Australia Zoo - Crikey!

The Australia Zoo bus

 Our instinct was to make the zoo one of our first stops on this trip, simply because we're dying to see the local wildlife. Our hostel helped us book a shuttle and tickets to the zoo in Beerwah. We woke up early and hopped onto a giant yellow bus branded with Steve Irwin (his family first opened the zoo as a reptile park) and his signature "Crikey!" call. Our driver tells us all about the zoo and the Irwin family along the way. The zoo is also home to the Australia Zoo Wildlife Hospital, opened in honor of Steve's mom Lyn, who dreamed of a place where injured wildlife could be nursed to health and re-released. It's the largest of it's kind, caring for over 10,000 animals a year, and supported by the zoo and donations!

These must be the world's biggest Uggs!

One of our first events is feeding the elephants. I reach into a bucket and grab a piece of pineapple, then hold our my hand while Sabu gingerly slurps up the fruit. I find I've been holding my breath, because this beast, while friendly, is massive when you're standing next to it. Next, it's over to the Crocoseum for the Wildlife Warriors show. The Irwin family hosts this show, lead by Terri (Steve's wife) and accompanied by daughter Bindi, son Robert, and Steve's best friend Wes. I can't help feeling sad watching the family showing off their passion minus Steve, but at the same time I really admire that they can keep a brave face and continue their work.

This is a crazy show. Birds fly through the stadium, large snakes are paraded up the aisles (much to my dismay), and then there are the crocs. Huge, scaly, sneaky and terrifying. They wave around strips of raw meat to show off the croc's attack patterns. Yikes.

Now the real reason I wanted to go to the zoo is because I hear you can cuddle a koala. I wait in line to get my picture taken with Kramer, an eight-year-old male koala, so I can hold him for a few minutes. I ask if he's named after the Seinfeld character, and it turns out he has a brother named Cosmo. The trainer tells me how to place my hands and plops this sleepy furball into them, and the koala immediately wraps his arms around me. I am in love. It has big ears which the trainer has to move so they don't block my face when I look at the camera, too cute! The only problem is this koala stinks. I'm talking about a funk that stayed with me for the rest of the day - much like the B.B.O. mentioned in a certain Seinfeld episode.  Ironic.

My favorite part of the zoo was not even holding the koala, but feeding the roos. They have a huge fenced area where the roos roam free. A departing Aussie gives us the rest of his kangaroo food and we walk around finding nice roos to feed. They are the sweetest creatures, with long eyelashes and soft fur, and more personality than I could imagine.


I miss my kitties!!!