The Bush!

Me and little george
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There was much talk and discussion, some of us thought it would never happen but then we took a trip to the animal shelter and now we have a little cat!  He's ginger and called George and slowly trying to win me over

In other news after 3 1/2 months in Melbourne me and ben finally made it out of Zone 1!!!! The lack of transport and funds have been the main factors that have limited us to the city so Dale decided to take us on a day trip to Healesville Sanctuary to see some proper aussie animals and give us a chance to see some of the countryside

me and ben finally made it out of Zone 1!!!!!

a koala
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Unfortunately the drive out of Melbourne towards Healesville involves an hour of trawling through depressing suburbs full of fast food restaurants, shopping complexes, industrial parks and building sites!

Once you get through that though you get into the Yarra Valley with it's rolling hills, vineyards and farms - somewhat like Scotland (vineyards aside)

Healesville was fabulous and we got to see all the typical aussies animals - koalas, kangaroos, wallabies, possums, kookaburras and echidnas which are like big hedgehogs with long anteater style noses

another koala!
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and of course we got to see my favourites - duck billed platypi

then we headed to the nearby town of healesville for some lunch then Dale took us for a drive over the Dandenongs where you get some great views of the countryside and from the highest point you can even just about see the city

it was such a lovely experience and now we can't wait for the weather to get better then we can do some more exploring of "Country Victoria"