Our first visitor has come and gone. We loved every minute of having Zoe here with us and both wished she had planned to stay a little longer. We crammed as much as we could into her short two weeks and sent her home exhausted I’m sure! But we did give her the first day to just relax and unwind at our place.
Our first adventure was a trip across to Great Keppel Island. Zoe was convinced we were trying to kill her with the hike we planned…
But agreed the empty beach and beautiful views were worth it. I’m so glad she got to experience the peacefulness of having an entire beach all to yourself.
Following our trip to Keppel, we decided to explore a few attractions here that were also new to us – The Capricorn Caves and the Rockhampton Zoo. But not before a quick tour of the university. We almost had her convinced 🙂
The Caves were just gorgeous and so hard to capture in photos. I think Zoe was as amazed as I was by all the different tunnels and caverns, though I think she thought the bats were a little less cool.
The Rockhampton Zoo is free to visitors and showcases all of the Australian wildlife you’d expect plus a few animals from elsewhere as well. They actually have a baby chimp there right now, so we enjoyed watching her cuddle with her mom.
We were also treated to an up-close view of all these lorakeets. Rob and I often have these in our backyard but they’re usually a little higher up in the trees so we’ve never captured a photo like this.
Rob also took Zoe to Cooberrie Wildlife Sanctuary where she got the chance to make friends with the gorgeous animals there.
Even Rob made a new friend.
Mid-way through Zoe’s trip, I had to head down to Adelaide for a conference so Rob and Zoe took off on a road trip to Airlie Beach and Whitsundays. I will admit I was a little jealous I had to miss out! Who wouldn’t be with pics like these?
And yet another ferry ride for the girl who had never been on one before.
Somewhere along the way, we also managed a low key day on one of our local beaches, just a few minutes from home.
And Rob took Zoe to check out the new skywalk at Mount Archer. I missed out but it looks like the rainy weather made for some pretty cool views.
She even got an up-close view of a Kookaburra while there.
Lucky for Zoe, she was here for Beef Week which is a pretty big deal here in Rockhampton. Beef Week brings in farmers and vendors from across Australia and also some pretty famous chefs. And of course, lots of amazing food!
Zoe spent the last few days of her trip in Brisbane exploring Australia’s city life with Rob.
And then, way too quickly, it was time to see her off.
Thank you Gary and Cindy for sharing Zoe with us for a few weeks. We loved sharing our new life with her! I’m sure she was happy to get back home, but she’s probably missing the night time sounds of the curlews and the crazy calls of the Kookaburras.
Can’t wait for you to come again Zoe! xo