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Published: November 16th 2015
Lone Pine
A must-do if in Brisbane. Probably one of the best and most economical sanctuaries! It's marsupial-themed!On Monday, after being thwarted by the weather, instead of going to the Carrumbin animal sanctuary, we made a bee line for the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary. So far, easily the highlight of Australia for me! They opened at 9 and we were there by 930. They are one of the top rated "zoos" here (so their website claims). I could believe it. They started as a koala sanctuary, but now have other animals. Partly like a regular zoo, but has other live encounters that, unlike the Steve Irwin zoo, are free! It's like the Bush Gardens animal thing from your car, but instead walking around. They have shows throughout the day with different animals -- mostly educational things.
We started with the Lorikeet encounter. They are gorgeous birds, very colorful, and look like parrots (but not). They're pretty common here though! Walking through a neighborhood to the hospital, we passed them just sitting in a tree! They're very loud and have a unique call. The lorikeet encounter was a feeding where they put this wet bird feed slurry in these feeders. I thought we'd just watch them feed them, but turns out you pick up one of the many feeders
Ermagerd Lorikeets!
They really enjoyed eating and flinging this stuff everywhere and hold it while they jump on and eat! How fun! Very up close and personal. 😊 I think these are just wild lorikeets who have found a great place to hang out.
From there we continued wandering around the nice sanctuary grounds. They had a barn with regular barn animals and a show, but we missed that one to head to the koala encounter before it got busy. It was a beautiful day! A little overcast but a comfortable 70-80 degrees. There are a number of places here where you can have a koala encounter and hold a koala, but because of protection laws, you can only hold them in 2 states, 1 of which is Queensland. I'm pretty involved with animal conservation causes, and was a little conflicted about it, but they do have strict laws here to protect them. I think the trade off is how memorable it is for people (the same concept behind why zoos exist). Each one can only be "cuddled" for a certain amount of time (I think 30min) and they have to be clocked on and off. It's sad- because of human encroachment (go figure) their eucalyptus trees are being cut
Pretty bird
Gorgeous! Fairly ubiquitous here with a very loud piercing call down (which is their main food and where they live) and their environment is threatened. As a result they have to travel and cross roads. There are many who get hit by cars or killed by dogs. They sleep 18-20 hours a day to conserve energy because their food is so low in calories (not because the eucalyptus drugs them). So when we saw one moving in one of the trees at the sanctuary it was a treat!
All the sanctuaries charge a fee to hold a koala - some larger than others. This one wasn't bad, and all proceeds go towards the sanctuary and upkeep, so it's more like a donation. We were there before there was a line! They have you stand very still in one spot, clasp your hands a certain way, then they pass the koala and you hold it for about 30-60sec. Very quick! Just long enough to get up close and personal and have a picture snapped. They had a lot of volunteers in the park -- if I lived here I would definitely volunteer! How cool. The koalas have very rough butts, and a very unique/strong smell. It's like going to a
Bird hat
I was covered at one point haha. Aaand needed a shower. No bird poo fortunately horse barn with a very strong horsey smell, but it's a little different scent. There are no real "enclosures" just shade structures and lots of eucalyptus trees (which looked like regular trees and didn't really smell like eucalyptus). We went back later and saw the educational presentation at noon. Very cool! An amazing species - possibly my spirit animal.
After the koala encounter we went to the kangaroo area. It was a big open area with tons of kangaroos and a couple emus wandering around. They have a fenced area they can retreat to if they want. We bought $2 kangaroo food in the gift shop and had plenty to keep them entertained. What fun! They're very soft - way softer than you'd think. It was a very cool encounter- right up there with the koala!
We wandered around a little more- wombats, cassuaries, mom and baby koala (omg!), platypus, snakes (behind glass), tons of free roaming scrub turkeys (one of which stole a bag of roo food from the store- holy cow that was hilarious! Running from that store with its head held high with a little paper baggie hanging from its mouth. At the end we
walked by the correllas (like cockatoos). They talked with an Australian accent!
A really great morning with great weather! We were home right after lunch- in time to shower, change, and head in to work. We just went to Jim's place that afternoon. More of the same, but always learning! He created this really incredible telederm website intended to train primary care in diagnosing and treating common skin disorders. Really impressive site and well done! Dinner near home at a modern Chinese place (Madame Wu's) with awesome food but slow service, and not allowed to take leftovers?! Boooooo
On Tues we had an early morning with one of the handful of Mohs surgeons in the country. There are some big differences in dermatology here, but that's one of the biggest. It was good to see how they deal with Mohs, but probably more useful for their residents to do the reverse and see how we use it. We had such an early morning there, we spent the afternoon shopping at the queen street mall in the central business district. It was HUGE! Had something like 1000 stores. We finished off with some primo people watching over a
glass of bubbly and potato wedges in a central bar/restaurant on the second floor balcony. It was technically outside, but so many tall buildings and trees it was like being inside. It all had a very European feel. Most of the shops were a little pricey though. We found our first (but not last) Ugg store. 😊 Didn't buy anything...yet. So glad we have a good exchange rate! It's like everything is on sale.
