Last day of Summer

Ever feel like you're being watched?

 

Somehow, we've got to the end of Australia's summer season. I can't believe I've been here for over four months now, and I've only got two left to go. February has gone by in a bit of a blur; I've been so busy this month. Before Christmas, I was usually up to something maybe three days in a week. Now, I look forward to just getting one day to sleep in.

This month has been most notable because Tom's been here, which has actually worked out great for both of us. Even though we drive each other crazy sometimes, we're also pretty likeminded, so we've made good travel partners. Most recently, we took a trip to Brisbane.

I was so happy to be back in Queensland! The heat hits you like trapped steam waiting outside the plane doors, and it's so much greener up there. Although Victoria possibly has more variety of wildlife, Queensland has a higher abundance. On the way back to the complex from the airport, we found some awesome looking orb spiders, and in the centre of Brisbane, we spotted a pair of gorgeous Curlews (a bird Tom and I have grown fond of) and tons of little water dragons running about the place. We also kept an eye on the river for Bull Sharks, since they're happy in rivers and creeks as well as the sea, but we didn't spot any.

I was in Brisbane for a couple of nights, and my main reason for going was, of course, Australia Zoo. Steve Irwin has been an idol of mine ever since I first watched The Crocodile Hunter. The man was incredible, and I was truly heart broken when he died. I'm a fierce defender of his, and of what he stood for, and I think the world is a little bit worse off without him. Because of this, I would have been so disappointed if I hadn't made it up to his beautiful zoo.

And it was beautiful. What a wonderful place! It's unlike any other zoo I've visited, and I've been to a lot of zoos. There is so much love and devotion to the animals there, and although it is of course somewhat commercial, it isn't over the top and the animals aren't treated like commodities. The enclosures are fantastic, and the bonds between keepers and animals are incredible.

Tom holding a baby Alligator and getting nicknamed Batman. Best day of his life.

The attention to detail in every corner of this zoo was amazing, and I really enjoyed the tributes to Steve, dotted around all over the place. Near the crocoseum, there were walls and walls of newspaper clippings, photographs and condolences from fans. Behind one glass cabinet, there were books laid out with heartfelt messages of sympathy, as well as bits and pieces from Steve's life. I pretty much had to walk away at this point, because it really was making me tearful.

On a slightly more positive note, there were also great sections dedicated to education; teaching visitors that predators like crocs and sharks aren't our enemies and we don't have to attack them the whole time.

The croc show itself was really great. I was excited to hear names that I recognised from back when Steve was still around; notably, Grahame, Aggro, Charlie and Murray. Murray was the croc we saw in action, and he was a rockstar out there.

Murray backing his keeper into a corner.

Although it was a bit short, it was everything I'd expected it to be; an awesome spectacle, with the crocs stealing the show, as it should be. However, we couldn't help thinking how amazing it would have been if Steve had been there, still doing what he loved to do.

That seemed to be the theme of the day; the place was incredible and the animals were truly wonderful, but we were just a little bit sad the whole way round. Then we found the Tigers.

Don't get me wrong, I loved the crocs; they are amazing animals and they're so beautiful and intelligent, but the tigers completely blew us away.

They had a beautiful enclosure; nice and big with plenty to entertain them, and we were told they rotated them, so they weren't all on display the whole time. When we arrived, the tiger on display was so chilled out, which was nice to see, since at Melbourne zoo, they spend their whole time hiding. Shortly after we got there, two keepers came into the enclosure, sat down and had a chat. Yep. Just sat there, in the tiger enclosure.

After chilling with the tiger for a while, they took her out. So basically, they walked over to her, put a leash on her and she walked out with them, chill as anything. Like an overgrown dog. Then they brought Kaitlyn in.

I think I fell in love with this girl before I even saw her. Kaitlyn gave birth to two tiger cubs six months ago, and the keepers told her that, because of the bond they've had with her ever since she arrived, they were able to take care of her throughout her entire pregnancy without once sedating her. We're talking about an apex predator here, one that most people would run as fast as they could away from her, and even when she was pregnant, territorial and moody, they never needed to put her to sleep.

