koalas and cherry stew

We spent the morning at the Koala Conservation Centre here on the island. Such a fun morning out.

It has recently been renovated and it is such a vast improvement. The old visitors centre was basically a grotty shed complete with huntsman spiders and the occasional marauding rodent. Highlights used to include taxidermy koalas and 'hot nuts' (pretty much the only food they used to sell). Nowadays the building is about four times the size, has it's own cafe and although the taxidermy remains it has been placed tastefully behind glass. I do miss the old building as it had a certain rustic outback charm, but considering the exorbitant price of entry tickets the sleek new centre certainly has a lot more to offer. I should probably also mention that I'm married to a wild haired ranger so I don't actually have to pay to get in.

Minty loved running wildly along the tree top boardwalks searching for koalas. Turi wasn't as impressed and spent most of the outing asleep or crying in his sling… oh well.

I just wanted to point out Minty's groovy trousers. They were made by Madeleine Somers, a Melbourne designer whose range is called Cherry Stew. It's so nice to be able to dress Minty in fun locally made clothes. Check out Madeleine's blog to see some of her other funky clothes. (In case you were wondering the top is Alex and Charli.)

And some gratuitous shots of the kids in the car on the way home...

Disclosure: I wasn't paid or compensated in any way for mentioning any of these products - I just genuinely liked them and wanted to share them with you!