Wed was actually Remembrance Day, which is like our Veterans Day. They wear red poppies and have a moment of silence at noon. Many (all?) the local stores honored it. Really nice. That morning we started the morning with early clinic at the Mater with the residents and their staff that day (not Jim). We were supposed to sit in at noon with the dermatopathologist, but turns out that's Tuesdays not Wednesdays. So after driving to the other hospital, parking, walking in and heading that, we were on our way back to the Mater. Lots of walking!
Their healthcare here is somewhat divided. There's public, which everyone is entitled to (called Medicare and paid by taxes), such is what the Mater is. Very inner
Wombat
Yes, that's what wombats look like. Didn't really know that! They are also marsupials and the closest living relative to the koala city feel (though nice, not ghetto or anything). Picture a low cost hospital in the suburbs somewhere. If you have private insurance, you get slightly different care (again similar to us). The hospitals have a different feel too.
After working straight through lunch (minus the time spent driving and reparking) we sat in on a very short dermpath session (with path, not dermpath) then had a very late lunch with the residents and staff at the hospital. After that we went to Paddington for shopping - a nearby neighborhood with cute little boutiquey shops. We were only there for about an hour, then back to the other hospital for academics. Another long day! Though Wed night it was cases with Jim, so it was really good!
Since we didn't have Wed off, we took off Thurs for our Veterans Day 😊 Plus Wed was a reeaaally long day. We slept in and lounged around. The weather was again gray and overcast. Around midday we ventured out. Our first mission was to get gas. $60 to fill up the tank! Good thing that's in Australian dollars.... Next we went back to Paddington to hit the shops we missed the
The Tasmanian Devil!
And that was all we saw of him all day. Endangered :( Also a marsupial. Tasmania is a small island right off the coast of Australia near Sydney (considered one of the 6 Australian states) day before. After that we went to the New Farm area for a couple recommendations we had. Cloudland had a nice interior, and decent food/drinks (esp before 7 for happy hour!). From there we popped up to Eleven Rooftop bar for the awesome view. Gorgeous! We were a bit underdressed for the snazzy after work crowd, but just stayed for a min to enjoy the view of the city. Then off to our mani/pedi appt at the Brooklyn Beauty Bar! A very nice place with a bar inside! We had sparkling rose while waiting for our treatments. Not sure if it was supposed to be, but it was free! However, aside from the cute decor, nice staff, and booze, I was unimpressed with the manicure. It was one of the only times I've had my nails done by a white girl. Felt like I was having a friend paint my nails. Meh.
And that was our day off! Fri we went to the radiation oncology dept situated within the Mater, though not part of it. We got to see the ins and outs of rad onc here, which they use a lot. We also got to see their new
Koala!!!
Rough butt and strooooong smell. Cute little arms holding on. But you can't pet him because you have to hold him... gamma knife machine, which is extremely expensive and uncommon, even in the US. It's for very targeted lesions in the brain. It was a nice morning, including a short visit to their tumor board (though we missed most of it unfortunately). We joined the resident and staff at a cute little gem called Under the Clock for a quick bite to eat for lunch.
Since it was finally a nice day, we took the afternoon and went back to Southbank. We found this amazing spot that we had no idea was there! I'm surprised no one told us to go. It was a free public swimming pool that was half sand and half regular pool, all overlooking the river and city! I can't believe how nice it was!! Looked like it belonged in an upscale club. Had a few well-placed shade structures and lots of sand 😊 It looked like it should be salt water, but it was sandy chlorinated water. Huge place!! Lots of cute places to eat and drink nearby. The only downside was that we had to pay through the nose to park. Most of the garages here charge by the half hour, and are not
Tree sleeping
This is how the koalas are most of the time cheap! $15+ for one hour, and increases from there! It was worth it though.
We changed in the car and made it for an early dinner to a place we WERE told several times to go to. The Eat Street market. It was phenomenal! It's only on Fri and Sat nights (too bad) and has plenty of free parking. It was $2 to get in, but inside is a maze of all different multicultural food and flea market-like shops. Really incredible! We got a bunch of different things to split, though among the amazing finds we also had the grossest thing we've eaten so far- dumplings that tasted like cat food. Actually worse- I think some of the cat food flavors would taste better. But apart from that it was a great time! Good thing we went early because by 7 it became a zoo of people and we were happy to head out. Back home early to get ready for our stupid early flight to Sydney. And that was week 2!
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