Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary

Last major animal excursion for the trip: Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary in Brisbane. It's a smaller wildlife center than the other ones we'd been to, but they had shows and demonstrations going every half hour or so which made it feel like there was a lot to do, and we actually ended up spending most of the day there. 

I really enjoyed the wild lorikeet feeding. The staff put solutions of nectar into little containers and we got to hold them up for the birds to land on. They were fierce, loud little creatures and gobbling up the food like a storm. Sometimes something would spook them and they would all fly away together and swoop back around in a loop. 

Next we went by the barn to see the baby chicks and guinea pigs and sheep and goats. They allowed little kids to hold the babies and they were so adorable! The chicks would cheep and the guinea pigs just sat there looking sad and not moving. I didn’t know they could stay so still. Afterward was the sheep dog and shearing presentation. The border collie was super fast and herded the sheep around the obstacles quite well. The other dog was used for rounding them in at the end to the enclosure. And then he could stand on top of the sheep to keep tabs on them. Seeing a sheep get sheared was an interesting experience. Poor sheep. 

We pet some kangaroos and took pictures of the wallabies that didn’t want to be touched. Then was the wildlife encounter with birds and a dingo, the birds of prey show which was fun because there were real, wild birds overhead (called kites) that were scaring the birds in the show, and a koala presentation where we learned some facts about koalas. We had to get the photo holding a koala -- at least the money is going to a good cause. It was heavier than I thought it would be and the smell of eucalyptus was quite strong (the trainer was feeding it leaves to keep it pacified). Finally, we saw the platypus and Tasmanian Devil presentations and checked out the rest of the animals. It started raining just as we were headed to the gift shop. 

 

Australia Zoo

We went to the Australia Zoo (founded by Steve Irwin's parents and now plastered with his family's images) and spent the day there seeing the animals and shows. It's about an hour's drive north of Brisbane. Highlights were:

• Bird and crocodile show: I was very nervous for the trainers! There were so many crocodiles at this park. 
• Tiger feeding: The trainers showed us how they feed cream to the tigers and are able to draw their blood without having to put them under anesthetic. They are such gorgeous creatures. Pretty much huge cats.
• Kangaroo petting: There's a big enclosure where they just roam around and tolerate the visitors petting them.

started off the bird and crocodile show with...a dinosaur?

dingos are so cute

The cassowary is 3rd tallest bird (behind ostrich and emu) in the world.

definitely can see the link to dinosaurs with huge, three-toed feet and sharp claws

I think this lizard was trying to blend in by being super close to its sign.

Around Brisbane

We made it safely to Brisbane and picked up our Hertz rental car, a small, silver, bug-shaped model, then drove south of the city to our host's house. We chatted for a bit and then she took us to the mall so we could grocery-shop for the week. The mall had a Target -- a Target! -- so we couldn't resist popping in and checking out the clearance racks. I spotted my first Australian bugs, two small cockroaches in the bathroom, but they ran back into a crack before I could do anything. 

The next day (after she hand-fed magpies from her patio - I couldn't believe how close they came; apparently they have walked into the house too!), she drove us around Brisbane which was really nice because we would definitely have had a hard time trying to navigate all the places without GPS. We went to the Botanic Gardens which have a great view of the city, Mount Coot-tha, and a jetty out on the water.

Darling Harbor

On our last full day in Sydney, we checked out Darling Harbor and then went to the National Maritime Museum. It was quite affordable for the exhibit-only ticket (not the ships outside or the special exhibit): $3.50 for students. The museum had a lot of stuff -- odds and ends of ship things plus the military aspects. I especially liked the section on stories from ship passengers who arrived in Australia as kids. There was even a Big Brother Australia program to get young boys from Britain here to work on the farms. And the White Australia policy wasn’t officially over until the 1970s.

Next we went to see Jurassic World for the second time, but this time in the "world's biggest IMAX screen". The theater was very poorly organized and managed, with masses of people and no crowd control, and they started late. But we still enjoyed the IMAX experience!

We wandered through a small Chinatown and ended up eating at the mall food court. D got lemon chicken and rice and I got garlic beef and fried rice. Meals were very affordable, plus they came on sizzling platters! We got gelato and sat outside looking over the nighttime harbor, then walked home. The city is very walkable, although it is warm when the sun is out but gets chilly when it goes down like anywhere else, which makes it difficult to plan for what to wear.