Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary

So the adventure began when the awesome talented tribals queen Samm Stars dropped us off at Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary. I was so excited when we arrived  ( Jennifer here) that I was grinning like a cheshire cat!! We walked in and the first thing we saw were the flying foxes, that both Pashur and I were shocked to learn are native here! We both thought they only came from India, but apparently not only are they native, but are quite the pests to fruit farmers here in Australia as they love mangoes! While standing there we discovered another abundant native, the water dragon! Now these are NOT the little geckos back home! These guys are huge lizards, and they were everywhere! Quite unafraid of people, the seemed to have the attitude that regardless of where they chose to sunbathe (which was everywhere and anywhere), we were to walk around them! As we ventured further down the path, we saw that there were Koalas all over the place! There was even a little enclosure that had the cutest baby koalas! We saw a platypus, which has to be the oddest creature we have every seen, saw Tasmanian devils being fed (which was hysterical as they run around like they are on speed) and got our first look at dingos. We went over to the Koala cuddling station where we both got to hold a Koala and pet the cuties! They are so soft! Their fur feels kinda like a sheep, super thick and dense. They also were rather hefty little guys!! After that we headed into the Kangaroo feeding area, where you could buy roo food and hand feed all kinds of kangaroos and wallabies :) There were dozens of them, and they would hop right up to you to be fed, and even let you put your arms them! It was very very cool!! Then there was a bird show where we discovered Aussie natives like the Sea Eagle (this guy puts our gulls to shame) the wedge tailed eagle and the barking owl. After taking another trip around to see all the koalas one last time, we caught the bus down to the South Bank in Brisbane.  There was a neat little market going on that sold some strange things including kangaroo balls made into bottle openers....yes, you read that right, kangaroo balls!!!! Giant ibis were everywhere, looking for food, on the tables and walk ways....We heard people complaining, but we thought it was pretty neat!! We also grabbed some ice cream while we were there, and my new favorite flavor is honey with butterscotch :) Since we were down on the water we hopped on a ferry and headed back to our new friend Beth's house, where we proceeded to have fantastic time with Beth and her lovely family :) It was all in all, a truly AMAZING day!!