Also quick note, noticed that I spelled genes 'jeans' in my last post. Guess being away from school wasn't such a good idea. My apologies parents.
Monday, the 9th just so everyone has the date, Kiley and I headed off onto the two hour journey north to the Australia Zoo. Apparently it is a must, and who doesn't love the chance to see Steve Irwin memorabilia. With the knowledge that the zoo opens at 9 we plan to leave at 7 so we don't miss any of the excitement. Waking up at 730 we knew it was a good start to the day....
Upon arrival we discover we were just in time for the wildlife show! A must see according to the zoo entrance attendant (who wasn't so amused when I asked for a Oregon resident discount as a joke, harsh crowd) We scurried along to the arena or crocesuem or whatever they called in and found our seats...in the shade. There was some cool birds flying around to music and come slightly comical jokes, but everyone was really waiting for the Irwin family, and the crocs.
Everyone talks about the family so much I didn't really know what to expect. They were just a family, who plays with crocs and other dangerous creatures. No big deal right? They came out and then it got awkward. They started having a conversation between themselves about new years resolutions and saying hello to Bindies teacher who was in the crowd. I felt like I was spying on a private family convo. Until the subject came up about Americans. Terri (Steves wife) asked if there were any Americans in the crowd and of course ( I can't let this opportunity go to waste) I jumped up and started screaming. Wearing my Oregon tank I grabbed my tank to show her what it said. Considering she was all the way across the arena she obviously couldn't read it so I helped her out by yelling out to her that I was from Eugene, OR. She got pretty excited and said (over the microphone) 'Oh the Ducks just won the Rosebowl!!' Then turned to the crowd and said "You guys don't understand, the Ducks haven't won a Rosebowl in over 90 years!! GO DUCKS!' Granted I could barely hear any of this over the sound of my heart pumping so badly because everyone and their moms were staring at me like 'what is this crazy American sheila goin on about' I'm pretty sure even Kiley was embarrassed.
After the show we headed over to the photo booth where you can get your picture taken with a variety of creatures. I had my heart set on the python for some strange reason so I cashed over my 20 and sat down to meet Phil, the 18 kilo, 40 lb python of some sort who had decided to turn his life away from strangling people and instead offer himself to innocent naive tourists like me. I almost fell off the table with the weight, but I wasn't about to tell him maybe he should lose a kilo or two.
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| my best friend Phil |
After the snake we got went around to the other animals, saw things like crocs, big crocs, baby crocs and about 5 more exhibits of crocs, along with some Tasmanian devils which turned out did not spin on their tails (very disappointed), emus, koalas, lots of foreign birds, a million different types of poisonous snakes, dingos, wombats, echidnas (which Kiley had an encounter with so she got to hold them and feed them) and of course the kangas.
They set up the fields so the kangaroos just run free and you can buy roo food for only 2 bucks and just walk around and feed them. ummm...what??? how cool is this place?? It was a really hot day so they were all just laying around, but whatever! Still awesome!! We did that for quite a while until we realized that we were going to miss our koala holding time...crucial.
We went back to the photo place and handed over another 20 to get the experience to hold a koala for 10 seconds or whatever. They are heavy, lazy and have massive claws and go right into your skin. But it was totally worth it and they are so cute. This poor koala though had probably been doing this photo shoot her whole life because it was just like clock work, as soon as the keeper attached her onto the person Mckenzie (the koala, I agree Phil was named better) would look straight at the camera. But it was an experience and they are so cute you can't just help but snuggle with one.
Last, but certainly not least on our list was the free elephant feeding!! Basically these elephants eat so much that the keepers get bored of feeding them so they offer the zoo guests to do it for them (at least that is my theory, but I'm not complaining). This zoo rocks. Kiley and I got in line for one of the elephants along with about 20 other people. I would have thought that there would be way more, but I think the heat of the day had driven people away. There was so much food that we just got in line again, with about half the amount of people doing the same thing. Pretty soon it was just us getting in line over and over and getting to grab 4 or 5 pieces of fruit or veggies to feed Bimbo the elephant. AWESOME. I don't think I have ever been so happy to have my hands covered in animal slime. Certainly one of the best experiences of the day. We didn't have time to take the shuttle over to the new Africa exhibit or to go to the animal hospital which we paid an extra 2 dollars for (your welcome Australia zoo), but I guess that is just a sign that we have to go back!! Right? Right? I think so.
I'm starting to plan out my adventures starting in early March. Kiley and I are talking about renting a campervan over here to do northern Queensland just so that we will be able to see what we want and go where we want and not be stuck on a bus with nothing to see. Also I think my trip to NZ is pretty much planned out with the exception of when Greg comes over. But I have my lonely planet book so we should be set. Me along with a few friends are hiking up Mt. Warning (someone in Burleigh or nearby) early Monday morning at like 3 am. Apparently you can see the whole gold coast and we will be able to watch the sunrise around 5. I'm SOO excited!! We were talking about after the hike spending the rest of the day in Byron Bay. Oh ya. nbd. Should be a VERY good day off.
Still working like a mad women. Getting fairly good paychecks which is helping a lot. I should be able to reach my goal amount of money by the time I want to leave. My hours are slowly starting to go down which has me nervous, but it's still like 25-30 hours a week so I should be ok, hopefully
I'll see what the chances are of me loading photos on here since my computer is about to explode from just being old.
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