Jen here. I just thought I should add my two-cents about Australia.
Dan hated Australia. OK, I share most of his angst about the place, BUT there are things about Australia that are nice, like being awakened every morning by this (push the play button):
Overall, the places we visited in Australia weren’t so great; but I think that if we were birders, we would have been in heaven!!! There are over 800 bird species in Australia! 800!
Australian magpies and crows hung-out with us on a regular basis (being the easiest to train). We saw emus, frigate birds, herons, forest kingfishers, laughing kookaburras, rainbow bee-eaters, Australian king parrots, black kites, cockatiels, galahs, kalahari scrub-robins, and many species of cockatoos and parakeets. Those are just the species that I can identify. We saw A LOT MORE that I couldn’t.
I guess if you are into birds, and have the money to spend, Western Australia and Northern Territories are the places to be!
Here are four more pieces of ear-candy (again, push the play buttons):
