Friday morning I woke up early to start breakfast for the house. Sarah came home around seven fifteen and after Daniel woke up, she helped me cook a vegetable egg scramble and toast. We ate together on the back deck and soon after, Simon arrived. Daniel still knew nothing. He was wearing jeans and at one point I mentioned we'd be on a long walk that day and suggested he put on shorts instead. I'm uncertain if he thought I was being strange that morning, though he didn't say anything. Sometimes I am strange.
Simon was hilarious and nervously asked me, "What do I say if he asks me where we're going?" I just laughed and said, "I don't know." He said, "I can't tell him I don't know!" And I replied, "Tell him it's a surprise." He told me, "I think you should do that." I let him know he didn't need to worry. Daniel is a mellow dude. Before we left the house at eight thirty I did inform Daniel that we were taking him for a birthday surprise. He just said, "Okay." (See? Mellow.)
As Sarah was driving us to our friend, Ainsley's apartment to pick her up, Simon let it slip where we were going. (The man has trouble keeping secrets.) Luckily, I pretended it didn't happen, and Daniel didn't seem to notice. He knew something happened because Sarah gave Simon a little slap on the leg and said, "You're useless." I had to laugh very quietly.
The zoo is in the Sunshine Coast, which is a little over an hours drive from here. The closer we got, the more signs popped up. And one huge billboard with Steve Irwin's face on it. It's one of the only times I've been thankful Daniel is obsessed with his phone. He missed everything! Finally he looked up and turned to me. He guessed, "Are we going to the zoo?" And then to everyone he repeated himself, "Are we going to the zoo you guys?" I smiled at him and took his photo so you all could enjoy his happy face.
T'was a joyful surprise!
Sarah and Simon actually gifted Daniel entrance to the park, and we all paid two dollars extra to visit the Wildlife Animal Hospital. Usually it's twenty dollars and my friend, April told me it was worth it. The first reptiles we saw were three huge Iguanas lounging on a rock in the sun. Their size was impressive on the way in, and completely subdued on the way out. What with the gigantic crocodiles that were in our future!
These guys are called Rhinoceros Iguanas and are about a metre long.
One of the zoo keepers was walking around with a Shingleback lizard. Daniel and I recognised it immediately from watching, "In Cold Blood" with David Attenborough. I was excited to see one in real life and get to pet it. (Not that they're soft.) This "Sleepy Lizard" was one of my favourites on the show. I asked the keeper, "Don't they mate for life?" He told me that they do indeed, although they spend quite a bit of the year alone. Then come mating season, between September and November, they reunite with their same partners. I remember in the episode Daniel and I saw together, one Shingleback had been hit by a car and it's mate had stayed with it for several weeks, even though it had died. It endeared me to the creature.
Me and Sarah listening to Jeremy talk about the Shingleback.
Next we came across two Aldabran Tortoises. The female was headed right for where we were standing with the male following close behind. They then proceeded to have sex in front of us. It was rather interesting and funny. He made some odd sounds during his performance.
This is not zoomed in, they were literally a few metres from us!
He's chasing her for more.
See the little lizard watching them?
Then we walked by and gushed over the Koalas, all sleeping in their Eucalyptus branches. They were so fluffy and cute! I really really wanted to hold one that day, and it was in the plans!
Daniel pointing at the fluffy squish!
The Fluffy Squish!
We found ourselves at the food court because Ainsley needed coffee and Simon needed breakfast. So we sat for a few minutes while our friends replenished themselves. The food court is on the second floor of the "Crocoseum" where they put on shows. Over-looking three tanks of saltwater crocodiles below was my first glance at the ancient beasts, and I watched them, still as stones at the bottom of the water, fascinated.
Downstairs we found ourselves at the Kid's Zoo where we met and pet some crazy goats and sleeping pigs. While there, Ainsley purchased some Kangaroo food for all of us, so that later we could feed them. That was very exciting to think about!
