Our last port of call was the city of Brisbane (pronounced Brisbin by the locals). This major metropolitan city is located along the shores of the Brisbane River. The river is navigable and is served by a variety of water taxis and tour boats. We disembarked the cruise ship and rode a bus to downtown, near the civic center, where we walked to the river and boarded a boat that would sail up the river to our destination. Along the way we saw Brisbane from the river's viewpoint.
Our destination today was the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary. This zoo is the world's first and largest koala sanctuary, with over 130 koalas. You can cuddle a koala, handfeed kangaroos and encounter a large variety of Aussie wildlife, all in beautiful, natural settings. Our goal was to get up close and personal with the Koalas. We made the mistake of saying Koala Bears once and were told that they are NOT a bear but a marsupial. Thus, they are referred to as a Koala. Doesn't matter--either way they are too cute. They live in the trees and eat solely eucalyptus leaves. This leaf provides the Koala with its nutrition and its water. The leaf is not very nutritious and they have to consume a large quantity just to stay alive. This explains their rather slow methodical movements and the fact that they just kind of sit around for 20 hours a day. Lone Pine is one of the few places in the world that you can legally hold a Koala. They have a bunch of Koalas and they are available for holding by the public only 30 minutes a day each. They "work" for three days then they are not handled for four days. So we each purchased our tickets to hold one and got into the line. When it was our turn, we were instructed to make a "basket" with our hands. This provided the Koala with a place to sit that simulated the crook of a tree. The handler placed the koala in your simulated crook and then he placed the Koalas arms on your shoulders. The park took the requisite photo for sale, but they allowed your party to take as many photos as they wanted to.
I was surprised at a couple of things. First of all, their claws. Since they are master tree climbers, the claws are wicked sharp and long. When the handler wanted to take them away for the next person, if they didn't want to go, they could really hold on! Secondly, the fur is not as soft as you might think. It is more akin to the wool of a sheep. They are cuddly though and really liked to snuggle in to you.
With our main goal satisfied, we wandered around and found the kangaroo enclosure. We were amazed that you could just walk right in and come up to the 'roos. They were friendly and enjoyed a good scratch between the ears. Again, it surprised me that the fur of the kangaroo was softer than that of the Koala. Especially the red kangaroo. It was almost velveteen to the touch. We saw a wide variety of other Australian wildlife and sat in on a Birds of Prey show. Here, several of the largest predatory birds in Australia were shown in flight and up close. Below is a very handsome Sea Eagle.
But all too soon it was time to get back on the boat for the return sail to downtown Brisbane. We hung around and shopped in the stores a while then back on the bus to return to the cruise ship.
So far we had experienced fantastic weather and sea conditions. As we left Brisbane and headed south towards Sydney, the weather began to turn foul. It was drizzly, windy, and the seas started to toss the ship around a bit. In fact, the last night's entertainment was a juggler who tried to juggle very sharp axes while balancing on a board that was placed over a pipe. Needless to say, he scrapped the board idea but managed to juggle just fine... only he used up most of the stage to keep everything in the air!
We arrived back in Sydney to clouds, drizzle, and much cooler temperatures. We had planned to stay a couple of days after the cruise, so we hopped off the ship and went to our Bed & Breakfast. From there we tried to tour between the raindrops.
Above is as far as I could get inside the Sydney Opera House without taking the tour. The next day wasn't much better, but we boarded the train anyway and went a couple of hours inland to Katoomba. Here, on a good day, is a magnificent view of the canyons and surrounding mountains. The "Three Sisters" is a famous rock outcropping. Here is what it usually looks like:
Here is what it looked like on the day we visited...
Oh well.... the train ride was fun.
So the following day we got up, loaded up a taxi, and headed to the airport. The drizzle had stopped but the clouds were still low. As we sat and waited for our plane, surprise! The sun came out. Oh well. We loaded up and after the return flight that seemed twice as long as the flight out, we arrived back in Kansas City where the wind was blowing and the temps dropping. It was a great trip and we enjoyed it immensely. All I can say is, G'day mate!!
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