Koala Sprint

On Sunday we drove out to Lone Pine, which, despite sounding like a retirement home, is Australia’s oldest and largest koala sanctuary. We saw many koalas,

Give me your hand, Mr. Frodo!

…and listened to a talk about Eric the python…

…before entering the kangaroo enclosure, where you could get up close and personal with emus and kangaroos.

There were also aviaries containing various aves, and some aves that were just there hopping around, wondering why they didn’t get a cage and fed as well. The same could be said of the lizards, some of whom were in cages, including the lacy monitor, Australia’s largest lizard, which grows up to 2m in length; and some rather brave (or foolhardy) ones that had infiltrated the crocodile enclosure.

We also attended a rather good talk and demonstration on birds of prey, which included a kestrel, barn and barking owls, a very impressive sea eagle, and a wedge-tailed eagle.

After spending some time in the reptile house and seeing a sleeping wombat and a distinctly un-satanic Tasmanian devil, we’d seen pretty well all they had to offer, so we went to lunch at the café at the summit of Mount Coot-Tha. This is what pases for a mountain in Queensland but at a mere 287m above sea level barely qualifies as a hill, really. Nevertheless it has good views of Brisbane from the top.

We drove the long way back down the mountain in order to take in the views on the way, then returned home for an evening’s lollygagging.