Its all happening at the zoo!

Started the day by going for a drive not far from our place called Point Cartwright, a place we had seen from our beach and decided to go explore. A lovely park, a water reservoir, a lighthouse, and another amazing beach on the other side! We looked around a little bit, then headed for the Australia Zoo, founded by the late Crocodile Hunter, Steve Irwin. Crikey - what an amazing place! We started out in Kangaroo Haven where the Roos just hang out with each other and love to be watched, fed Roo food, and petted by the visitors. We saw a mom with Joey in her pouch, although Joey looked like he was outgrowing that little space. Next we went through the Wetland area where we saw Jabirus and Emus, then off to the Koala Walkthrough, where these cuddly little marsupials were sitting around and sleeping in the trees after eating copious amounts of eucalyptus! Made our way back to the “Crocoseum” by noon for the Wildlife Warriors Show, where birds, snakes and saltwater crocodiles are showcased in an awesome display put on by some of the handlers. This zoo is enormous and after the show, we hiked back to the South East Asia and Africa areas where we saw tigers, lemurs, parrots, zebras, giraffes, rhinos and meerkats! Back to the central area, where there were red kangaroos, wombats, snakes and other reptiles. Then dingos, Tasmanian Devils (fast asleep - not like in the cartoons!), binturong and more crocs and alligators! (Just as a side note, it was around 33 degrees and sunny, so all this walking called for lots of water during the day - sweltering!!)

By this time, we had to be back at the information area for me to meet with the guide for a Koala encounter... yikes! This is an add on to the zoo experience where a small group spends about half an hour cuddling koalas, having photos taken and learning more about these adorable little Australian icons! What an awesome experience! Our little guy was named Onyx and he was 2 years old, his mom and 2 sisters (Gemma, Ruby and Pearl) also live at the zoo along with about 65 other koalas, who are only on display 3 times a week for about 30 minutes each time - nice work if you can get it! Such lovely creatures, and I was so happy to check this experience off my bucket list! We could have spent so many more hours at this zoo - it’s a definite must do for anyone coming to Queensland. The animals are so well taken care of and the main goal of the zoo is conservation. We did have tickets to visit the Wild Life Animal Hospital, but ran out of time unfortunately.

We got back to our condo and had quick showers, as we were meeting my friend Katie (who I met through Healthy Role Models) and her husband, Ben for dinner. We drove up to Coolum Beach and met them at the Coolum Beach Surf Club, which is only about 6 minutes from their home. Had a delicious dinner with them, and learned lots about this area, as well as many other parts of Australia. I had met Katie when she was in Nanaimo in June, as well as being connected through our HRM group, so it was very cool to be able to get together on the other side of the world! Said our goodbyes to them and came back to the condo, very tired but happy to have had such an awesome day!Read more