Australia Adventures: 18. The Home of The Crocodile Hunter, Brizzy Brisbane and Goodbye to Queensland!

Hi everyone!

                                       The soothing serenity of Noosa Heads....

Welcome to my latest instalment of my endeavour to discover the wonderful Land of Oz...

Last time I left you I had been introducing myself to the Fraser Island Dingo's and continued travelling south down the east coast of Australia to the swanky sunshine town of Noosa Heads.
The town had a lot of roundabouts but good surf, not that I can surf well, but I rented a board from a backpackers that the hostel owner in 1770 had built himself and sent me packing there. Man, its fun having fun on the water out here! but people are very protective of their waves out here though which is pretty trivial to me, but I was rooming with a ex marine from the United States who was educating me about his four year life in the marines which was pretty fascinating. This is what I love about travelling, it gets you out of your familiar social circle and throws you in the mix with individuals from all different cultures and all walks of life. Love it, Love it, Love it! At the bottom of the road we had the Noosa river, perfect for a spot of chilling and fishing for my marine friend!

Of course, you can't come all this way and not visit the famous Australia Zoo which was totally created by the late Crocodile Hunter Steve Irwin. You can catch a bus conveniently directly there from the streets of Noosa to take you directly there and back - Australia has a fantastic tourism system and they entertain you on the short trip with videos of the daring ventures and mishaps of Mr Crocodile Hunter. The school holidays in Australia were kickin' off so was a pretty buzzing environment with the Irwin family themselves out there up front to give you a warm welcome.

 well in a bronze sense....but this was a nice tribute to the late animal enthusiast

The zoo itself is a great establishment, admirable to think it had been built on the integrity and passion of Steve Irwin. Full of Australia's typical and iconic species to feast your eyes on......

Ok so there's the characters that ever body knows..Blinky the Koala, Skippy the Bush Kangaroo and Mr Wally Wombat...









But wait there's more....You ever heard of Cassowaries? they are most dangerous birds on the planet....in fact, Australia is home to the most dangerous fish, snake, shark, spider, pretty much everything...what am I doing here! haha, you're probably thinking I should be jumping on a plane and getting out of here....

But no...behold the most dangerous bird on Planet Earth, so they say....but they're pretty funky looking but might not try to be friends with one of these guys unless you have a didgeridoo ( I was told someone charmed a cassowary with a didgeridoo up in the jungles of Cape Tribulation) anything's possible!

Apart from the paddocks for these crazy characters that populate the zoo, a nice addition is the walk through enclosure to get up close to Skippy's themselves with a bag of food as a treat (for them not me)....I love Kangaroos, they're such cool animals and it was a pinnacle moment when I could actually pet one finally in Australia Zoo. I want a Kangeroo!

The Crocoseum is the main arena and focal point of the zoo. Being Australian school holidays, the family themselves Bindi and Terri Irwin came out to sing accompanied by a mammoth elephant...nice touch. Exuding a celebrity presence about them, the famous Australian conservationists...along with Steve's lil blonde angelic 8 year old boy Bobby Irwin demonstrated his showmanship to the packed crowds.

The demonstrations consisted of the trio and other handlers impressively feeding the crocodiles (pretty impressive to see a 12 year old feed a salt crocodile) Bindi Irwin actually seems even more famous than her dad with everything you can imagine is franchised on her (she could even get a doll and a 'Bindi Burger') but she's inspiring a lot of people to get into conservation so it was cool. Kinda sad too because there's a tribute museum dedicated to Steve Irwin archiving hand written letters, drawings, art works which showed how much people loved him. I also found time to pop into the Irwin onsite Animal Hospital to see lil Koala's keeled over with broken arms...ahhhh. 

                Yikes!                                            Bindi Dolls, wow she talks too...

      Aww sick Koala....

After Noosa, I got a ride with Rachel at my backpackers to the big city of Brisbane making a detour visit to take a walk in the rainforests of Montville and the nearby waterfalls in the bush where we were caught unaware that we were swimming in the waterfall with an eel! I love the adventure of this rugged country, but out of the country and back into the big city...been a while

Hello Brisbane!

Brisbane was a pretty cool city, very similar to London though with the wheel, river and skyscrapers, only warm! I had a really good guided tour on the city from a girl called Lara who was a drama student at the university and I'll have say she was extremely talented in tour guiding....best guide in Brisbane city you could get. Brisbane is so pretty at night when I rode the night ferry up and down the river for some entertainment. My backpackers was a pretty interesting place, we had to position buckets under the ceiling to catch the rain flow coming in on rainy nights! but I couldn't complain about the view! Just outside the city is an aboriginal site, exhibiting rock art - its fascinating, I have a fixation with Aboriginal Art, I love it. Its so ancient and sacred and encrypted with dreamtime stories, the rooted civilisation of Oz.

                 Lights and the urgghhh ceiling hole....and ancient aboriginal rock art     



Well it is budget travelling after all. In a few days time, I bid farewell to Queensland where I have spent 6 months of my life and embark on a brand new place and adventure in a brand new undiscovered state for me - The Northern Territory....can't wait.



See ya again soon,

With Lonely Planet Guide Australia