Wonders of Australia – Day Seven – Thursday 15 October 2015
Weather: Sunny, 28
I slept like a log and thankfully, the day at the zoo didn’t start until 8:30. My transfer showed up and handed me a card for my return trip. Three times were listed – 12, 1:30 and 4:30. They had already selected 1:30 for me which was perfect since my flight to Darwin wasn’t until 7 pm.
It took about a half hour to get to the zoo after our hotel tour of Cairns. I picked up some kangaroo food and headed straight to the koala area where we could hold a koala for a photo. The photo is included with the $20 session but they’ll also take one with your camera which is nice. You can take a hard copy or get it emailed.
The koala’s fur is a thick tightly weaved coat. The little guy just holds on like a baby.
Pretty cute though on further research, they now believe that even these photo sessions stress the koala. If I had known, I would have been happy to just take the photos with my zoom. The zoo has a number of koalas and several have joeys.
They’re hanging around poles that have branches of eucalyptus poking out. The koala can actually hide in the branches – I can be staring at a clump of eucalyptus branches and not think anything is there and then the branches move, and it’s like a metre away.
After my photofest, I headed for the kangaroo enclosure and fed a young one.
They weren’t as hungry as the wallabies at Featherdale.
I took a few photos and headed up to the 10 am bird show. I had forgotten my notepad so I didn’t get notes on the birds that were shown but one of the photos was worth a thousand words.
They showed us the owl and three or four others.
Then they said we could tip one of the birds and it would deposit the coin for us.
Pretty cute.
I continued on with a visit to the lemurs…
And the walk-through bird enclosure where I came face to face to the bird that is the poster bird for Angry Birds.
The wombats.
The reptiles.
The…ummm….platypus bird? Nope. I’ve learned it’s a spoonbill.
And the dingos.
There’s a male and female in separate enclosures and one was howling. You can’t hear it, but somewhere off camera, someone shouted ‘shut up’ and the dingo stopped.
Seeing these guys, it blows my mind that anyone actually tried to insinuated that a dingo was not capable of dragging away a newborn baby.
I returned to the koala enclosure and spent an hour taking photos.
They make great subjects. They just don’t move.
The joeys were adorable.
I was there so long, I could hear their thoughts.
I think they were on to me.
I quietly back out of the enclosure, and with about an hour before pick-up, I made another circuit of the zoo to see if I missed anything. Then I came across a caretaker giving a talk on the koala.
She told us a lot of what I’ve already written about the koala
It was an informative session, and as she spoke, a wombat came up behind her and grunted. She said they can be territorial and it was trying to tell her to get out of its enclosure.
When she was done, I got my fridge magnet and went out to wait for my ride. I asked the driver if she could drop me at the mall instead of the hotel and she said no problem. I went in and had some KFC then checked out some shops.
I was back at the hotel by four. I still had my room because I had late check-out, but I was actually checked in for the night. In the end, I didn’t really need the late check-out. I could have stored my luggage for the day no problem. Granted, had I done some snorkeling today, I would have wanted a room, so I’m guessing that is the rationale for it. In the end, I pay for this room and the one in Darwin for the same night. I noticed that next year, this tour has changed the Cairns schedule so that this wouldn’t be an issue.
My transfer was on time and it was just a short drive to the airport. It was a QantasLink flight and I had checked in the night before, so I just had to get my boarding pass and luggage tag and I was on my way. I checked out the shops, and as always, I have to check the M&Ms for unusual flavours….like pineapple.
As if pineapple on pizza wasn’t bad enough.
The flight to Darwin was just over two hours and there was a time change of a half hour. I can see the moon on the horizon all the way there and it’s a clear night for a landing.
I find my transfer and we head to the Adina Vibe hotel. On the way, she mentions that she had picked up a couple for the same company the night before. I said they were likely heading out at five the next morning and she said she was scheduled to pick them up.
So, I asked her to pass on a message. I told her they thought I was supposed to be with them for this tour but that I was actually a day behind. I asked her to tell them that and say hello.
She laughed and said no problem.
It was almost ten by the time I got settled into my room.
Since I have an early morning, I would miss breakfast, so I was given a box breakfast.
Isn’t it cute?
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