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Published: February 27th 2009
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Only a few hours on a bus up the coast brought me to Noosa, a beautiful town on the Sunshine coast. Noosa feels very exclusive with its modern houses on the water front and boutique shops and stylish restaurants on the main street, yet the town caters for backpackers along with the locals. I was staying a little away from the town centre at Sunshine beach, just as stylish and just a few meters from the incredible beach. By far the nicest beach so far (but it’s very difficult to choose between spectacular sandy beaches). Magnificent wide sandy expanses with crashing waves for as far as the eye could see. The weather was a toasting 30+ and it was glorious. Pity about the accommodation. The place was nice and relaxed, quiet and chilled but it seemed to have a problem with bugs in the rooms, cockroaches and bed bugs. I only stayed two nights as the owners didn’t want to discuss the problem, guests were upset at being bitten (not me thank goodness but I did sleep on the couch one night as wouldn’t sleep in the room) and they just issued in new guest to problem rooms after guests had
checked out early without treating the rooms. Very disappointing. I moved.
I got a nice hostel in Noosaville nearer the main town. It’s more like a house share than a hostel. A beautiful house with large veranda and wooden floors is divided into double rooms for rent or a dorm (which I’m in). The owner just comes back to the place to check people in and out, clean round the communal areas and unload the dishwasher. It’s lovely and quiet here.
While in Noosa I took a bus trip to the local Eumundi Markets. It was charming; live music, small stalls selling jewellery, food and drink, art, leather goods, boutique clothing, bags and other high quality goods. I ate a tub of fresh paella and sipped on chilled lemon and pineapple crush as I browsed.
I’m really not a zoo fan. More often than not I end up feeling that the conditions are less than ideal and feel that I’ve been a party to it by going. Australia zoo is a zoo but one with a difference. Originally a reptile centre set up by Steve Irwin’s father, it was expanded by Steve when he was given
the reigns in the 90’s. Steve believed passionately in conservation and believed that if the public could get up close and personal with the wildlife then they would feel the same. The zoo doesn’t have a huge range of animals but it’s definitely quality over quantity. It’s set amongst woodland and what they do have are housed in spotless large enclosures built to let the public feel as close to the animals as possible. The zoo hosts talks as they feed some of the animals throughout the day, focusing on conservation. They have roving keepers who take some of the animals out into the park to meet the public (but they are very protective of the animals during this); owls, snakes, goats and iguanas. You can even feed the elephants for free and the kangaroos too for a dollar of food! The zoo also runs small private paid for sessions. I jumped at the chance and booked the Possum experience.
I’d seen a possum when I was at Marcello’s. We could hear them in the trees at night feeding on the fruit. One night we looked out and a pair of huge black eyes looked back from the
branch nearest the window but I couldn’t make out much more than the eyes and a long tail. Marcello had said they were nippy wee things that may scratch and bite, but I guess I’m kinda blinded by the cute factor and Australia seems to have the monopoly on cute creatures.
The photographer took me and one other woman through the park to meet the possum. We met the keeper who had Pippa the Possum on a harness and lead and was trying to keep her out of a bag. We were told to sit down and she spread a blanket on our knee (she has big claws). It turns out that Pippa was found by a family, very young and abandoned, she was taken in and hand reared. For most animals in the zoo getting food is a reward, for Pippa it’s cuddles. I melted. Pippa’s job today was to sit on our knee and be fed; her reward for being good was getting cuddles from us in a blanket afterwards. I was in heaven. She was so sweet! She hopped form one knee to the other munching on various fruits letting us pat her. We then were
handed a bundle of blanket with Pippa curled in the middle as happy as a lamb. I beamed from ear to ear.
After the Possum experience I splashed out on a wombat one too! Again it was just 2 of us. This time we were told we could only pat the wombats on their backs as they fed picnic style! It wasn’t as good as the possum experience as we were stuck behind the wombats and couldn’t see their lovely wee faces. But I can tick another Australian animal cutie of my cuddle list now.
Twice a day the zoo hosts a show at the crocaseum ( a large arena). The show again focuses on conservation and brings people closer to the animals. They had keepers walking past with snakes, parrots flying round the arena, a stork flying in from the other side of the zoo into the arena and of course a crocodile demonstration Steve Irwin style. Very impressive. As a day at the zoo goes, it was one of the best.
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