After leaving Sydney, we had one day at sea before reaching Brisbane at 7 am. We had booked an excursion through the ship to the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary Zoo to see native Australian animals. The sanctuary was opened in 1927 by Queenslander, Claude Reid. At the time, wild koalas were being culled for the fur trade. Claude decided something had to be done to protect them. Today they have native Australian mammals, birds and reptiles along with barn animals. We saw lots of school groups learning about the animals.
You can have your picture taken holding a koala. This sells out quickly, and can be booked online in advance. Our tour only allowed us two hours at the zoo, which was just not enough time to do the picture and try to see all of the exhibits. There were also several educational presentations that we were not able to see due to lack of time. Our ship didn't leave the port until 5 pm, so there would have been plenty of time to allow us to stay at the zoo longer. I did find a way to have my picture taken with a koala at the gift shop.
It was so interesting to see the koalas in the eucalyptus trees. I read that the reason they are so lethargic is that the eucalyptus is low in nutrients and takes a great deal of energy to digest. I was lucky to get one photo of two of them both looking at the camera. Most of them were sleepily hanging in the trees.
Koalas are not bears. They are marsupials more closely related to kangaroos and possums than bears. The koala joeys eat their mom's poo to get the bacteria they need to digest the eucalyptus leaves. This is called pap feeding. Glad human babies don't do that!
There was a huge fenced in area with gray and red kangaroos and wallabies. I think most of them were the red kangaroos. I couldn't tell if I actually saw any wallabies. Again, there were many school groups inside feeding and petting the kangaroos. I was surprised how tame they were.
There was also an emu in with the kangaroos. They are one of the largest birds in the world, are flightless, and can run over 30 mph.
I was racing around the place trying to see as many of the animals as possible. A tree kangaroo (which I'd never heard of) was hanging up in a tree.
There was a large area for Tasmanian devils, but we never saw one. A zookeeper working in the area told us they hide under the bridges during the day to escape the heat.
There were a lot of birds in large cages. It was hard to get pictures of them through the wires. This is a Cassowary. They are endangered with only about 4,000 left in the wild. They are flightless and about the same size as an emu, but weigh twice as much. Their kick is powerful enough to break bones and kill.
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| Gang-gang Cockatoo |
Several dingoes were lying around in their houses and pens. They looked so innocent. I overheard an Australian woman saying that the dingoes have been a real problem in the outback, even attacking children.
Australian Brush Turkeys were wandering around among the tourists scavaging for food. They were not at all afraid of people; like pigeons, only larger.
This is a perentie lizard, Australia's largest lizard. I wouldn't want to run across him in the wild!!!
I thought the name of the bus company was cute.
On the way back to the ship, we stopped at a lookout for a view of the city of Brisbane. It is the capital of Queensland and the third most populous city in Australia.
While we were at sea, we watched two of the chefs carve some fruit sculptures.
The Italian Captain was present at the traditional Princess champagne fountain event.
Next stop Airlie Beach and the Great Barrier Reef!
Don’t wish upon a star – Reach for one!
