A Day at the Australia Zoo

Would you believe it, I rolled out of bed at – I kid you not – 5:30am! A few things on the computer, finishing touches of packing my new travel pack, and a shower later I was out the door. Missed Skyping with Mom, Dad and Adam this morning, but I hit them with emails. The common phrase here is “no worries.”

After scrambling about the emails I caught the 10:30am Greyhound to Beerway for a day at the Australia Zoo. It was a lot of fun! I noticed that when you go to the zoo on your own you’re able to move about so much quicker than when you go with a huge group of kids, haha. I remember going to the Cincinnati and Indianapolis zoos with my mom and her daycare and I always felt like we didn’t get to see the giraffes or penguins or something because it took ages to move the group along. But no worries, I was able to see each and every animal there was to see.

The Australia Zoo was actually much smaller than I had imaged; it housed only Australian animals and two South Asian animals (tigers and elephants). The day was a lot of fun, nevertheless. As you might imagine, the place was littered with memorabilia, photos, statues and the like for The Crocodile Hunter, the late Steve Irwin. Apparently his daughter, Bindi, is heading up a kids music/dance/show thing now – looked completely corny to me because it’s this kid girl, Bindi, and then four mid-20-aged men for the back-up singers??? Strange, but whatever. Oh, and the Irwins have a little boy; learned that today.

I got a lot of great photos in, saw a bunch of animals I’d never seen before and a few I’d never even heard of before. I think the Koalas were my favorite to photograph, but I got an awesome shot of a Cassowary (to me it was an Ostrich with a horn, haha; prehistoric-looking). Here are a few of my favorite shots from today:

Shot of the Irwin family statue at the entrance of the zoo. With a crocodile, of course!



Me with the huge crocodile statue. It reminded me of the croc in Hook; you know, the one where they stuff a clock in its mouth!



Dad, Grandma and Grandpa, this shot is for you - they didn't have any cockatoos in the aviary but this lady had one so I snapped a photo. Reminds me of Bianca! We weren't allowed to hold the pets that zoo employees carried around like that...



This is probably my favorite shot of the day: a sleeping koala. I have it set as my desktop right now. I'm probably going to try sketching it soon.



Me with the late Steve Irwin!



They had a huge display for Steve near the Crocodile Stadium/Show Ring area thing. I got the gist that it wasn't the same without him and he's definitely a huge icon for Australia. He's very missed.



KANGAROOS! I'd never seen one in real life until now! They're so chilled out; you can walk right up to them, feed them, pet them - they're cool with it all.



Me petting a kangaroo!



Me petting a koala; it wasn't too interested, but I'm happy about petting it altogether!



The Australia Zoo had only Australian animals (no giraffes or lions or anything - maybe why I found it to be a smaller zoo) with the exception of two South East Asian animals: tigers and elephants. This is me next to a huge statue of a tiger.



The best shot I could get of two of the three new Bengal tigers.




Me sitting on a tree stump, smack in the middle of Kangaroo Land.



I caught this baby wallaby in action, jumping away from the little kids nearby who apparently scared it to death!



Here's a shot I got once the poor little thing wound down a bit. Grandma Bennett, this bit is just for you: the difference between a Kangaroo and a Wallaby is much the same as the difference between a Greyhound and a Whippet. One is a miniature version of the other.



This is a shot of a couple of Echindas. They look like porcupines, but don't be mislead - they're actually marsupials and not related to our spiky creatures at all.



A shot of the littlest elephant on its way to star in a show.



Here are the elephants leaving the show they performed. I dunno about the rest of you, but I had no idea elephants actually held themselves together in a line, tail to trunk! I'd seen it in Dumbo and thought it was just something Disney threw in, but nope! Elephants really do that!



Me with the infamous Crocodile Hunter-mobile!



Cool shot of a Cassowary.



A Dingo came out of it's cove to say hello and be photographed!



More Australian slang for ya:
*motorway = Interstate
*pop = put (i.e., at the market when I was purchasing some fresh watermelon chunks the clerk said, “I’ll just pop it in a bag with a fork for you, dear.”
*diary = agenda book/calendar journal

A few more differences between Australia and the States that I’ve noticed:
*bagels are non-existant; everything here is croissant and I dearly miss my Thomas bagles
*instead of saying or posting signs that say “bathroom” or “restroom,” Australians say/post “toilet;” right to the point, huh?
*”rubbish bins” are all over the place; explains why the city and everywhere I’ve been thus far has been so clean and free of trash on the streets and side walks – excuse me – footpaths

All righty, I’m going to walk around Maroochydore and grab a bite to eat. Tomorrow’s agenda: Internet, Post, bust to Mooloolaba, enjoy the day at the beach, then bus it to Noosa and crash at the YHA up there for the night. Check back soon!

-Amanda