Crikey!

The day did not start out all that well. After leaving for the airport at 5 am, I picked up a paper that said there were whales seen in Victor Harbor yesterday. If only I hadn't left for Adelaide so early!

Once I got to Brisbane, all was better. I got directions to Steve (Crikey) Irwin's Australia Zoo that were perfect and arrived in time to take in the free-flight bird show and the tiger show. Leaving before the crocs came on stage, I wandered the zoo until it was time for my tour of the koala hospital. More kangaroos and wallabies, including a couple of white ones. One wallaby really took to me even though I didn't have any food for it. The dingos there were nowhere near as much fun as the ones in Urumbirra. No puppies. I did see my first cassowary. Several years ago, I had a strange dream that someone gave me one as a gift and it attacked me. Seeing the size of it's feet, I'm glad it was just a dream. In one of the many koala exhibits, I struck what I thought was gold with a couple of baby koalas clinging to their mothers.

Little did I know what true gold is. For the koala hospital tour, I was the only guest and I suspect I got to see some things not usually on the tour. There was a sweet koala who had lost a leg and couldn't be released that I got to pet. Then there were two babies smaller than any I had ever seen. Heart-breakingly cute! One was just poking his head out of the pouch.

From the zoo in Beerwah, it was a 3+ hour drive to Hervey Bay where signs led me straight to my hotel. The room looks out over the marina and the boat I'm going out on in the morning. There will be whales!