Cuddling Koalas, and for as long as possible, was a must for this Australian trip. Brisbane's Lone Pine Sanctuary helped fulfill that requirement!The last couple of posts have dealt with Brisbane, the little Australian city that flies under the radar. If you haven't read about our time in Moreton Island or Brisbane, find that here: We've previously mentioned that the sole reason for going to Brisbane was to visit Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary. Yes, Australia has tons of places to see and hold koalas but we researched and our friends researched and Lone Pine kept coming back as the best place to cuddle koalas. They seemed to create an experience that was fulfilling without overcharging their guests and that is exactly what we were looking for! BUT, before we took off to spend the day with koalas, we stopped for breakfast at Nodo donuts. I couldn't not include Nodo in this post because it was a food highlight for myself and Chase. We were both so excited to try Nodo and their unique, baked flavors did not disappoint. Seriously guys, for a donut lunatic, I was in heaven! I'm still trying to figure out a way to get Nodo to Austin... Ok, I digress. After donuts, we got a couple Übers and headed to Lone Pine. We got there as soon as they opened to try and beat the crowds. This is our friend, Kim! Hey girl! We wandered through a few animal exhibits (Lone Pine does have more than just Koalas) including the bat area with GIGANTIC bats. Here in Austin, we're familiar and totally obsessed with bats. We have the largest urban colony of Mexican fruit bats, which happen to be the size of your hand (wingspan and all). However, that did not prepare me for these bats. Australia's bats were like flying possums!! Seriously, I had never seen a bat that big before! Kind of terrifying. Shortly after the entrance exhibits, we found the koalas. Mostly, Long Pine had them separated by age. We visited with the "elderly" ones first and then made our way to the "cuddle a koala" area. We wanted to do that first before the lines got long. Everyone had a turn and the staff was really lovely about us taking pictures for each other and getting as many shots as possible! I think it ended up being about 5 minutes per person with the fuzzy little guys. Quick Tip: wearing light colors while holding koalas is not a good idea! Male koalas have a large open gland on their chest to help mark territories and attract females. Other than it being quite smelly, the gland also left a large wet spot that dried a nice yellow/green color. To this day after shout and bleach, I still have a slight stain on my white romper. However, totally worth it! The following pictures are of our lovely friends who have yet to see these pictures. Here's to you guys! Miss you! After the koalas, we made our way to the feeding area for the kangaroos. Again, we wanted to get in there before the crowds got bad. We bought some kangaroo food and headed to pet, feed, and pose with the mildly domesticated beasts. We did see one small fight break out. Aggressive little buggers. I can't get over the kid with the purple crocs. It's like she's made that roo her pet... HEART EYES emoji all the way. We also saw a couple wallabies but they were not interested in being fed or having people around them. Any time someone would walk in their direction, they bounced away. We did manage to get a couple pictures before one scampered off. Their markings were different and they were much smaller in size. They also appeared to be more fuzzy than kangaroos. After the koalas and kangaroos, we made our way around the rest of the facility. We visited the Dingoes, Wombats, Tasmanian Devils, kookaburras and the Platypus tank. We also saw sheep dogs, crocodiles, some reptiles, a lot of birds, and of course other koala areas like the bachelor koalas and my personal favorite, the mom and baby koalas. The mom/baby koalas were all awake and moving around because I got really lucky and stumbled upon their house while the zookeeper was replacing the eucalyptus branches. Disrupting their sleep, the moms were climbing down the branches and walking across the tree trunks getting ready for their afternoon snack. The babies all seemed to be hitching rides on their moms backs. It was quite precious. If you have a chance to go to Australia, we'd highly recommend Lone Pine. The establishment was very well kept, organized, friendly. We loved our day there. Plus the koalas were so stinking cute. Emphasis on stinky! Until Next Time, C + D
2 Comments
6/30/2023 11:55:32 am
En iyi gümüşhane ilan sitesi burada. https://gumushane.escorthun.com/
Reply
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorChase & Dani here, providing Categories
All
Archives
April 2024
|