Like the crocs, she put on a great show, but this was less of a predator vs prey spectacle. This was a big cat out with her friend, chasing him around because he had a carton of milk, not because he looked tasty. The only thing that let this show down was the people crowding around the glass and ruining my shots! I'll let the pictures speak for themselves, because really, there are no words to describe how fantastic the Tiger Show at Australia zoo was.

Kaitlyn and her keeper.

An awesome show of what Kaitlyn can do, slightly ruined by reflections on the glass.

Checking Kaitlyn over while she's distracted by milk.



Waiting for someone to throw her 'stick', the hoof of an antelope or deer.

During the show, they didn't bring the baby tigers out, but near the end, the keepers advised us to come back near the end of the day. We spent the next couple of hours revisiting some of our favourite areas, like the Kangaroo and Koala close encounter walk through, as well as making our way to the few enclosures we missed - the zoo was huge!

Then, at about 4pm, we came back and we weren't disappointed. These 'babies' were as big as my dog, but they were adorable. If I hadn't run out of room on my memory card, I'd have spent the rest of the day there, but I can at least share the photos I did get.

Playtime

Complete adoration.

Bad Kitty.

Playtime!

I don't know what more there is to say, except that I am one hundred per cent going back to Australia Zoo. What a wonderful experience it was. I know it's cheesy, but this place was filled with love and passion. The animals were comfortable, happy and well cared for. I didn't get the overcrowded vibe I find at most zoos, and I didn't feel like the animals were constantly being gawked at. It was relaxed, well organised and well managed, and absolutely worth the trip to Brisbane.

In a few weeks, Courtney and I are taking a trip to the Gold Coast, and I believe Australia Zoo is somewhere in between there and Brisbane, so I'm taking her back there. Any animal lover or Steve Irwin family should go, no doubt about it.

Even if it's just to see these little guys. Everywhere.

A tiny water dragon, just chillin'.

Brisbane was so awesome, and I can't wait to get back to Queensland. It's not Cairns, but it's still beautiful and well worth a visit. Until then, I'll enjoy the last few days of summer and look forward to March.

Take care and thanks for reading,

Em

Victoria on Fire

Guess where we've been?

Hey guys,

So a few weeks ago, I blogged about the fires during the 40 degree week. Well, they're back. It's been pretty tense in Victoria this weekend; on Sunday, we got fire warnings for Gisborne, and we could see the smoke out the back of the house. It was pretty scary, but we were prepared to jump in the car and go if needed, and we were expecting a wind change. Unfortunately, when it came, although it pushed the fire away from us, it stoked fires towards Riddells Creek and then Mickleham.

The Riddells Creek fire scorched most of the land along the freeway, so things are pretty black around here, but they got it under control sometime during the night. However, three days later, the Mickleham fire is still roaring across the state. The house toll has mounted to somewhere around fifty, now, but thankfully, as of yet, there are no lives lost.

Today, Melbourne and its suburbs have been veiled in an eerie blanket of smoke; the wind has died down and the haze has settled in all the valleys and dips, hovering over the city and its surrounding towns. It's weird, but it made for a pretty beautiful sunrise this morning on our way into school!

The dry heat was quite a contrast to the weather conditions in Sydney a few days ago. Tom, who's in Australia for a few weeks from Singapore, and I took a quick trip to the tourist capital of NSW for three nights, and we had a really great time. We really just wanted to see the sights, so although we would have liked to stay longer, three days was pretty good.

We arrived midday Monday, and the weather was beautiful. We checked into our hotel, which was a bit of a hidden gem considering the price; it was a basic, but comfortable room at a great price, and the staff were really helpful. We got hold of a map, and they showed us the best ways to get around, suggesting a train or bus into Darling Harbour. However, considering the price of our train tickets from the airport, we decided to brave a walk into town. Turns out we made the right decision. Even though we got lost a couple of times, the walk was really easy and it only took about 20 minutes, so we did that everyday.

