I saw a kangaroo!

Actually, I saw more than one kangaroo. I saw three huge fields of many, many kangaroos. They were just sitting relaxing in these fields beside the road. Finally!

The kangaroos were on the road that led to this:

Palm cove!

Palm cove is where I decided I like Australia more than yesterday. Why?

Sean and I are walking along beautiful beach. The weather is awesome, it was like 5pm at this point so it was cool (maybe about 28 degrees or so) and calm. The beaches are so clean here and the shops are quaint and cute. There is a jetty to walk out which is basically a long dock, I'd never heard the term jetty before. We're walking up it looking down into the clear crystal waters and this little girl runs up to me!
"We saw a turtle today."
"Oh really?!"
"Yeah it was big. And we saw a sting ray over there."
"Over here?"
"Yeah if you watch you might see it. It looks grey in the water."
"Oh okay" and I look for it.
"Those ones can kill you too you know."
"Yup."
(I didn't end up seeing the sting ray but that isn't the point of the story)
Her adult comes walking by and she says to me:
"We took a picture of the turtle. Show them the picture!"
So the dude pulls out the phone and shows Sean and I the picture of the turtle. It was one of those huge sea turtles! 
Then the dude starts showing us how big the turtle and the sting ray was. The sting ray was one of those huge ones with the 6-7 foot tail. Craazzyyy!
But again not the point of the story.
The dude starts explaining where the best fishing spots are, how you get there, what the roads are like, etcetcetc.
The little girl had run up the jetty by now and she comes back.
"The guy up there caught a shark on his line!"
"Nooo wayyyy"
"Yeah" the dude says "He would have had to cut the line."

At this point my mind is blown.
The wildlife is awesome but the people are so friendly and open. They are the furthest thing from stuffy-polite at the same time. In Ontario all the kids are taught "don't talk to strangers!" and I've been approached by so many little kids by now telling me random things.. it is great to see kids so relaxed and friendly. The little girl was leaning so far over the bars I felt a bit like "yikes better stand back" but the adults are relaxed about it.
I haven't met a rude Australian yet, though I'm sure that time will come.
But... it is the people here I find the most surprising. They're plainly awesome.

A couple more pictures of Palm Cove:

These little guys were hanging out everywhere!
 

And of course the flocks of Lorikeets. We finally got a good picture.

We also went to a national park called Babinda, or as I like to call it "Boulder Place".

The river/creek thing is very well known for many deaths, and it is nicknamed "Devil's Pool". The aboriginals have a legend about it if you're curious it is here. 

I'm going to let the pictures do the talking of this place:

The boulders were unlike anything I've ever seen. They were smooth and you can see where the water has made its course.
 

That is the pathway of the nature walk. I just found it cool how it goes straight up on either side.

Golden Orb spider! Sean threw a cricket at it to watch it eat. It was pretty cool. It is hugggeeee and it was a little bit creepy how it wrapped up the cricket in webbing.

I really liked these mushrooms... they're cute!

On the way there I saw my first volcano ever!

It is in fact extinct, but I still think it's cool. Volcano yo!

And in closing, a picture of Junooooo and April

 
"Awwwww" you say. See that cute little baby face and think of me getting baby puked on and drooled all over! It happens!