Oh my God!Seriously, God is awesome!We just spent the last three days on a tour of the Great Ocean Road and the scenery was absolutely spectacular.The winding road went along huge sandstone cliffs with clear aquamarine waters below.The big waves are popular among surfers but not so much among ship captains.One of our favorite stops was the "Twelve Apostles," which are a collection of tall standing limestone rocks out in the ocean.Unfortunately, the great 12 have been whittled down to just eight due to the heavy surf, but they are still amazing.This coastline is always changing.

During the three day excursion we saw such a variety of scenery: sandy surf beaches, calm bays, dry scrubland, wet temperate rainforest, and eucalyptus groves.And where there is eucalyptus…there are koalas!We saw tons of them and heard them too.Who would have thought such a cute little animal could make such a horrific noise!Our guide described it as a cross between a squealing pig and a lawn mower, haha.We also spotted a number of wallabies, kangaroos, and emus.Even though I'm not typically a bird nerd, I was for some reason quite excited to find a laughing kookaburra!

Before we left on our road trip, we visited the Melbourne Zoo.Once again, I could totally move here because this zoo is incredible!The best exhibit was called Trail of Elephants and reminded me so much of what our Asian Tropics exhibit is going to be like at Denver Zoo.The habitats were so realistic and there were lots of Asian artifacts and signage; you really felt like you were walking through Thailand!We were fortunate to see the whole elephant family together: four females, one male, and TWO BABIES!The keeper said the bull gets "social hour" once a day with the ladies and boy was he getting lots of attention.The females and babies would approach him backwards and then run away over and over! It was like a game.Now I'm even more excited to see Asian Tropics finished!!!

With all this gorgeous scenery and amazing animal life, I've just been awestruck by God's creation.I can't wait to see what else He has in store for us!