Australia Zoo

yesterday (Sunday) i went to the australia zoo! it is steve irwin's zoo, which his wife, terri, and daughter, bindi have taken over.  it was originally created for conservation purposes, to protect endangered animals, as well as educate about the animals in australia.  i have never really liked zoos before, but i had a blast yesterday!  the only downside was that we had to be on the bus at 7:45 am, and the bus ride was about 2 hours north of us, in noosa.  

however, once we arrived there, we grabbed a snack at "feeding frenzy", the food court, and then we were ready to see the animals!  the first thing we did was go to a show called "wildlife warriors!" where we got to see some birds, elephants, and crocodiles.  the zoo keepers fed the croc right in front of us, and one of the zoo keepers hid behind a bush the entire time.  i have no idea what he was doing, it was so weird.  and i got to see a baby croc right up close!  they're pretty cute, i guess...

then we were on our own for the next four hours... we saw every animal you can imagine, koalas, weird birds, and of course, kangaroos!  we probably spent the most time with the kangas because we got to feed them and pet them and be right up in their faces.  we even saw a mama kanga with a baby joey in it's pouch!  it was really strange.  i also go to pet a koala bear, which was a bit of a traumatic experience.  he was sleeping in the tree and when i went up to him, i just went for it and reached for his adorable little paw.  the zoo keeper then came at me and yelled because apparently you are only supposed to pet his furry little butt, so as not to get clawed to death.  i don't know how that would ever happen, seeing as these koalas are stoned on eukalyptus, and can hardly open their eyes, let alone violently attack anyone.

we also got to see some otters, which were very adorable.  the boy otter followed the girl otter around everywhere, and they swam and moved in sync the entire time we watched them, like they were doing some sort of choreographed routine.  it was so strange.  at one point there was a pretty large group of people there, and the boy started barking at people getting too close to his woman.  i will have to check into whether or not otters are one of those animals that mate for life...