Temperature: 23 Degrees Celsius
Track of the Day: "Fire and Rain,"
"Someones calling us," I say hearing the sound of our apartment phone alerting us we have visitors. Pausing for a moment to decide whether or not to answer it Alecs picks up the phone and buzzes someone in. "You have a package," Alecs says as I scramble to put something that doesn't resemble a paper bag on, to sign for the rather large and heavy box. Dragging it back into our room we tear it open to find an elaborate care package 
from my mom. "Eatmores," Alecs says excitedly grabbing the four chocolate bars, "Kraft Dinner," I squeal with even more enthusiasm, caressing the boxes of pasta like a mother would her child. We continue to pull item after item out of the box, working our way to the bottom. Make-up, Avon cream, shower gel, maple syrup soap, popcorn, nail file, post-it notes, stationary, place mats, measuring spoons, Tupperware containers, sponges and so much no. Alecs reaches in for a package of fruit flavored honey sticks with a note saying my little cousin Maddy bought these for Alecs with her own money, a touched Alecs immediately opens one while boiling some water for the gourmet hot chocolates mom sent him. Near the bottom of the box is a pair of work shoes under which I find a pair of black dress pants, a suit jacket, and four wonderful work shirts. Only a few days before this Alecs received a package from his best friend Mike containing a dive knife and a few days after this we received a package from Alecs' parents containing some of Alecs' medication and some Claritin for me - something you cannot find here in Oz! "Now I have clothes for work," I say excitedly, walking around in my new very comfortable shoes, breaking them in. We spend the remainder of our day playing scrabble on our new board game and eating Kraft Dinner. Thanks to everyone, we really appreciate everything.
from my mom. "Eatmores," Alecs says excitedly grabbing the four chocolate bars, "Kraft Dinner," I squeal with even more enthusiasm, caressing the boxes of pasta like a mother would her child. We continue to pull item after item out of the box, working our way to the bottom. Make-up, Avon cream, shower gel, maple syrup soap, popcorn, nail file, post-it notes, stationary, place mats, measuring spoons, Tupperware containers, sponges and so much no. Alecs reaches in for a package of fruit flavored honey sticks with a note saying my little cousin Maddy bought these for Alecs with her own money, a touched Alecs immediately opens one while boiling some water for the gourmet hot chocolates mom sent him. Near the bottom of the box is a pair of work shoes under which I find a pair of black dress pants, a suit jacket, and four wonderful work shirts. Only a few days before this Alecs received a package from his best friend Mike containing a dive knife and a few days after this we received a package from Alecs' parents containing some of Alecs' medication and some Claritin for me - something you cannot find here in Oz! "Now I have clothes for work," I say excitedly, walking around in my new very comfortable shoes, breaking them in. We spend the remainder of our day playing scrabble on our new board game and eating Kraft Dinner. Thanks to everyone, we really appreciate everything."Ready to go yet?" Alecs says impatiently as I finish tidying the apartment, "you know no-one will know if the pillowcases are straight or not," he adds, anxious to get going. Today w
e are heading to the Australia Zoo and we're both quite excited about the trip. We lock up the apartment and spend almost a whole two minutes walking to the train station only to realize our train just left and the next one isn’t arriving for another 35 mins. “We might as well do our grocery shopping Alecs says,” walking to FoodWorks and grabbing a basket. After managing to kill about 15 minutes we make our way back to the train station and wait at the platform. Having never taken the train this far before (about 1hr outside Brisbane) we are pretty excited about seeing some new scenery, a nice break from the urban scene that we are now accustomed to. About 45 minutes into th
e journey we pass by the Glass Mountains, something we both pictured to be more glass like, but nevertheless proved quite beautiful. Lush green farm land lines the railway tracks to our right, while the concave mountains tower over us on the left. Moments later our train pulled into the small unobtrusive, rather deserted Beenleigh train station. From here we follow the massive “CRICKEY” signs directing us to the Australia Zoo shuttle coach. The coach proves impossible to miss and as we turn a corner we are presented with a long bus plastered with the late Steve Irwin holding a crocodile. “I’d say this is our shuttle,” Alecs says, climbing on board taking a seat a few rows back. We arrive at the Zoo a few minutes later and having prepaid for our tickets online manage to jump the queue and head straight through
