Crikey!

The route to today's adventure took us past The Big Pineapple (reminiscent of Brainerd, Minnesota's Paul Bunyan, Garrison's enormous walleye,  or LeSueur's Jolly Green Giant) at a pineapple plantation in nearby Nambour. Gauss and Rod posed for the requisite hero shot.

Then it was back in the car for a ride to the Australia Zoo, founded by Steve Irwin, the Crocodile Hunter. The one thing I wanted to do in Australia was hold a koala, and Rod had called ahead to make arrangements for us to do just that.

Once at the zoo, we found that the koala appointment wouldn't be until late in the afternoon, so we had plenty of time to see all the other exhibits.

Early in the day we walked through an exhibit where the koalas napped among eucalyptus branches. It's difficult to convey how tender and appealing they are. Even curled into balls and wedged into branches, napping, the koalas are sweet, docile, and cuddly. The zoo allowed visitors to walk among the resting animals as long as we kept hands off.

Wallabies lounging among the eucalyptus

The zoo sold "Roo Food" but we discovered that many of the kangaroos and wallabies seemed to have already had their fill. Not to worry, there were opportunistic birds around, including white ibis and bush turkeys.

 Bush Turkey

Gauss was amused by the tails on the Bush Turkeys, vertically oriented like rudders on a boat. This is perhaps useful, as when the turkeys get to running, they move at breakneck speed. The male Bush Turkeys scratch at the forest floor, kicking up dried leaves and other debris into mounds, often 3-4 feet high, to impress the lady turkeys, building them a sort of dream home.

A White Ibis, looking lovely in a natural setting and not at all like it deserves its common nickname, "Tip Chook." Translated into American English, this means "Dumpster Chicken."

The nearby Wetland Bird exhibit featured this very narrow egret and this very flexible crane.

One of the best things about this trip is that I'm on a different continent, so when it comes to flora and fauna, everything is new. When you get to be my age, it's hard to find something you haven't experienced before, so I feel like a little kid. I'm delighted to see flocks of parrots roosting in the trees, scared but amused to ride on the "wrong" side of the road, and eager to hear the Australian terms for items we take for granted.

This water plant is an example. The form looks like a kind of moss that grows in moist areas in the boreal forest of northern Minnesota, but the texture and size of the leaves is like a succulent. It just doesn't fit into any of the existing slots in my brain. I love that!

OK, so I was expecting to be captivated by the koalas, and to drink in the colors and scents of exotic plants. But I wasn't prepared for the effect that seeing an African white rhino would have on me. I've seen photos and videos before, but nothing prepared me for the size of this beast. It's like a refrigerator with legs or a living, breathing, Sherman tank. 

And in the flesh, it's apparent how front-heavy the rhino is. Its head is the faunal equivalent of a durian, massive and spiky. I marvel that it doesn't tip over forwards. To top it off, the ears are disproportionately small and comically positioned a little too close to the shoulders. 

On our way back from the African exhibit, we stopped to take a look at the wombats. This fellow was a bit scarred—the result of wombat combat, I surmised.

The image and spirit of Steve Irwin are everywhere at the zoo, probably most evident at the wildlife show at the Crocoseum. The staff all wear khaki shorts and bush shirts, and the centerpiece of the show is a 12-foot croc.

The show culminates when the croc rises out of the water to grab bait dangled by the trainer. Rod took this photo from the stands, snapping the croc at precisely the right moment, thus establishing himself as a talented wildlife photographer—in case that dermatology thing he's doing at the moment doesn't work out.

After the show, we ate lunch in the open-air cafeteria. The same bush turkeys and tip chooks who steal chow from the roos cruised the area for people-food leftovers as well. The koala cuddle was the last item on the day's agenda, so we made the rounds of the dingoes, cassowaries, and Tasmanian Devils.