We were pretty blown away by Darling Harbour. Yes, it's tourist central, but it's so beautiful and lively. I joined the tourists and got my camera out, especially when we saw little moon jellyfish in the water!

The beautiful water at Darling Harbour



And these guys were just everywhere!

 

We squeezed in as much as we could on the first afternoon, because we were concerned about the weather for the following days. We decided to go straight to the aquarium (after stopping for a traditional Maccas lunch) and we were really impressed with the effort Sydney Sea Life Aquarium are putting into Shark Conservation. Have you heard of shark fin soup? Millions of sharks are killed every year for this, and trust me when I say it is neither quick, nor painless, nor sustainable. Beautiful, harmless little sharks are plucked from the water, relieved of their fins, which is like someone cutting off our arms and legs, then tossed back into the water, where they either drown or bleed to death.

Tell me this isn't gorgeous?

What's worse is that, while these lovely little reef sharks lose their fins for use as food or medicine, there are some boats out their stalking, capturing and butchering Whale Sharks, the largest fish in the ocean and the least harmful one there is, just to use their fins as decoration outside restaurants. As far as I'm concerned, this is barbaric behaviour, and can only be called human, since no animal would do this to another animal.

The good news is, that aquariums like Sydney Sea Life are educating the masses, and trying to put a stop to this awful practice. This particular aquarium has about 15 different species of shark, and since Tom and I are losers, we were really excited about that.

Staying on the topic of sharks, we later went to Sydney's IMAX theatre, which is apparently the largest in the world, to see the 3D Great White Shark documentary. I'm not big on 3D as a rule, but it was a beautifully made film, and I felt really privileged to be able to see it. I would recommend it to anyone in the area; it lays rest to an awful lot of false rumours about the supposed man eaters.

As the sun was setting on Monday, we grabbed a water taxi round to the famous Sydney Harbour for a drive by visit, and although we didn't get off and walk around, we were stoked just to see the iconic bridge and the opera house (pictured above). It was a really beautiful evening and we polished it off with dinner in a really nice pasta restaurant back in Darling Harbour,

Tuesday brought the rain with it, so we spent most of the day exploring Darling Harbour, and we also took a trip to the zoo. Sydney have been really innovative with their space; at first, we thought the sign for the zoo was just advertising it and the actual place was somewhere else. Turns out we were wrong. Sydney Wild Life Zoo is cleverly and carefully built into a building no bigger than the neighbouring Madame Tussauds museum, yet still holds an awesome range of Australian animals, including Snakes, Tassie Devils, Kangaroos and one of the largest salt water crocs in captivity.

I won't bore you too much with more zoo talk, but since I got to hang out with a python who was two or three meters long, I think it's safe to say we were, again, pretty damn impressed.

Wednesday's weather was slightly better, and after a bit of confusion regarding public transport and which bus we should get, we made it to Bondi Beach. I think this possibly ranks in my top ten favourite days.

 

I watch the show Bondi Rescue, so I was so excited to be here. I think I drove Tom mad, since I spent most of the day stalking life guards, blushing, and taking photos of surfers. I got to say hi to one of my heroes; one of the life guards from the show, we made friends with a couple of awesome surfers, and we walked from Bondi to Bronte.

Tony Audin, catching waves.

By the end of the day, we were pretty worn out, but more importantly, we were very sunburnt. This baffled us, since the day had been mostly cloudy, but we learnt the hard way that in Australia, the sun doesn't have to be out to get burnt.

All in all, we had a really awesome time in Sydney and I'm so glad I went. Even though I love Victoria and want to stay here forever, I really wanted to do the tourist places, and Sydney was definitely worth it.

This week, I'm heading up to Brisbane to meet up with Tom again, so expect a post dedicated to Steve Irwin and his zoo very soon!

Thanks for reading, (if you got this far) and take care, guys!

Em