home for Kath & Karen. Flying to Australia was a daunting journey - but deciding on a night flight seemed to be the best option - leaving on a Tuesday Night and arriving on the Thursday morning with a short stop over in Singapore.
They travelled the first leg of the journey on the new A380 - a double decker plane!! Seated on row 74 on the upper deck - this was one very large plane carrying 100 more passengers than a Jumbo Jet (with first Class, Business Class and Economy Class Passengers) and with a wing span of an unbelievable 79.8 metres!!!! The A380-800 is certified for up to 853 passengers (538 on the main deck and 315 on the upper deck), achievable with a one-class configuration.
A three hour stop over in Singapore gave them time to wander around the Butterfly Garden - a bit too hot in there though at 30 degrees C.
But it was lovely to be walking around with the butterflies
Flowers are cut and placed in strategic places for the tourists to see the feeding butterflies.
And time to stop, relax and watch the Koi Carp. What a beautiful airport.
Karen & Kath also booked into the hotel for a shower during their stop over and feeling quite refreshed after the first flight of 13 hours they finished the trip to Brisbane with a second flight of just over 7 hours.
On arriving at Brisbane at 7:00am, they were met at the Airport by their First Host in Australia - and chief organiser of their visit - Gay Westmore. Gay took them to her beautiful home and then whisked them off to Australia Zoo. No time for Jet lag!! The Zoo was founded by the famous Steve Irwin who died in 2006.
Karen makes friends with one of the "wild" Iguanas.
Two large parrots displaying their fast flight in unison.
The crocodile display - they can move very fast once they have sought out their prey.
Camels - now native in Australia. Brought over in the Victorian times to assist with the moving of building materials for the railways. Now breeding very well!
The Cassowary is a large, flightless bird from Australia. It is the biggest bird in Australia and the second-biggest bird in the world (only the ostrich is bigger). The cassowary's life span is about 40-50 years.
A sunbathing crocodile - this old beast was enormous - but had no teeth left!!!
Karen and a different type of owl. This is a Barking Owl.
And a Wombat out for a stroll.
The smaller Grey Kangaroos - it was lovely to be able to walk amongst these animals and stroke them.
Is this one practicing for Kangaroo Heelwork To Music? ;-)
And Koalas - many of them - very slow animals that just eat all day and night.
Kath & Karen actually saw one moving!! A very rare sight.
The elephant display - the smallest elephant is actually the oldest in the Trio.
And this is Gay - who took them to the zoo and looked after K&K on their first day in Australia. With her beautiful dogs, Gemma, Talli (Kelpie) and Piper. Gay invited some of her HTM friends to a welcome dinner for K&K the first night after which they slept very well.
The following morning, Kath & Karen were collected from Gay's home by Col and Barbara Murfet who drove them to the Gold Coast for more sight seeing.
One of the many venomous spiders found in Australia.
Barbara and Col Murfet shared their home with Karen & Kath for the next 3 nights.
The Gold Coast - quite dull but a magnificent beach on any day!
A Meter Maid - they collect donated money and then "feed" the parking meters so no one is given a fine!!! Very popular ladies in more ways than one!
The view from the bottom of the Q1 Building - the highest sky scraper on the Gold Coast.
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