"Rippa!" Australia, Steve Irwin style

After a quiet night on the beach and a campfire we wake pretty early and get on our way. Our rendezvous with the girls planned for the Australia Zoo around lunchtime. Arriving more or less the same time, (although the girls are more fresh and clean smelling admittedly), we go in and plan our afternoon.

First on the list is the feeding of the crocs, with a clear demonstration of just how fast those buggers can go when they want food. Our appetites wetted we trough down some food of our own then explore the rest of the park. The roos are remarkably tame allowing you to get right up close and stroke them, the koalas are similar although their long claws are quite intimidating for such placid looking creatures. A tour of the emus (don’t run because you might frighten them?), the birds of prey being fed (including an eagle that couldn’t fly because some stupid people had found it as a baby and kept it in a box for 5 years so its wings had never been able to stretch out), the Tasmanian devils, dingoes, deadliest snakes, reptiles (with a multitude of iguanas, water dragons and skinks), other assorted birds (including huge ones that could kill you – can everything over here kill you?) and even some incredibly playful otters, we were about “australia’d” up. A last goodbye to Silver and the girls and we pushed back on “home” to Toogoolawah.