Brisbane Part 2 - Australia Zoo

Brisbane, Thursday, July 13, 2017 - Australia Zoo

We were excited for our much anticipated trip to the Australia Zoo, owned by the famous Irwin family. We hopped in our rental car after breakfast and drove an hour and a quarter northwest of Brisbane. It was easy to find and not crowded at all. We had purchased our tickets at the hotel, so we walked right up (there really weren’t any lines anyway) and they scanned our tickets and we were inside. 

The first area we walked through was the American alligators, where we were surprised to learn that they have a very long lifespan. They had a granny gator there who was born in the 1930's! 

We then headed into the reptile house, where Ewan admired the dozens of varieties of venomous snakes and other lizards. 

We walked through an aviary and then into the Red Kangaroo pen, a gated area where these cute little guys were roving (more like lying) about. They were incredibly tame and friendly, and we had fun patting and taking pics with them. 

From there we continued down the path to the Koala Walk-through, a small covered structure where guests were allowed to get up close to these adorable creatures. They had a short staircase where guests could climb up and reach up to pat the back soft, wooly back of a koala that was perched up in a tree. I was *so excited * to touch one, I was beside myself!! I couldn't stop snapping photos as we were so close to them. 

We were keeping an eye on time, as we wanted to catch the Wildlife Warriors show at the main arena known as the "Crocoseum." We headed there and found great seats easily, as the zoo wasn't crowded at all. The show was awesome, featuring beautiful birds, including a giant condor with an incredible wingspan of seven feet!  They brought out snakes, which trainers paraded around the arena so we could get a closer look. 

Finally, they brought out the star of the show, a massive saltwater crocodile. The trainers demonstrated its ferocity and speed by rewarding it with large chunks of fish and meat that they tossed in its mouth, from a fair distance. 

After the show, we headed to the food court for a quick lunch, and we passed the wildlife studio photos, where people were having their picture taken with a koala. Ewan and I informed Gavin that we simply HAD to do this. We decided to wait until after lunch, but when we went back, they were taking a short break, so we bought some "roo food" and wandered into Roo Heaven, which is another huge gated area where grey kangaroos and wallabies roam free. We made some more marsupial friends here, though they greeted our generous handfuls of pellets with less enthusiasm than we had hoped, somewhat reluctantly nibbling the unremarkable snacks from our palms, tickling our fingers with their furry lips. Clearly these lazy loungers had met many other guests before us and accepted ample offerings already. Still, despite their lack of enthusiasm, they didn't mind us stroking and scratching their soft fur, and some were even cooperative enough to allow us to take a few selfies with them! 

One of the many tries at a "roo selfie" 

And an attempt at a family roo-selfie!

After killing enough time with the kangaroos, we went back to the wildlife photo studio where they were back in action. We stood in a short line, paid our $24.95 for our 8x10 print, plus $7.50 for the digital image on a CD, then stepped up to meet Ruby, an adorable cheeky toddler who apparently was starting to push her boundaries with the trainers, so they were very strict and specific about how and where we had to stand. After some amount of disagreement and negotiation, it was decided that Ewan would be the one to hold her for the pic. The trainer had Ewan overlap his hands, palms up in front of his stomach to form a little platform on which he rested Ruby's furry little bum, then draped her arms around Ewan's shoulders to give him a hug. After the photographer snapped our professional photo, we were allowed to pet her and take a few more of our own pics, and I even got a selfie with her. I was so enamored, and super jealous of the trainers whose job it was to cuddle koalas and drape them onto and pull them off of adoring tourists all day long. 

Cheeky Ruby

Professional shot

Selfie with Ruby!

This was by far the highlight of the day, but there was still much more to see. Afterwards, we walked past an impressive number of saltwater crocodiles, some of them quite magnificent in size and stature, so prehistoric and ferocious. 

We found even more koalas, as it seemed there were pens of these iconic Aussie animals scattered all over the zoo, and frankly, I just didn't tire of watching them. This time Ewan spotted one embracing a tiny joey clinging to its mama’s furry chest, so precious!!! We oohed and ahhhed for several minutes. 

The day went fast, and we still hadn't gone to the Africa section of the zoo, which was the furthest section away. We only had a half hour or so before the zoo closed, so we power walked our way over there, watching the number of steps on my Fitbit soar. We didn’t want to miss seeing the other gorgeous animals: tigers, zebras, rhinos, and of course my other favorites, the graceful giraffes. 

By this point, zoo workers were starting to shut down and were shooing us back toward the entrance, so off we went where we couldn't leave without a stop at the gift shop. 

We drove back to our hotel for a brief stop to freshen up before meeting more Kytherians who, once again my amazing networking Aunt Vikki had connected me with. We had arranged to meet at a restaurant a few blocks from our hotel called Riverbar, with a lovely waterfront setting. There we met Heather DeMarco, Annazena Black and her daughter Katina. We ate and drank and had a wonderful evening discussing all kinds of topics, comparing our countries and cultures. We visited for several hours until we were informed that "underages" couldn't be in the bar after 10:00, so we had to go, but by the time we parted it felt like we were old friends!