Day 42. Today is another built in slow day.  For me this means more visa application hell.  Leanne has QA’d my mound or paperwork and finds that on the very first application, I have the wrong passport number for Ashley.  You’ve got to be kidding me.  When all is said and done, I need to revise 3 applications.  The problem is that you need to submit them before you can print them to be signed.  So I end up having to re-do 3 applications from scratch, resubmit them, reprint them, etc. By the end of the day, I have my revised mountain of paperwork and can only hope for the best at my visa appointment in Sydney next week.

While I’m doing that, Leanne takes the kids to the Port Douglass wildlife habitat.  It was really cool and I’m a little bummed I missed it. They have kangaroo’s milling out and about in the habitat that you can pet and feed.  The pictures remind me of Nara but the kids assure me that there were no shorts-eating kangaroos chasing little kids who were running for their dear life. Leanne and the kids get to hold a real live Kuala bear and take pictures of the critter hanging on their shirt.  They even have crocodiles on the banks (albeit enclosed from people).  Now I am the only one in the group that hasn’t seen either a live turtle or crocodile.

For dinner, I’ve selected a local Australian restaurant in order to meet the criteria of having local cuisine in each country we are in.   As we are seated and the kids look at the menu, they give me a horrified look.  I look at my menu and see the first thing listed is kangaroo quesadillas.  “Hey, I’m not the one who created the menu items.” I try to defend my choice of restaurant.  “Dad, they could well be serving one of the same exact kangaroos we petted and fed today.” I refrain from responding that the kangaroo they’re serving tonight was probably from a couple days ago not an hour ago as I don’t think this will improve my standing with the kids.  I conclude that Domino’s would have been a safer choice that wouldn’t have left the kids potentially psychologically scarred.    

But there is no turning back now.  I bravely order the kangaroo quesadilla along with cheese and vegemite and Leanne orders the barramundi (the local favorite fish).  I am definitely becoming braver when it comes to eating more adventurous foods although I still can’t break the fish barrier.  The kids seem to have gotten over the fact that I ate the local equivalent of Bambi.

Leanne, John & Justin go to a live musical performance of 13.  John tells me that it is a musician’s musical and that he’s not sure if I’d enjoy it.  That’s enough for me as I go back to obsessing over the Chinese visa application while they enjoy the show.