Advertisement
Published: July 28th 2014
Edit Blog Post
Rockhampton Zoo
One of the large Cassowaries that were being fed. We booked the tour we want to do at Mt Morgan for tomorrow, 2 hours for $22 (Seniors rate) each. Then I did more on my blog while Barry worked on the electrics some more and then went in to speak to an Auto-electrician. He said that he thinks the electrics are working OK and the only problem is the rear ute battery needs replacing. They did that, so it is now both a cranking and deep cycle battery. This means if the engine won’t start because the main battery is flat we can use it (no more stopping strangers in the street and asking for help, if it ever happens again.)
After lunch, Barry said we should go out and see some of the town. We decided on the Botanic Garden and Zoo, which are both free in Rockhampton. The feeding times, with talks about the animals, are in the afternoon but we missed most of the first one, the Rainforest Aviary, where they were feeding the two Cassowaries. We’ve seen them before and know a bit about them so we weren’t too worried. It was nice to see them again, up close this time, though. They really are powerful
The Large Male Chimpanzee Enjoying a Juice Box
He just bit into it and sucked, didn't need hands. creatures and their main toe looks (and is) lethal. Unfortunately they are endangered, with less than 1,000 estimated to be living in the wild, because of loss of habitat.
Next we saw the Chimpanzees. The 28 year old male in one pen and the two females, 26 years old and 42 years old, in the other, were first given plastic dishes with yoghurt on, and a spoon. The eldest female used the spoon for a while, evidently learned from watching people, but the others just licked it off the plate. Then they had a juice carton each. It was funny to watch them just bite into the cardboard and suck the juice out. After we were given a talk about their habits and the dangers to them, most people moved off to see the Wild Lorikeets feeding (something we’ve done many times) but we stayed and watched as they then fed them chicken, followed by some fruit. They obviously like the chicken as they snatched it up and quickly bit into it. The younger female was muttering quietly to herself as she ate it.
We had a quick look at some Lion-tailed Macaques, next door, who were fed
A Major Mitchell Cockatoo
I love this cockatoo and really want to see another in the wild. The other bird is the Red-tailed Black Cockatoo. but in their little house so we couldn’t watch them. Then we headed for the Koala enclosures, which were next on the list. We arrived as the keeper was taking away the eucalyptus leaves from yesterday, still with plenty on them, and replacing them with some full of new shoots at the top. Before he did so, he walked around holding the male and let people touch his coat, briefly. Then he was put on the “tree” and quickly started hoeing into the tucker.
Meanwhile the keeper went to the next pen and talked about and fed the two females. The Koalas up here are much smaller than in Victoria but the keeper said that they are the same species. They just grow larger in the Southern States to combat the cold climate. He also said that koalas were in danger of in-breeding because the corridors of eucalypts were being separated by housing and industry and isolating populations from each other. Conservationists are trying to establish links between them to help overcome this but it is a slow and costly job.
That was the last of the feeding sessions so we just strolled around the rest of the animals
Barry Getting Up Close and Personal with a Bottle Tree
This is the biggest Bottle Tree I've ever seen. It was in Rockhampton Botanic Gardens. enclosures and saw a sleepy wombat in his glass fronted den; a Lace Monitor Lizard, two dingoes and a Jungle Python all sleeping in the sun; some kangaroos and an emu in a petting enclosure; a Major Mitchell Cockatoo with his pretty pink crest (I've wanted to see one in the wild for the last 30 years after seeing a small flock of them in South Australia. It seems they are vulnerable, like the Bush Stone Curlew, which was in the same cage, along with a pair of Red-tailed Black Cockatoos) and a large range of birds in the Rainforest Aviary, which was huge. I was most keen to find the Emerald Dove and the Lyrebird, but they both moved so quickly it was hard to follow their movements in the bush around the small lake. The female Lyrebird was running up and down the perimeter fence at great speed. She obviously was desperate to get out, poor thing.
After that we took a stroll around the Botanic Gardens, which though small compared to Melbourne’s, had some lovely areas. I particularly liked the cycads, a huge Bottle Tree and another stand of the tall bamboos, this one with the
Hundreds of Birds on Murray Lagoon, Rockhampton
Every one of those little black dots in the water is a bird! yellow and green stripes on the stems. It’s hard to think of this as grass.
We finished at the edge of the Murray lagoon and were amazed at how many birds were sitting there on the water or strolling around the banks. There were hundreds. We watched some of their antics until the sun started to set and then headed back to the ute.
On the way home, we passed a Sizzler. I used to enjoy their “All You Can Eat Salad Bar” when they were in Melbourne but they pulled out about 15 or 20 years ago. I was feeling tired after all that exercise so I persuaded Barry we should go in. It was exactly as I remembered it. Barry got stuck into the pasta and variety of potato dishes, while I tried most of the salads and a soup called Gumbo, which was mildly spicy and delicious. We both tried most of the desserts, too, with the Bread and Butter Pudding and the Chocolate Mousse being the highlights for me.
Happily replete, we went back to the ute and had a coffee and I promptly fell asleep in the chair. So much for doing more
on my blog!
Advertisement
Tot: 0.088s; Tpl: 0.012s; cc: 10; qc: 28; dbt: 0.0583s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb