Sunday, 9 March, 2014

Whilst driving past the gates of the Tidbinbilla Nature Reserve last night, I thought to myself that I hadn’t been in there for a while! So this morning, we were up early again, packed some stuff into the cool bag and set off back to Tidbinbilla for a look round.

At the visitors centre, we had a quick chat with the wardens to find out what was going on inside today paid our $10 entry fee (I really should join! $30 for a year’s membership). First stop was the BBQ/Picnic area, where we quickly found ourselves an empty BBQ, all the BBQ are electric and are free to use so long as you clean up after yourselves and proceeded to cook a full English. The bacon and sausage were a great success, as were the beans done on the little camp stove, but the fried eggs need some work!

Then it was on to the Koala enclosure to see some of the 20 odd Victorian bears that have recently been rehoused there. They’re not the most mobile of creatures and took a bit of spotting up in the trees, even when they were only a few metres away. In the end we managed to see seven, although I’m not convince some of these were actually koalas!

Just across the road from the Koalas is a place called the Sanctuary, which boasts a few basins/ponds, a boardwalk and a lot of wildlife, both on the water and in amongst the banks of the water. As you can see from the pictures below, the place looks stunning in the late summer sunshine and you can tell the reserve staff have put a lot of work into creating a little piece of paradise for both visitors and wildlife alike.

Finally on our little tour around the reserve, we stopped at a place called ‘The Lookout’ which funnily enough is a place where you can look out over nearly of the nature reserve. It was also a place where we could see the approaching storm coming over the mountains, so we posed for a few pictures and left for home.

Mum making breakfast at the BBQ area.

Cooking up a storm.

Enjoying the spoils!

A shy koala

Can you spot the koala

They’re always asleep!

The lake at the Sanctuary.

Taking a Stoll through the nature reserve.

Overlooking one of the basins at the Sanctuary.

Big bird!

At the lookout taking in the view.

The approaching storm.