In 1990 and with a total budget of $800, we pick up a Morris Minor from an auto dealer in Christchurch. This is where my husband, Matthew, spent his youth and where we first met and we are here for two months to visit this small nation in the South Pacific.

If Salvador Dali were to chose one country in which to locate his dream world of unusual creatures, I’m certain is would be Australia. Drifting alone for the last 60 million years, Australia’s flora and fauna have adapted and evolved in isolation. Strange survivors are found here that are absent elsewhere on earth. Nearly one-half of Australia’s 800 plus species of bird are endemic as are most of the mammals.