to the other side. The Australia Zoo, owned by the Irwin family and obviously made famous by Steve Irwin himself is more than 70 Acres of land, with over _ different species and more activities than you could shake a wallaby at. We wander over to the massive crocodile enclosures where a few of Steve Irwin’s croc’s spend their days lapping up the luxury of their expansive enclosures. “I could take that croc,” Alecs says gesturing to one of the smaller reptiles lazing in the sun. “No you couldn’t,” I say walked further afield to the camels. “Ya, you’re probably right,” Alecs finally agrees, following me over to a large Australian camel. We continue our tour, trying desperately to stay away from the hordes of people watching the 11:00 feature show in the ‘crocoseum.’ “Dingo’s” I say excitedly, walking over to the adorable wild dog-like animals. Dingo’s have and always will remind me of my uncle Rob and I can’t help but say “Dingo stole my baby!” After fully exploring this part of the zoo we head over behind the ‘Crocoseum’ to the Kangaroo enclosure. When Alecs and I first arrived here in Australia we decided to give Kangaroo meat a try after being encouraged to do so by a young Ozzie couple in Cambodia. I wasn’t particularly fond of the meat, while Alecs d
idn’t have any problems with it, but we would both soon question ever eating it again. At the entrance to the massive, forest like enclosure there are vending machines filled with bags of ‘Roo Feed’. Thinking there might be a small area where we can give a couple Kangaroo’s some food while being supervised we buy a couple bags and head down the path deep into the forest. There are no walls or fences aside from the exterior chain link fence covered in leafy foliage keeping the Kangaroo’s in this multi-acre enclosure. Amidst trees we spot our first Kangaroo lazing in the sun and we suddenly realize we are allowed to simply approach these marsupials and feed them. Still a little reluctant, we venture ahead, over a wooden bridge where a young roo drinks from the creek below. Following the bend in the pathway we approach a massive clearing and upon seeing the two of us, a dozen Kangaroos come leaping across the clearing to greet us. “Wow,” I say to Alecs unable to form any other words. “I know,” he replies as they bound towards us, scattering around, waiting for us to feed them. The Kangaroo’s are lazy and we carefully approach them, following the signs telling us to kneel, stretching our hands out ever so slowly and to both our surprise the Kangaroo simply turns its head towards us and gently nibbles the food from our hands. “He take.JPG)
s food like Shadow,” I say incredulously to Alecs, “so sweet and gentle." Alecs follows suit and we quickly notice an extra pair of feet hanging from his kangaroo's pouch. "Oooo, there's a Joey in there," I say pointing to the tiny little kangaroos head. We spend quite some time with mom and Joey before we make our way to the Koala enclosure. These slow, sleepy fur balls sleep for more than 3/4 of the day and today is no exception. Clinging to Eucalyptus trees, we spot several gray teddy bear like creatures sleeping the day away while families buzz
about, kids in tow, snapping photos, chowing down hot dogs and enjoying the warm weather. Making our way to Southeast Asia we find Asian Elephants in a massive enclosure that really puts the Calgary Zoo to shame and the Tiger Temple further afield makes me want to live in the zoo. "It's almost time for the show at the crocoseum," Alecs says excitedly as we meander back through the manicured parkways past tempting ice cream stand after tempting ice cream stand. Wanting the best seat in the house we arrive 45 minutes early and get centre stage to the famous crocodile show, waiting for the show to start. Time flies, as it almost always seems too and the show begins with a bang - well actually a squack. Dozens of birds are sent racing over our heads, a bald Eagle, Parakeets, Vultures, Toucan Sam's (you 
know the one from Froot Loops) and many more. Once that's wrapped up we get introcuced to a few lizards before the ultimate reptile is goaded out - a great big croc! The show proves to be a ton of fun, educational and very entertaining - ending with the croc scrambling out of the water and onto land snapping a chunk of meat from the trainers hands. "Quick," Alecs says once the show has ended, "I wanna get in Steve Irwins Jeep before the little kids get to it." Thoroughly bemused by the safari like Jeep built to withstand a flood of water rushing through it - Alecs giddily explores the inside longing for such a vehicle. I finally pull him away not wanting to miss ou