Ainsley is not scared of goats, even though as a child one head-butted her.
Sarah and the sweet little piggies.
Then there were camels;
completely unwilling to perform for us.
The Cassowaries entertained us by swallowing
huge pieces of fruit without chewing.
By nature, these are not friendly birds.
We walked by quite a few sleeping animals, including some cute little Dingoes. You would never think looking at them that the are capable of being viscous. They just look like they will be your dogie friends. We did read, though that some Aboriginals have tamed them and used them to assist in hunting excursions. I do not know if this is still in practice. Other sleeping creatures we gazed upon were the Tasmanian Devils. Another very sweet looking animal that you want to pick up and cuddle. But you never will. Then we happened upon some American Alligators. They are smaller than crocodiles, and their teeth are more like pegs than points.
American Alligators lounging in the sun.
This is Scrappa, a saltwater croc. He is much larger than
the alligators. Plus, he was just laying there with his mouth open.
(slightly intimidating!)
Part of the Irwin family!
Our friends indulged me in cheesy photos a few times. Sarah always asks me, "Is it for your blog?" And I always tell her yes! The young person I asked to take this photo happened to be American and he was very polite to participate. Sarah asked if I knew where he was from and I guessed California because of his accent and the way he was dressed. It's hard to say for sure, as I'm aware now that us West-Coasters are more difficult to place.
The Komodo Dragon and myself.
Baby Otters! Adding more cute to our pile!
We walked through a Rainforest Aviary and saw heaps of neat birds.
I do not know the name of these birds, although they're wicked cool.
There was a huge room full of Australian Snakes to see. We made our way through and it seemed to creep the girls out. Since there was no spider room, I did fine because snakes do not bother me. A display in the middle of the space showed us the bones of a twenty foot long Boa constrictor next to a Pig that it was likely to have eaten. There was a "Croc Show" at noon that we wanted to see. We had to quickly make our way past the Common Wambats, more Koalas, and through the Red Kangaroos in order to be on time.
Always time to stop for a photo of these guys!
This is also not zoomed in, you can walk right up to them.
As we were in the middle of "Roo Heaven" and because this is Queensland, it suddenly began to rain. And it began to rain hard! We took shelter under a covered space and out of nowhere, and from every direction, Kangaroos starting hopping towards us! They also were not keen to get soaked under the deluge. We decided since we weren't going anywhere for a while, to stay and feed some. They are so much softer than I ever expected them to be. This was a really neat part of our trip. And the rain turned out to be rather fortuitous for us.
Sarah and Daniel making new friends.
They're getting acquainted.
And now they're best buds.
Thankfully, the downpour did not last long and we set off again to see the croc show. Luckily, it is also a bird show and we hadn't missed much. We found some seats which we abandoned after five minutes because it started raining again, went higher up in the stadium and watched the neat animals fly around and come back. They had an impressive Condor with a wing span of three metres! It's the largest flying land bird in the western hemisphere. And they had one vulture perform a trick for us. His handler asked for a volunteer and I was ready to go, however, he was looking at the other side of the stadium so he didn't see my enthusiasm. He chose a woman to stand up, pull a five dollar note from her pocket and hold it out. The bird flew to her, landed on her arm and took the money. He then returned to his handler. After some information about the bird and a few jokes at the woman's expense, the feathered flier gave the lady back her money. It was a neat trick.
I liked his pink and red feathers.
Before long, we were introduced to Mossman, a giant saltwater crocodile who was ready to eat. The crew working with him did an amazing job. I can not imagine being as close as they get to what is definitely one of the most dangerous living beings on our planet. In addition to giving us back story on the animals, making sure to not get eaten (one of the guys actually gets in the water to entice the animal), they also tease and joke with one another to make it entertaining for the crowd. And they were making us laugh.
Look at the size of him!
This guy jumped into the water, stomped through it
and hopped out the other side. That's a dead bird in his hand.
