Australia Zoo

Sunday, Jeremy, his parents and I went to Australia Zoo--home of Steve Irwin, the Crocodile Hunter--to do the tourist thing. I was so excited! Look at all the cool animals!!

We walked around the crocodile pens and saw a crocodile show in their stadium. These things are SO big! Wow! And I'm amazed by how prehistoric they look... Impressive. This is a saltwater crocodile or "saltie."

This is a cassovary--it's roughly the size of an emu. Beautiful, eh?

The coolest part of the museum, though, is the kangaroo enclosure. It's basically a fenced in park filled with kangaroos that basically sleep and eat roo food from tourists all day. They don't care at all if you just walk up and pet them or sit down beside them.

I was in animal heaven.

One kangaroo had a baby in it's pouch and though we couldn't see the little guy's body, you could definitely see him moving around! It was so amazing to see the kangaroo's belly buldge and move in wave like motions as the little joey moved around. Pretty spectacular. And one the amazing things: this kangaroo let us pet her too while she had her joey inside! That's how tame these guys were!!

And I've decided that I LOVE koalas. (Just and FYI: they're not bears; they're marsupials.) I love this photo--it's like you're looking up his nose. :)

They are so funny. They just curl up in little balls and fall asleep in trees. Some seemed to fall asleep even in the middle of chewing their food! They're incredibly slow too. Though I didn't get to hold one (that's probably have to wait until I go to Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary), I did get to pet one! Their fur is super thick but very soft--Jeremy's mom said it felt like an Ugg boot. lol

And if you're wondering why koalas look so doped up all the time, it's because they are. The eucalyptus leaves that they eat have a mildly intoxicating effect on them. So really, this koala is saying, "Dude, these leaves are sweet!"

Other cool animals I saw: wombats (think prarrie dog/tank), echidnas (like an ant eater/porcupine), red kangaroos (bigger, and redder than the others), lizards, emus, and a komodo dragon. Unfortunately, the tasmanian devil was hiding and I didn't get to see it, but maybe next time. :)