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Published: July 11th 2007
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I took the bus to the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary yesterday. It's a 3/4 hour trip to the city limits along the Brisbane River, a wonderful setting among the Pines and Eucalyptus trees. But people go there for the animals, in particular the Koalas. They have about 130 of these marsupials, each one has a name. And each is on display for our cameras. They separate many of them depending on their stage of life: there is the new mother section. I guess the pouch is a sort of womb with a view. (If you think Koalas are cute and cuddly, how about a koala baby?) There is also the kindergarten where the males are separated from females because they don't want them reproducing too early. There is a seniors section. And the males each get a stand, they are territorial and leave scent markings to warn other males and attract females. They sleep 16 to 20 hours a day, and only eat eucalytus tree leaves. They're all like teddy bears, with very soft fur.
Also at this sanctuary is a large kangaroo and wallabie section. About half the size of a football pitch, you can wander through the
scrub land with the tame kangaroos. People feed them. Wallabies are smaller than kangaroos with a longer and tapered tail. These kangaroos were mostly lying about or being fed by the guests. Only occasionally can they be seen hopping.
Also at this zoo / sanctuary are many other animals indigenous to Australia. I watched the bird of prey show. They have three Wedge Tailed Eagles, all three rescued from accidents with motor vehicles, but only one can fly, the other two never will again, but the zoo officials are hoping for them to mate. Also, they had an owl that flew right past our heads. Quite impressive to see these birds fly from a great distance at great speed to land on a perch and feed on a small piece of meat.
The lorikeet feeding was a feeding frenzy. They can be quite aggressive and very very noisy. But what a show. About 3 pm dozens and dozens (hundreds?) of these colourful Rainbow Lorikeets (a kind of parrot) came down from the trees to feed. They were flying all around us fighting for space and food. Quite a show. They knew what time it was because for a
few minutes before the handlers came out to feed them these birds had already started to congregate nearby.
I was at the Sanctuary 5 hours: saw a Southern Cassowary (a huge flightless bird), a wombat, various snakes, dingoes, emus, crocs, and tourists. I have three days in Brisbane, and two nights. I arrived early on my first day and went to the Cultural Centre where they have the museum of Queensland and the Art Gallery, and later in the day I walked through the Botanical Garden with a mangrove forest. My second day was at the Koala Sanctuary and today my third day I went to the Maritime Museum. I leave this evening on the overnight train to Townsville. Sometime during the night I will cross the Tropic of Capricorn.
The weather here is like a Vancouver spring, warm in the day at about 20 degrees but it cools off in the evening to below 10 degrees. The area is in the middle of a drought with water restrictions. But the entire area looks very green. But perhaps it's because it's the winter? And they probably manage their water better than we might in Vancouver. The toilets have
two flush options: big flush or small flush depending on the job required. Very sensible.
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Shelley
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Did you have your picture taken with a Koala
Hey, Chris When I went there, I had my picture taken.. Do they still do that? Looks like you had a great time!