Crikey!

Two days ago, after three plane flights starting in Yulara near Uluru, we arrived in Brisbane and were greeted by our good friends, Margaret and Murray. Yesterday, we began our adventures with them, starting with a trip to the Australia Zoo, the zoo created by that amazing Steve Irwin, whose life was ended far too early. You can read more about the zoo by clicking here. The zoo is one of the best I've ever visited, and Irwin's influence can be felt everywhere. His desire to protect the creatures he loved, even those that are dangerous, can be seen in all the exhibits. If you don't remember his fabulous TV shows (I think on the Animal Planet channel), you can probably find some on YouTube. "Crikey!" seemed to be his favorite expression. He was quite a showman. I couldn't help but feel a little sad as I wandered through the zoo with reminders of him all around.

Here are all four of us near a bronze statue of Irwin and his whole family. His wife and children carry on the work and are deeply involved in the zoo and its operation.

Some silliness is required when traveling.

We finally got to see real koalas. They spend something like 20 out of every 24 hours sleeping, and if you are interested, I can now explain why. It has to do with the huge amount of eucalyptus leaves they have to consume every day and the toxic nature of the leaves.

These little guys (M&M called them water dragons) were everywhere in the park.

One section of the zoo is devoted to kangaroos, where you can pet them and feed them while zoo personnel monitor the situation. There were lots of very young children enjoying them. Kangaroos are very, very soft. Can't believe we ate kangaroo steaks while in the Uluru area!

Naturally, there was a show which including the most amazing display of birds I have ever seen. I was unable to get any reasonable photographs of them, though. I've seen parrots and cockatoos perform at other zoos, but at the Australian Zoo, they exhibit many other kinds of birds, including huge condors and gorgeous, small birds something like budgies. At one point, they turned loose maybe fifty birds of several different kinds and of amazing color and size, and all of them flew around the stadium for several minutes. It was breathtaking how beautiful (and noisy) they all were.

Of course, there was a crocodile show too, which mostly involved feeding this one big guy. He almost seemed to be trained, because he want through a series of specific feeding stages, always knowing which one came next. Irwin used to do these shows himself. Today, zoo attendants handle the show in pretty much the same way, coaxing the crocs to lunge for the food which they dangle near them. They showed how they can lie in wait near the edge of a pond and then suddenly lunge out of the water to grab prey. I wouldn't have wanted to be the one doing this!

Lots of other fun creatures were on display, of course. Some were available for close-up pictures. Kathie thought this one was giving me the evil eye.

This is a cassowary. Not quite beautiful but also beautiful all at once.

The zoo is as much a park or garden as it is a zoo, something like the best zoos I've seen in the US. There were many beautiful flowers and plants of all kinds.

I enjoyed the "snake house" where we got to see displays of numerous Australian varieties of snakes, most of them venomous. Not sure I could distinguish the dangerous ones from the others out in the wild, however. We did see one crossing our path when in Uluru, and the best course of action seems to be to be alert and to avoid. This harmless python was being presented on the grounds. M&M tell me I may have a chance to handle one at another snake exhibit nearer their home some day.

We should arrive at M&M's home today. Stay tuned!