Sunday, October 25, 2009

Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary


My favourite day here so far was definitely me and Pat's anniversary (October 10th). We went to the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary in Fig Tree Pocket. Not only do they have over 100 koalas (which you can cuddle for a fee - and we totally did as you can tell by my user pic), but there were all sorts of other wild and crazy critters! Here are just a few!


I have no idea what this bird is called. But he's so poofy!

Mama and baby koala!

Sleepy little koala... most of them are like this, just sleeping in the trees, content and fat.

There was a huge fenced field filled with kangaroos, wallabies and emus. The marsupials were very friendly and you could pet them and feed them the special kangaroo chow they sold at the little cafe. The emus ... you kinda want to steer clear of the birds that are taller than you, with their beady eyes... not to mention the stories I've heard of them chasing people. 

Pat petting a wallaby

a mama wallaby and her joey!

Pat feeding a friendly kangaroo.

He was a cool 'roo, very chill.

I like this picture very much, if I do say so myself!

Aw, a rainbow lorikeet! Pretty, no?

So many kangaroos!

So many lorikeets!

Aw, tired little Tasmanian devils.


Goodnight, little koala, even if it is only the middle of the afternoon!

Saturday, October 24, 2009

Finally!

So, I've been in Brisbane for 20 days! I had better start keeping a blog or something. 

It's beautiful and sunny here, pretty much every day. I've been spending my days out exploring and looking for a job, enjoying the scenery and the weather (and wearing lots of sunscreen).  Our house is very cute and surprisingly cool for having no AC. We have 2 fans so that's keeping us comfortable. The temperature's been very agreeable; I don't think it's gone over 30 degrees since I've been here. 

The busses are air-conditioned! I like the transit system here - you can just get a card and fill it up with money and the scan that on and off on whatever bus/train/catamaran you take. They call it "touching on & off". The transit system here is great, except for how infrequent everything is. Luckily, for any place you need to go, there are at least 4 - 5 ways to get there, so it doesn't always take forever. I'm starting to find my way around pretty well. There are so many suburbs, but I don't always need to take a map with me now.

I've seen plenty of wildlife - possums here and there, oodles of geckos (they crawl on the windows and hunt moths, it's really fun to watch!), magpies and ibises and lots and lots of ants. Of course, we went to the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary, which you might have read about on Pat's blog. I have lots of pictures and videos from there, so I'll dedicate my next post to that. 

Alright, see you on the other side!