Ron had business meetings in Brisbane, and I was lucky enough to tag along with him.  Brisbane is on the east coast of Australia, and is about 4,344 km away from Perth, similar in distance as going from Vancouver to Toronto(4,372 km).

We are staying at Scarborough Beach, which is on Moreton Bay and about 45 km north of Brisbane.  While Ron is working, I have been able to take long lovely walks along the beach.  The water varies in shade from blue to green, and the sand is mostly reddish in colour. The wetlands and shorelines are protected heritage sites, and contain a huge array of birds and sea life.

I was sitting in my hotel room, around 4:00 in the afternoon, when my eye was caught by a huge bat flying by my window.  Looked out and saw several bats flying round and round, landing in the trees and feeding on the oranges and other fruit.  These bats were huge and moved incredibly fast.  I believe they were grey-headed flying fox because of their size.  According to the Queensland Museum the grey-headed flying fox has a dark grey body with a light grey head and a reddish brown neck collar of fur, have an average wingspan up to one metre and can weigh up to 1 kg.  In the photo I managed to take of a bat flying, you see the magnificence of the wingspan above the house rooftop, and compare it to the balcony doors of the hotel just beyond.  In the photo in the orange tree, where it was sucking the juice out of the oranges, you can see the reddish brown neck collar.  So exciting.

Saw lots of varieties of birds here also.  Australasian Darters on the rocks spreading their wings to dry

Australian Pelicans

Australian White Ibis

And Galah

I took wonderful long walks along the shoreline here, enjoying the sunshine, the smell of the ocean, the natural beaches and the environmentally protected habitat for birds and animals.