Having eaten the bird like it was a skittle,
Mossman now seems more interested in a larger meal.
Crocodiles can jump straight up into the air using the power of their tails.
I read a book where a lady was nabbed by a croc from a tree branch as
she was trying to escape.
By the way, because these guys were wearing microphones we could easily hear the chomping sound the crocodile was making as he ate and snapped at the handlers. The sound totally freaked me out! The last bit they showed us was a big pig leg on a rope. They slapped it against the water and Mossman went for it. He played tug of war with one of the guys and we saw him do half a dozen barrel rolls and then sink down to try and drown the pig so it would stop fighting him. It wasn't a long show and we only saw the one croc, but it was worth it; so neat and scary!
After the show, it was still raining so we decided to have lunch. Daniel and I shared a vegetarian "burger" sandwich with French fries. Downstairs, people were having their photograph taken with either a huge snake or a tiny koala. We decided to check it out after our meal. They had finished when we got down there, however, there was a sign saying they'd be back at two. We planned to return and set out to see more animals! Walking through the wetland birds, there wasn't much to see. I think the rain had them hiding up in trees. It wasn't a complete bust . . .
This is a Jabirus
This is a Brolgas
We passed Emus and horses on our way to the Elephants. Sarah seemed really excited to see some elephants! She claps when she is excited; it's awesome. There were two elephants out and about and we could come back at three to hand feed them!
These ladies eat 300 kilograms each and every day.
Tiger Time!
Here kitty kitty kitty. I wanted to take one home, kinda.
The new Africa exhibit was open so we took a long walk to see some Southern White Rhinoceroses, Giraffes, and Zebras. There were Cheetahs on the property, although that part of the exhibit is not yet open. The zoo is 100 acres right now and they're hoping to triple that in the near future. It was hard to see the animals because the space was so large and they were really far away. In order to make it back on time to get our photos taken with a koala bear, we decided to take the train shuttle. It was nice to sit down for a few minutes, as well.
Zebra, Rhinos, and Giraffes in background.
Cuddled up on the train.
We made it on time to hug Koala Bears!! There were allowed to be more than one person in a photo so the plan was for me to hold the bear and Daniel be in the picture with me. The two of us were behind our friends and after Sarah and Simon paid for their picture, they turned around and gave me a pass. Sarah said, "This is for Daniel." I thought it meant that whoever was in the photo had to have a pass so the photographer knew how many people to count. When it was my turn at the register, I paid for my photo and got another pass. Daniel had run to wash his hands and when he joined me in line again I handed him his pass. He asked me what it was and I told him that I didn't actually know. So he asked Sarah who said, "We bought the picture for your birthday! But then Joanna bought another one!" I laughed and told them that I hadn't understood. We decided to go for it anyway, instead of getting our money back, and that way we'd both get to hold the koala! Yay!
Sarah, Simon, baby Koala
Ainsley and the baby Koala
She's telling me to hold him with strong arms.
He's so squishy!
Awwwww!!!!!
Simon took these photos for us.
Look at those claws!
After koala cuddling, we passed back through Roo Heaven to get to the Elephant feeding. We had heaps of Kangaroo food left and decided to spend a little bit of time trying to get rid of it. It's a popular past time at the zoo; these animals are very well fed. By the afternoon, they didn't even want to eat anymore! One very little boy said as we walked by him and his mum, "They're just too full!" There were small piles of food on the ground everywhere. We also passed the Koala Walk-through and this time they were awake and active. Or at least, actively eating!
Sarah, Simon, Kangaroos and Wild Turkey.
It was easy to spot visitors to this land because they were taking photos
of the wild turkeys. When you live here, you know they're just pests who tear up your gardens!
This big guy was just eating out of our hands;
apparently he was shy for the camera.
Umm nom nom!