r chance to cuddle with a real live koala - they're soo cute, simply irresistable. We wait our turn and when it finally comes our time to shine, the trainer helps me position her on my shoulder and the moment she settles in - the koala is fast asleep. "It's fur is so soft," I say, petting the grey and white coat, not wanting to give her up. Alas the time comes for me to return her, and I begrudgingly allow the trainer to peel her off my shoulder. "Don't you think a koala would make a great apartment pet," I say to Alecs as we make our way to the exit, "I mean they sleep more than 3/4 of the day," I add. "And where do you suppose we get the eucalyptus," Alecs asks, "or are you proposing we start our own grow op of the leafy koala feed." It's nearly 4PM and we've been here the whole day and seen and done everything we wanted to so we agree to head home. Unfortunately the journey home proves to take much longer than we had hoped as our train was delayed almost 1 hour on top of the hour trip back into the city. "Let's grab pizza for dinner," Alecs says as we pass our local Sub-Boy shop, which surprisingly turns out some delicious and cheap pepperoni pizzas. Nodding my head in agreement, we place our orders, wait a few minutes and practically run home to veg out and eat!
e are heading to the Australia Zoo and we're both quite excited about the trip. We lock up the apartment and spend almost a whole two minutes walking to the train station only to realize our train just left and the next one isn’t arriving for another 35 mins. “We might as well do our grocery shopping Alecs says,” walking to FoodWorks and grabbing a basket. After managing to kill about 15 minutes we make our way back to the train station and wait at the platform. Having never taken the train this far before (about 1hr outside Brisbane) we are pretty excited about seeing some new scenery, a nice break from the urban scene that we are now accustomed to. About 45 minutes into th
e journey we pass by the Glass Mountains, something we both pictured to be more glass like, but nevertheless proved quite beautiful. Lush green farm land lines the railway tracks to our right, while the concave mountains tower over us on the left. Moments later our train pulled into the small unobtrusive, rather deserted Beenleigh train station. From here we follow the massive “CRICKEY” signs directing us to the Australia Zoo shuttle coach. The coach proves impossible to miss and as we turn a corner we are presented with a long bus plastered with the late Steve Irwin holding a crocodile. “I’d say this is our shuttle,” Alecs says, climbing on board taking a seat a few rows back. We arrive at the Zoo a few minutes later and having prepaid for our tickets online manage to jump the queue and head straight through
to the other side. The Australia Zoo, owned by the Irwin family and obviously made famous by Steve Irwin himself is more than 70 Acres of land, with over _ different species and more activities than you could shake a wallaby at. We wander over to the massive crocodile enclosures where a few of Steve Irwin’s croc’s spend their days lapping up the luxury of their expansive enclosures. “I could take that croc,” Alecs says gesturing to one of the smaller reptiles lazing in the sun. “No you couldn’t,” I say walked further afield to the camels. “Ya, you’re probably right,” Alecs finally agrees, following me over to a large Australian camel. We continue our tour, trying desperately to stay away from the hordes of people watching the 11:00 feature show in the ‘crocoseum.’ “Dingo’s” I say excitedly, walking over to the adorable wild dog-like animals. Dingo’s have and always will remind me of my uncle Rob and I can’t help but say “Dingo stole my baby!” After fully exploring this part of the zoo we head over behind the ‘Crocoseum’ to the Kangaroo enclosure. When Alecs and I first arrived here in Australia we decided to give Kangaroo meat a try after being encouraged to do so by a young Ozzie couple in Cambodia. I wasn’t particularly fond of the meat, while Alecs d
