No Harry Potter in Sight!

Have swapped brids of prey in NZ (we were seeing at least 2 every day - 13 was the record) for parrots. Very colourful but very squawky! Seeing lots of sulphur-crested cockatoos and crimson thingymabobs - there goes my effort to impress! Very glad to escape our prison at the Norman-Bates motel in the Blue Mountains - not a friendly place and deserted. On our way out of the Blue Mts we decided to go on he Zig-Zag railway which was great if you were a railway enthusiast - but we are not. Too many facts and figures about engine no 158 etc - what happened to Thomas the Tank Engine and friends? Lovely scenery though! For some reason we then decided we'd like to see Dubbo and the mid-western plains. Ended up in a campsite next to the (famous?) Western Plains Zoo in Dubbo having stopped at some little in-the-middle-of-nowhere town (and seen the delightful locals in their nightdresses (!) with some gorgeous tattoos on show in the middle of the afternoon).

Visited the Warrambungles National Park and were treated to views of emus and kangaroos near the road and a kangaroo close-up by the park visitor centre. I (Jenny) also managed to see 2 goannas on the road out of the park - I probably shouldn't tell you I was the one driving and the only one to see them!

Made it to Tamworth (Country Music Capital) but missed the huge golden guitar statue - it's not a fruit (and we're not really into country music, sorry Dolly) so why take a detour? Did our laborious 1 hr of Xmas shopping - this is the life!

Found a place to stay at 8pm this evening and not a worried parent in sight! Did have the emergency plan to drive back to Tamworth if we really had to and risk driving into a kangaroo in the dark!

Stormy weather here - fantastic lightning show this evening. Off to Port Macquarie for Xmas - it's by the beach, sorry folks! Hope to spot some Koalas if they can stop snoozing long enough to pose for pictures. Happy Christmas to all. Love Browns xx