Gympie, Queensland, Australia
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
The Australia Zoo is Steve Irwin's world famous zoo and home to tons of Aussie wildlife and a few exotic animals. We arrived at 1pm which was a little late but we made the most of it. The zoo is fun because they have animal shows and you can pet and feed the animals. We started off with the lizards and saw some Giant Turtles, Huge Lizards, Komodo Dragons, Alligators and of course CROCS! After that we saw some beautiful Kookaburras which I thought were stuffed at first since they had no cage but weren’t moving. It turns out they had all been injured by cars and could no longer fly. They chilled on their perches watching the passerby’s and preening themselves. We passed by the kid farm and enjoyed a MAAAHHH or two at the lambies before going on a Koala search. On the way to the Koalas we saw the Cassowaries which were really cool. They are the second largest bird in the world (After the Ostrich) and they are famous for making the rainforests what they are today. They eat the berries and seeds of plants and then poop them out in other areas of the rainforest making it a diverse place. They are the only animals that can do this because of their size and diet. They are unfortunately very close to being on the endangered species list. Another cool thing about them is that they are pretty vicious and if you see one in the wild you should get away. Their talons are absolutely massive and they will jump at you and kick you in the chest. Pretty bad ass! They are funny looking creatures with blue faces and a black Mohawk. After the cassowaries we finally discovered the Koalas. They were cleaning out the Koala area and changing all the Eucalyptus branches that the Koalas were munching on so it was really easy to see them. They were sooooo cute and they were all busy munching away on the fresh leaves. I took tons of pictures and a couple videos and Chris had to drag me away. I am so jealous of the employees who get to hold and cuddle them. After this we spotted a Tasmanian devil running around its habitat and we got a few good pictures before it sped away. They are so cute! We went and watched the show where we saw rainbow lorikeets flying, snakes and a massive crocodile doing its thing with a trainer. I wouldn’t want to get in between those things jaws. We then took the trolley to the elephant’s enclosure where we got to hand feed them carrots and melons. They grabbed the pieces with their trunks and placed it in theirs mouths. It was a really funny feeling and kind of gross. Next to the elephant was the Red Pandas which I have to say must be the cutest creatures on earth. They are a strange mix between bear, cat, raccoon and everything else that’s cute and furry. It was hard to take a picture because it just kept moving but man I loved it! We saw the tiger next which was really cool but not easy to see since it decided to chill at the back of their habitat and there were lots of people.
We wanted to make it in time to see the Birds of Prey show which was on the otherisde of the zoo but we had to walk through the red kangaroo pen and the area to pet a koala which was a must. It felt so soft and bushy. It was funny because it was sleeping clinging to a tree and we just got to pet its bottom. Beside it was a koala sleeping hanging on the tree and there was a sign on the tree that said "don’t pet me I’m taking a break". I loved that since they were both just napping away. I wish I could nap on the job too! After our Koala petting we came across a couple of employees taking their wombat for its daily walk. We got to pet him too and he was cute! He looked like a furry pig/giant hamster; they have crazy animals down here. We got to the Birds of Prey show a little late but we managed to see the Owl (O RLY!?) and the Condor (Massive) performing their tricks. We also saw a hawk grabbing pieces of food out of the air. It was incredibly impressive. It started raining but we decided to go see the Kangaroos and the Echidnas before making our way back to the van. Half way through our little trek through the Kangaroo land it started to downpour. Kangaroos hate the rain and they all ran for cover so we followed them and chilled with a kangaroo under a tree before running for the nearest roof. After the rain decreased a bit we made a beeline for the car and that was the end of a great animal adventure day. I wish we could have got there a little earlier since we did miss some stuff and had to rush a bit but overall I was happy. We found a good campsite in a town not far from the zoo and we settled in for the night. After making pasta we watched TV in the camp kitchen and got marooned there for about an hour while it down poured outside. When the rain stopped for a couple minutes we ran to the van and locked ourselves in for a very rainy night. The pounding on the roof put us to sleep quickly though so we had no problems with it. The next morning we woke to nice weather and excitement for
Brisbane!
