Sharon and Birds and Beaches, Oh My!

It's May 2 and my friend Sharon has arrived from Michigan bright and early this morning. We met each other on a Windjammer cruise in the Caribbean in January 2006 and we haven't seen each other since. So what better place to have a reunion than here on the Gold Coast.

We started with a little breakfast out on the balcony along with a Mimosa toast to friendship and a safe journey. While talking non-stop (me?) I noticed that some Rainbow Lorikeets had just decided to take a little dip in the bird bath down below.

As many times of I've seen these beautiful birds now since I've been here I still get so excited to be able to see them in the wild and not behind bars. But this was Sharon's first glimpse of Australian wildlife and she was so surprised to see it in the backyard!

After we got past the excitement and settled back into enjoying our breakfast not 2 minutes later a Kookaburra decides to join us. Well out come the cameras again! This is a first for me too so you can imagine the level of excitement going on now.

It seemed as though the Kookaburra did want his picture taken as he just patiently sat there posing for us

Then we decided that what he probably really wanted was some fruit. Amazingly the Kookaburra ate right out of our hands as we feed him some grapes.

It wasn't until later though after talking with Helen that we discovered that Kookaburras are meat eaters. I guess this explains why he just held this grape in his mouth and then would drop it after his picture was taken.

It's now time to show Sharon a little bit of where she will be spending her next two weeks. So I suggest that we head on down to Surfer's Paradise and take a walk on the beach where she can unwind a little bit from her long trip. Because tomorrow we are heading to the Hinderland!

If you would like to see more pictures just go to "Where's Debbie" and click on the album "Sharon's First Day"