Day at the Zoo
Trip Start
Jun 24, 2008
1
11
22
Trip End
Aug 10, 2008
Brisbane,
Queensland,
Australia
Friday, July 18, 2008
We spent Wednesday exploring Brisbane, but did not take many pictures because my camera wasn't working and one of our errands that day was to pick up a new one. Brisbane is a nice, clean and quiet city (although still livelier than Canberra)
Me, a Very Scared Paul and the Python
. That evening, we met up with our friend Hudson, who we had met while in wine country. His wife Leah had gone to Brazil for a few weeks, but he had offered to meet us for a drink. We had a great time, and I was introduced to my second favorite Aussie beer (Boag's being the first)--James Squire. The story behind James Squire beer was that he was sent over to Australia as a convict and got caught stealing supplies to make beer. Since the officials who caught him liked the beer he made, they reduced his fine to 150 lashes. After serving his sentence he started the brewery, which has been in business for over 150 years. I was particularly fond of the Golden Ale, which had a great flavor and no aftertaste. By far the highlight of our trip was on Thursday, however. On Thursday, Paul and I headed to the Australia Zoo. The Australia Zoo is a privately owned zoo that was founded by the late Steve Irwin's (The Crocodile Hunter) parents, and was then owned by Steve Irwin and his wife, and is now owned by Irwin's wife. The zoo takes the approach that people will be more likely to take an interest in animals if they come in contact with them, so it is designed to facilitate animal/people encounters. While there, Paul and I were able to feed and pet kangaroos and koala bears, and hold a giant Burmese python. In addition, there were other activities that were available if people wanted to pay for them (take tigers and cheetahs for a walk, feed and touch the elephants, play with lemurs, tortoises and wombats, etc.)
Me and the Koala Bear
. It was a great time for people and kids of all ages. And, of course, there were crocodiles everywhere--some were enormous! One of them particularly hated Steve Irwin after he caught it, and would become aggressive (leading to the name Mr. Aggressive, or Agro for short) when it heard Irwin's voice; it also hated lawn mowers and attacked them all of the time--four of them are apparently lying at the bottom of his lagoon. Paul has decided that when he grows up he wants to be a kangaroo at the Australia Zoo because all they do is lie around all day in the sun while people come up to them with food and pet them. Probably the funniest part of the day was when Paul decided we should get our photograph taken with the python. I was shocked, because Paul is afraid of snakes (and spiders, and bugs, and rats and lots of other things--he is a big scaredy-cat). He insisted, however, and it was pretty cool. The snake was heavy (about 50 pounds) and felt really scaly. Paul was terrified, and the poor photographer took about 5 pictures and finally said to Paul "why aren't you smiling? you look scared," and Paul said "that's because I am!" Finally, she managed to get a decent shot where Paul looks like he is smiling, but you can tell he's pretty scared in the picture.
Undoubtedly, my favorite part of the day was taking a picture holding the koala bear. He was 5 years old, about 20 pounds and was extremely soft and fluffy--except for his really long and sharp claws. He was adorable and I wanted to keep him. They are very lazy creatures and apparently sleep for about 23 hours a day, so I decided when I grew up, I want to be a koala at the Australia zoo. I also enjoyed watching the tiger cubs. They reminded me of my cats, Tigger and Finn. Finn especially reminded me of the tiger cub that would get up, walk two feet, and then flop over dramatically as if exhausted by the exertion of moving. It's amazing how tame the big cats are--we would watch as the zookeepers would pet them as if they were 10-pound tabbies instead of 300 pound wild cats.
It was a fantastic experience, and is well worth with the trip and the relatively high entrance fee ($50) for the truly unique experience. Next stop: Port Douglas in the north part of Queensland. It is always warm up there, so we are looking forward to spending the week before the wedding relaxing at the beach and pool.
Comments
The Python
Apparently the Australian atmosphere has warped your better judgement. Koala's...cute Kangaroo's... ok. Pythons? Oh Helllllllllllllll no!
Paul and his python
Boy Paul I can see why you were scared, that thing was big, long and heavy. Only Red is used to handeling something like that. What no STINGRAYS at that zoo? Shannon, you do not like kids? You holding that koala looks like a loving mother holding her new born!! You're a natural.
Sorry I have not posted in awhile, been working alot. Well have fun this week, the 25th is getting closer, then the fun stops. (:
Also Paul, get in touch with your brother John, he left me a message, he wanted to talk to you about Hawks tix. Sorry for the personal note.