idn’t have any problems with it, but we would both soon question ever eating it again. At the entrance to the massive, forest like enclosure there are vending machines filled with bags of ‘Roo Feed’. Thinking there might be a small area where we can give a couple Kangaroo’s some food while being supervised we buy a couple bags and head down the path deep into the forest. There are no walls or fences aside from the exterior chain link fence covered in leafy foliage keeping the Kangaroo’s in this multi-acre enclosure. Amidst trees we spot our first Kangaroo lazing in the sun and we suddenly realize we are allowed to simply approach these marsupials and feed them. Still a little reluctant, we venture ahead, over a wooden bridge where a young roo drinks from the creek below. Following the bend in the pathway we approach a massive clearing and upon seeing the two of us, a dozen Kangaroos come leaping across the clearing to greet us. “Wow,” I say to Alecs unable to form any other words. “I know,” he replies as they bound towards us, scattering around, waiting for us to feed them. The Kangaroo’s are lazy and we carefully approach them, following the signs telling us to kneel, stretching our hands out ever so slowly and to both our surprise the Kangaroo simply turns its head towards us and gently nibbles the food from our hands. “He take.JPG)
s food like Shadow,” I say incredulously to Alecs, “so sweet and gentle." Alecs follows suit and we quickly notice an extra pair of feet hanging from his kangaroo's pouch. "Oooo, there's a Joey in there," I say pointing to the tiny little kangaroos head. We spend quite some time with mom and Joey before we make our way to the Koala enclosure. These slow, sleepy fur balls sleep for more than 3/4 of the day and today is no exception. Clinging to Eucalyptus trees, we spot several gray teddy bear like creatures sleeping the day away while families buzz
about, kids in tow, snapping photos, chowing down hot dogs and enjoying the warm weather. Making our way to Southeast Asia we find Asian Elephants in a massive enclosure that really puts the Calgary Zoo to shame and the Tiger Temple further afield makes me want to live in the zoo. "It's almost time for the show at the crocoseum," Alecs says excitedly as we meander back through the manicured parkways past tempting ice cream stand after tempting ice cream stand. Wanting the best seat in the house we arrive 45 minutes early and get centre stage to the famous crocodile show, waiting for the show to start. Time flies, as it almost always seems too and the show begins with a bang - well actually a squack. Dozens of birds are sent racing over our heads, a bald Eagle, Parakeets, Vultures, Toucan Sam's (you 
know the one from Froot Loops) and many more. Once that's wrapped up we get introcuced to a few lizards before the ultimate reptile is goaded out - a great big croc! The show proves to be a ton of fun, educational and very entertaining - ending with the croc scrambling out of the water and onto land snapping a chunk of meat from the trainers hands. "Quick," Alecs says once the show has ended, "I wanna get in Steve Irwins Jeep before the little kids get to it." Thoroughly bemused by the safari like Jeep built to withstand a flood of water rushing through it - Alecs giddily explores the inside longing for such a vehicle. I finally pull him away not wanting to miss ou
r chance to cuddle with a real live koala - they're soo cute, simply irresistable. We wait our turn and when it finally comes our time to shine, the trainer helps me position her on my shoulder and the moment she settles in - the koala is fast asleep. "It's fur is so soft," I say, petting the grey and white coat, not wanting to give her up. Alas the time comes for me to return her, and I begrudgingly allow the trainer to peel her off my shoulder. "Don't you think a koala would make a great apartment pet," I say to Alecs as we make our way to the exit, "I mean they sleep more than 3/4 of the day," I add. "And where do you suppose we get the eucalyptus," Alecs asks, "or are you proposing we start our own grow op of the leafy koala feed." It's nearly 4PM and we've been here the whole day and seen and done everything we wanted to so we agree to head home. Unfortunately the journey home proves to take much longer than we had hoped as our train was delayed almost 1 hour on top of the hour trip back into the city. "Let's grab pizza for dinner," Alecs says as we pass our local Sub-Boy shop, which surprisingly turns out some delicious and cheap pepperoni pizzas. Nodding my head in agreement, we place our orders, wait a few minutes and practically run home to veg out and eat! Next week will be a trip to the gold coast, something that's been a long time coming!
Until next time so long,
Alecs and Meg on the Sunshine Coast
Nice blog Megs...it's been wuite a while since we have seen one but you haven't lost your talent!
ReplyDeleteSo exciting !!!
ReplyDelete