Oh wow, wow and wow again!!! How can Australia keep delivering so much?
At the end of Day 8 we arrived in Brisbane, The other half had found a pancake place on the internet so we dropped our bags in the hotel (there for 2 nights) and headed off for pancakes
I was slightly disappointed that they didn’t have eggs, bacon and maple syrup with the pancakes (I think I need to go to Canada again for that combination) so I had a greek salad instead, which was very nice. The other half indulged in pancakes with enough icecream for us both and more.
We carried our bellies back to the hotel and set our alarms in readiness for another exciting day. Tomorrow was Australia Zoo day.
Back in the UK the Irwins have a great following. We watch Australia Zoo and were devastated when Steve Irwin passed away. If you don’t know who the Irwins are and haven’t heard of Australian Zoo, then you need to educate yourself before you read on. Otherwise you won’t understand my excitement, my pure excitement at being at Australian Zoo.
Click here to update yourself about Steve Irwin and Australian Zoo
Our original plan for Brisbane was to tour around the town for the day but then we were talking one night and the other half discovered that Australia Zoo was only about 1 hour outside Brisbane so we, well the other half, I take no credit for any of the arrangements for this trip – I literally just packed my stuff and showed up on the doorstep ready to leave home! The other half arranged a tour that would collect/return us from/to our hotel, and included a full day at the Zoo too!
We were collected bright and early and our tour guide was fun, he talked all the way there and all the way back! He told us stories about snakes in peoples beds, I had never checked my bed for snakes before but I do now…. hopefully, this habit will disappear somewhere on the flight home…
We first went to the zoo hospital and watched one of the nurses hand feeding a small furry creature. it was so tiny we couldn’t see it snuggled in her feeding blanket. There was the cutest ever baby possum in an incubator and it was looking straight at me (well it might have been dazed but it was kind of looking in our direction) and it blinked but blinked really slowly and I nearly died with the love for the little creature, it was one of the cutest things ever, there is a photo of it below but with the glass of the viewing window and that of the incubator too its not very clear.
The entire zoo was dotted with sayings and statements that Steve and his family have said, there are photos of those below.
My favourite is this:
We all know that Daddy had an important job and was working to change the world so everyone would love wildlife like he did. Now its our turn to help him.
This was said by Bindi, Steve’s daughter
We left the hospital really feeling the care and compassion shown to the wildlife of Australia.
I type this on 15th May, half way through our trip and one massive thing stands out about Australia and it’s people – they really do care for their environment. I don’t just mean their wildlife but their “stuff” around them too. There is little to no rubbish littering roadsides, BBQ’s on the beachside outside our apartment are for public use and people clean them after use, there is no graffti on them either. People have a real respect for their environment.
Our guide drove us the short trip to Australia Zoo’s main entrance. As a surprise the other half had booked me a Koala behind the scenes gift package. So our guide took us to check in for that first.
We then planned our best route around the park with our guide advising us, we wanted to maximise seeing everything possible. The key event every day in the zoo was the crocodile and bird display in the Crocoseum. This is a purpose built theatre where the crocs come in – see the pictures below, there might be a video too…
We headed to the kangaroo’s to feed them and weren’t disappointed as one hopped over, greedy for breakfast and ate very calmly out of my hand. I was able to stroke the kangaroo and it felt like a rabbit, the fur was equally as dense but not as soft as rabbit fur.
We walked through areas and saw koala’s, wombats, red pandas, elephants, zebra, giraffe, lemurs, tigers, Komodo dragons, lizards, reptiles, otters, echidnas. Now these are wonderful little animals – check out here all about the echidna, not enchilada as the other half persisted in saying!
The Tasmanian devils were in hiding, the dingoes lazy but the crocs were out in force!
At 11.30 we showed up at the koala cuddling station, for this special session, more than just a photo, we walked through the park to the back of the koala area where two keepers were stood with 2 koala’s. This, as you will know from my other blogs, was a dream about to come true.
This was such a special time, such a long time coming, about 44 years to be more precise! My pencil top memory was about to become real. It didn’t disappointment. As you can see from my photo, I was rather chuffed to finally cuddle my koala. I asked a lot of questions about koala’s and this is what I found out
koala have a small smooth brain
they have a big skull with not a lot in there
the brain is small so when they fall out of trees, it can bounce around in the skull without doing much damage
they sleep for about 20 hours a day to aid digestion
they are not that bright and despite efforts they resist training – they just don’t get it, was what the keeper said…
they don’t need to drink much
their coat is very dense but isn’t totally water proof
some of the koalas don’t get out of the rain and get drenched, the keepers call these ones idiots
they reproduce very successfully
95% of the males won’t tolerate other males
95% of the females will tolerate other females
After lunch we made our way to the Crocoseum and settled down to watch the show and what a show it was❤
The show started with an amazing bird show, the birds were swooping and flying around the crocoseum beautifully showing themselves off. We sat in awe of our surroundings and the birds
Then the big guys came through, it was croc time
I think this is where I employ the term, a picture speaks a thousand words…
as I said at the outset… wow, wow and wow again ❤
We wondered around the Zoo in a bit of a daze, another day in Australia, another dream realised, another set of firsts for us both.
Note: please take note of the additional skill required to centre text, make it bold and italic and also to “round” some pictures and insert video – my blog skills are developing… but please don’t worry I won’t be applying for any IT jobs soon, I press “delete” all too often…
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