Day 6 - Australia Zoo

Wow ... finally we were going to Australia Zoo www.crocodilehunter.com - home of the Croc Hunter. We knew that chance of meeting Steve Irwin was extremely low, as mentioned in their brochure that was mailed to me. Couple with it was a 10% discount voucher, but did you know that ticket cost AUS$43 per person! Any how, after seeing so much of his shows in Animal Planet, it is kind of MUST when we were already in Queensland. Other options were Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary which was much closer, and Alma Park.

We knew that driving would be far - the trip there took 1hr 30min. We stopped at a small town with many senior citizens known as Caboolture for coffee. Xin Yi had some donuts there... too bad we could not find anything better.
By the time we reached Aus Zoo, it was already lunch time and we headed straight after seeing the tortoise Harriet and some koalas. Then we realised that the zoo was NOT as big as it was shown in the map. There were a few enclosures and few ponds with crocodiles. Well, we did see some corc feeding at 1.30pm. First, let talk about the lunch - absolutely miserable fried noodles and rice dish - in terms of quality. Bt anyhow, it was ok to fil the stomach. As for the croc show, some keepers went around teasing the crocs with meat. The reptiles did sprung up to life. Too bad I have yet to learn attaching video clips here. But you can see it in their web-site.

Thereafter, we popped over to the Kids Zoo nearby. Something similar like the Singapore Zoo but of a smaller scale. Some goats, pigs, a cow... and what else (cun remember). Then it was off to see more native animals and of course my favourite - wombats. It was interesting to see these animals crawling slowly in their enclosures. Unlike previous trips in Tas and Perth, we got the chance to be near the animals. In Aus Zoo, you have to pay AUS$30 each just to be led in by the keepers. Of course you would have chance to take pics with them, and bombarded with facts by their keepers. Well, at least i did have some nice shots. One of these shown below.


Doreen and myself went in to see their native snakes, mostly venomous, but kept in glass tanks. Some were quite colourful, but their bits are deadly.

After seeing some native birds we went to a large open space where kangaroos roamded, or rather hopped around. To our surprise, Xin Yi dared to be close to the animals and fed them! She had out-done her mum again. The food was offered to her by a teenager whose father is a Singaporean who has been working there for 16 years. My mum actuallt thot that he resembled someone she met from her kampong. Any way, Xin Yi told us that the kangaroo's tongue touched her palm with this itchy feeling... (her mum was too embarassed to say anything...)
At about 4pm, it was time to leave as the drive would take a while. As we already had a cuppa and Xin Yi had her milk, we decided to drive straight back w/o stopping. Xin Yi felt asleep in less than five minutes of journey. Now that we knew which route to go, Doreen could drive faster and managed to reach hotel in in 70 minutes and we managed to avoid the evening traffic.

As we did not eat well, Ye-Ye decided to go for a good dinner in the city centre. I was at first thinking of going to King of Kings which my colleague Dah Kwan (he studied in QUT) recommended but could not find. We settled for David's which was not a bad choice. My parents to bring Xin Yi back to hotel, and both of us roamed around to get more souveniers, and I also managed to take a shot of the Treasury Casino.Well, this was the last night here, so we spent the night packing. Managed to squeeze lots of items in our luggages. Too bad no wine this time round ... simply too many luggages.. moreover, those on the rack had not been consumed for several months already!

So my thots for the day? Gog to Aus Zoo was time consuming and unless you are at Sunshine Coast, it is not worth the effort and monies to visit there. A wrong choice? Maybe, but at least we been there and could offer to friends and colleagues where you should and should not go.Perhaps high time to discuss with Su Hock on building a travel consultancy!