Feeding the Elephant was so cool! They asked us not to pat the elephants because it would be like walking up to a stranger, saying hello and then slapping them on the face. Elephants are sensitive animals and they are only familiar with their trainers. The smaller elephant takes her food from you by wrapping her trunk around your hand, so if you wanted to feel them, that was the line to be in. We were already in her line, yay! The trunk is used as a hand, a horn, a nose, a straw, and even a snorkel. It weighs about three hundred kilograms all on its own. The skin is rough, dry and kind of scratchy. Also it left my hand a tiny bit sticky, haha! Everyone went around the line to feed her twice, except me and Daniel because we were snapping photos so everyone got theirs taken. (We could have gone around as many times as we wanted. I felt thankful and satisfied feeding her just once.) We all loved the experience.
Look how happy Sarah's face is. She loves elephants.
I love this photo of Ainsley because she looks like a little kid. So cute!
It looks like Simon is shaking her hand hello.
I fed her a big piece of sweet potato.
Gimmie the food, Birthday Boy!
All smiles, at this point, we decided to make our way out of the zoo. We had seen all the animals, and pet many of them. After all those hours of excitement, a few of us were getting a bit tired. Getting back to the entrance you have to again pass through Roo Heaven. Once again we attempted to rid ourselves of all the kangaroo food. Daniel and I had some luck with a tiny Wallaby. He was so small and cute and quiet. He did not want to eat off the ground, he wanted to eat from our hands. And he didn't want the corn kernels in the mix and tried to bite around them. So I helped and picked them off my palm. Wallabies actually have two huge bottom front teeth. And not once did I feel them against my hand. He was a really gentle fellow.
Smaller than a kangaroo and possibly cuter, too.
I love the sunlight in this picture.
This croc statue is a replica of how big they could become.
And once again, my friends and a helpful stranger made this photo happen!
Daniel wanted his picture taken with Steve.
His presence is felt all over the zoo, and that's nice.
Daniel and I talked about how we both wish he was still alive.
Before leaving we had to pick up our koala pictures. Ainsley and I had our photo taken by one of the workers while we were feeding the kangaroos and there was a polaroid of us that she was able to take for free. Finally we exited by way of the American Alligators. These were mostly the parents of the little ones we had seen earlier that day.
The Wildlife Hospital was much smaller than it looked online. We did see an orphaned joey, whose mum was hit and killed by a vehicle. He was snuggled in a pouch made of soft blankets. There were also two injured koala bears. One had a broken neck from being hit by a car, and the other had a broken arm from being attacked by dogs. They were both on the mend and eating eucalyptus. They do a lot of local animal rescuing, much of it from the ocean due to nets and general human littering. This is a place that genuinely cares about animals and awareness. I'm so thankful we got to participate in their journey.
The big one is Barney and they say he's cranky because it's
mating season so he's protecting his girlfriend.
Daniel knows he's supposed to be intimidated and impressed.
I think this one is called, "Fang 2"
He has about 80 teeth in that head.
That evening we were very mellow. We made burritos for dinner (Thanks for the black beans, Ma and Pa!) and had Sarah try one. It was infinitely better than the ones we had at Southbank. And later that evening I had a bath because I wanted a hot tub and that was as close as I was going to get. It's been between 68 and 77 which means I'm freezing!
Australia Zoo is awesome. Our friends are awesome. Daniel's birthday is awesome. You are all awesome! (We still have kangaroo food. . . )
Absolutely amazing and wonderful!!! Thanks for the pics and stories! I am so happy you guys got to go!!!!
ReplyDeleteIts so neat how up-close and personal you can get with all those animals! Amazing!! Awesome blog Josie. Love to you and Daniel, Happy Birthday Daniel, we love you! Jeanine
ReplyDeleteLooks like it was a fun day!
ReplyDeleteChristopher showed me this video on YouTube of this guy in S. Africa who is friends with lions. He plays with them and loves on them. And they LOVE him! So now I want a lion. :)