Saturday, May 2

What a complete turnabout with the weather – we woke to a beautiful sunrise and a clear day. Since it was so nice, we decided to head to the Australia Zoo for the day. We weren’t sure how busy it would be but were pleasantly surprised by the low numbers of people there in the morning.

On the way to the zoo, John found another “big” thing – a Big Mower!

We were talking with one of the keepers, and he said that a lot of the zoo had been flooded the night before and some of the staff was there until 3 a.m. and then back for opening. That’s dedication! We also heard that a lot of the roads further out in the back country were flooded and some aren’t expected to be open for 3 to 4 days.

The zoo was so much fun – of course, I couldn’t resist the koalas any time I saw them – there was one right inside the entrance waiting to greet visitors and I headed straight for her. The zoo photographer snapped my photo but the photo John took was better. Our first stop was at the cassowary enclosure and we were rewarded by some great views of them. However, one was hiding in the foliage (laying down) and it was extremely difficult to spot – no wonder we didn’t see one in the Daintree. If they don’t want to be seen, they won’t be.

We wandered around until almost time for the Wildlife Warrior show at the Crocoseum. The show is big on conservation but not in a beat you over the head with it way. They started the show with some birds and then moved on to the croc show. It’s always fascinating to watch the crocs. The show involved showing how crocs move through the water and on land and what attracts them to their prey. It was good info (even if we are now out of the croc area).

After the show, we went to the koala talk – did you know that koala in the aboriginal language means no drink? There was a lot of great and heartbreaking info about the status of koalas and why they are so endangered. After the talk (which took place in the enclosure where some of the younger koalas who have just recently been weaned are kept. They have more energy than older ones and were moving around almost all the time the talk was on.

We took the shuttle around the park, but didn’t stop in “Asia” and “Africa” as we were running low on time and still had more of the Aussie animals to see. We did find the wombats, the kangaroos and the echidna enclosure but the echidnas were hiding in logs. I guess they were tired after the previous night’s storm.

When we finished at the zoo, we had a sneak peek at the Australia Zoo Wildlife Hospital. It was quite impressive but we only saw the facilities, not the patients or the staff.

The lorikeets have decided that the trees outside the condo make a good spot for the night – they are extremely loud from about 1/2 hour before sunset to 1/2 hour after.

Sunday, May 3

There was a market in Caloundra today. Unfortunately, it was most of the stuff we had by-passed at the Eumundi Markets. Sinc a lookout we were already out, we drove south to the Wild Horse Lookout – a spot we tried to visit on our first visit to the area, only it wBaas closed due to a controlled burn. It was open today and was a steep 700 m climb.

The views were worth it though (even though we couldn’t find the supposed easy geocache that was hidden there). It was a busy spot by the time we were heading back down. The mountains are the Glasshouse Mountains and there is a legend about how they were created.

Back to the condo to make a picnic lunch and then off to the north. There was a castle in the town of Bli Bli – the Sunshine Castle. It sounded kind of intriguing so that was our destination. It wasn’t that large of a castle, but they had some nice old weapons and a huge doll collection. Apparently, the person who started the castle did it to house his wife’s doll collection.

We made our way back to the condo, by way of the back roads and looked for a beach to eat our lunch. We found Dicky Beach which was a nice spot and were entertained by a fellow on a bicycle who was exercising his dog and his goat! Unfortunately, I didn’t grab the camera quickly enough.

After a quick stop to pick up some prawns for dinner, we came back to the condo for some relaxation.

The Australia Zoo is an amazing place. The employees are very helpful and obviously enjoy their jobs – the main message of the zoo is conservation. There’s a lot of opportunities to get close to the animals with showtimes, photo sessions, wandering wildlife (with a keeper), and the main show at the Crocoseum.

We arrived at the zoo at 9 (when they opened) and spent the whole day wandering around until we left at 4:15 p.m. (they close at 4:30)

Our first goal was to get my photo with a koala, so we went to the wildlife photo area after checking out the croc pens. I got to cuddle “Ash” – a 2 year old male koala and he was so soft and cuddly. Can you tell I really enjoyed the experience? I wanted to smuggle him home but the keepers were watching too carefully.

While we were waiting for the photo session to start, we spotted this

reticulated python in a pen nearby – she’s 7 metres long and weighs 150 kg. and she hasn’t finished growing yet.

After the photo, we checked out a few more of the enclosures and then headed to the Crocoseum for a fun-filled, informative show called the Wildlife Warriors Show. There were birds (flying and swimming), snakes, elephants and,

of course, a crocodile. John got too close to one of the crocs

– luckily he managed to escape. Actually we did get close to one croc – it was a baby that was being shown around by the staff – we had a photo taken but it’s in print form so you’ll have to wait to see it.

We finally found the wombats – one of the keepers was “exercising” one of them by playing tag.

He was so cute (the wombat in case you’re wondering which he I was talking about). The next animal we really wanted to see were the echidnas – and they didn’t disappoint. They kind of waddle when they walk (I took a lot of video with my camera but can’t post them because they’re too big).

Just before we left, we headed for the Cassowary enclosure again – they had been hiding in the back when we were there at the beginning of the day. We could spot one of them moving around so we waited (along with another couple who were from Sudbury, Ontario) and our patience was rewarded.

He came right up to the feeding bucket in front of us.

It was a great day and definitely a place to visit if you’re in the area.

Temperature: 21 C – sunny with cloudy periods