Aussie Icons Aplenty

The other morning we left our motel to begin the drive towards Adelaide in the state of South Australia.  We were in Hall's Gap in the Grampian mountains.  And what did we see just outside the motel door?

Not just any kangaroo but a mother kangaroo with a little baby in her pouch!  Turns out, when the moms bend over to graze on the grass, it's a perfect situation for the baby to do the same.  Nice way to learn!

Then crossing the mountains we stopped at a lookout for the view and a large bird fluttered up into a tree.  Turns out there were a male and female Laughing Kookaburra right there...and they just let us photograph them as much as we could...

Note the iridescent blue patch on the female's wings.  Unfortunately these ones were somber, and not laughing...

We stayed at a place on the banks of the Murray River, the most significant river in Australia.  There we had 5 great Australian Pelicans patrolling the river right outside our door.  With blue fairy-wrens in the yard and so many water birds...it was fantastic.

But sometimes things don't go your way, right?  For the last 2 days we had lots of driving rain and winds as successive Antarctic fronts blew their way across the continent.  And so it goes.