Australia Zoo, Home of the Crocodile Hunter

We decided to rent a car to go to the Australia zoo. This time we had a little Daewoo and it was standard. Tim found it a bit weird at first but quickly got the hang of it. It took about an hour to get there. Once we got out of town, the drive was really nice. There were odd shaped mountains all around us and numerous kangaroo signs along the side of the road.

Australia Zoo

Unfortunately, we did not see Steve Irwin but we did find out that his parents opened the zoo back in 1970 and called it the Beerwah Reptile Park. Then in 1992, Steve and his wife took over management. They're actually expanding it and later this year will be opening a new exhibit called Madagascar, just like the movie.

Australia Zoo 10

Our first stop was the kangaroos. We were able to go right up close and feed them. Some even had little joeys in their pouches where you could see little feet sticking out. So we stayed there for a bit but then made our way into the building to have my picture taken with a koala. Finally, I was able to cuddle a koala but only for a minute while Tim took my picture. After that, we watched a tiger show where the keeper had them running after a huge cat toy. He would throw it into the water and the cats would jump in after it. The way it was set up, you could see them swimming in the water. It was really neat to see how high they could jump. We also saw some elephants, crocodiles, birds, koalas and a 175 year old tortoise.

Australia Zoo 11

On our way back to the hostel, we took a little detour and stopped at a lookout. There we got a better view of those oddly shaped mountains. According to one of the signs posted, they used to be volcanoes millions of years ago.

We have been in contact with the Lone Pine Sanctuary and will most likely be doing the one day keeper training program this Wednesday. After that, were heading up the coast to Rockhampton, the beef capital of Australia where we will be able to stay on a working cattle station.

Australia Zoo 12

Australia Zoo 13

Australia Zoo 14

Australia Zoo 15

Australia Zoo 16

Australia Zoo 17

Australia Zoo 18

Australia Zoo 19

Australia Zoo 2

Australia Zoo 20

Australia Zoo 21

Australia Zoo 22

Australia Zoo 23

Australia Zoo 24

Australia Zoo 25

Australia Zoo 26

Australia Zoo 27

Australia Zoo 28

Australia Zoo 29

Australia Zoo 3

Australia Zoo 30

Australia Zoo 31

Australia Zoo 32

Australia Zoo 33

Australia Zoo 34

Australia Zoo 35

Australia Zoo 36

Australia Zoo 37

Australia Zoo 38

Australia Zoo 39

Australia Zoo 4

Australia Zoo 40

Australia Zoo 41

Australia Zoo 42

Australia Zoo 43

Australia Zoo 44

Australia Zoo 45

Australia Zoo 46

Australia Zoo 47

Australia Zoo 48

Australia Zoo 49

Australia Zoo 5

Australia Zoo 50

Australia Zoo 51

Australia Zoo 52

Australia Zoo 53

Australia Zoo 54

Australia Zoo 55

Australia Zoo 56

Australia Zoo 57

Australia Zoo 58

Australia Zoo 59

Australia Zoo 6

Australia Zoo 60

Australia Zoo 61

Australia Zoo 62

Australia Zoo 63

Australia Zoo 64

Australia Zoo 65

Australia Zoo 66

Australia Zoo 67

Australia Zoo 68

Australia Zoo 69

Australia Zoo 7

Australia Zoo 70

Australia Zoo 71

Australia Zoo 72

Australia Zoo 73

Australia Zoo 74

Australia Zoo 75

Australia Zoo 76

Australia Zoo 77

Australia Zoo 78

Australia Zoo 79

Australia Zoo 8

Australia Zoo 80

Australia Zoo 81

Australia Zoo 82

Australia Zoo 83

Australia Zoo 84

Australia Zoo 85

Australia Zoo 86

Australia Zoo 87

Australia Zoo 88

Australia Zoo 89

Australia Zoo 9

Australia Zoo 90

Australia Zoo 91

Australia Zoo 92

Australia Zoo 93

Australia Zoo 94

Australia Zoo 95

Australia Zoo 96