Sunday, September 26, 2010
Today….well today I did basically nothing. But that’s ok. I’m on vacation and I enjoyed the nice relaxing day. When I eventually got up and went out for a walk I managed to find St. John's Cathedral.
St. John's was built in 3 stages and construction was stopped several times due to a lack of funds (sounds familiar doesn't it). Construction was started in 1906 and it was finally completed in 2009. As of 2009 the cost of construction was paid in full. They are very proud to be able to say they are debt free.
St. John's Cathedral is the mother church of the Diocese of Brisbane started in 1859. Today it houses the Cathedra, the Archbishop's official seat. It is said to be the last neo-Gothic building to be completed in the world.
One of the beautiful stain glass windows that can be found in the Cathedral.
This is Brisbane's Customs House. Completed in 1889, it replaced the previous customs house which was a very modest single storey brick structure. The city was growing so quickly officials felt a much bigger....and grander building was needed. Now the building hosts everything from board meetings to weddings and other special functions.
After walking the streets for a bit I decided I wanted to hit the water. And no not for a swim. I wanted to take a ride on the City Cat ferry.
One of those many bridges that cross the Brisbane River.
From this vantage point this looks like a typical Queenslander home. Built on stilts, verandah and most likely a tin roof. Not a bad view from there either.
I love pelicans. These guys were just hanging out along the river in front of a restaurant.
Those are some ominous looking clouds. For the sunniest capital.....I sure have seen my share of rain.
Once I had thoroughly exhausted the city cat I headed back into the city to eat and plan my Monday. I had a little bit of a road trip planned.Monday, September 27th, 2010
So today I hit up one of Queensland’s most famous tourist traps….. I mean attractions. I am of course talking about Australia Zoo made famous because it was Steve Irwin’s (AKA The Crocodile Hunter) zoo. Steve was killed in 2006 by a stingray but the zoo is still going strong. The train trip was ……long and the entrance fee was a little high but I thought I needed to check it out. My first and lasting thoughts….too commercial, too much marketing and too much Bindi Irwin. If you are not sure who Bindi is…...you obviously have not been to Australia. She is the eldest daughter of Steve and Terri Irwin and now she is a quadruple threat (you know, singer, dancer, actress, wildlife conservationist). She has books and TV shows and a live variety act that she does at the zoo and you can see her face on just about everything.
A little look at the Bindi Show complete with the Jungle Girls. She is very talented. You can see you her in the newest Free Willie movie (which skipped theatres and went straight to DVD). I'm told she has already won a day time Emmy.
Her career with the zoo started early while her dad was still alive and since then it has taken off. It's school holidays here in Queensland so the zoo has a few extra entertainment features on this week.
Now that you have been introduced to Bindi, maybe I should go back to how I got to the zoo. There is train from Brisbane to Beerwah (where the zoo is) that takes just over an hour. And then from the Beerwah train station you just have to catch the Australia Zoo courtesy bus. It actually is a pretty good set up. If the bus isn't there when you arrive, you just give them a call and they send it for you. I arrived with bunch of other people and we waited about 5 minutes and then the bus was there.
Anyway, I checked out a few things and then made my way to the Crocoseum to check out the show.
The Crocoseum....created by Steve Irwin to show and teach people all about crocodiles. Created with clear water so that you can see them in the water. In the wild, encounters with crocodiles are most dangerous in murky water....where you can't see them, but they can see you.
After Bindi performed we were treated to a show with birds and snakes. Here is one of the zoo keepers taking a swim with a python. I later had a close encounter with what I can only assume is the same python. A zoo keeper was carrying him to a tourist cuddle session (yeah, that's right, a cuddle session), I turned around at the wrong time and there he was in all his giant goodness. He stuck his tongue out at me. We aren't friends and I let the zoo keeper and the python get well ahead of me before I continued on my way.
The Irwin Family, Terri, Bindi and Robert telling us stories and jokes. A little scripted but hey it is a show after all.
And now to the croc feeding. This is Munga. Apparently Munga is a little unfamiliar with the Crocoseum so was a little unpredictable. But he did eat the meat.......and not the people, like he was suppose to. That's Terri feeding Munga......all while telling us what not to do if you encounter a croc in the wild. Throwing pieces of raw meat at him.....one of the things you should not do.
Trying to make Munga jump. Doesn't seem to want to but that won't stop them from tyring. It is hard to hear but they do explain that not all crocs will come all the way out of the water for food.
Can't you just hear him saying.....mmmmmm....free meat.
Once the Croc show was over, I headed out to see the rest of the zoo. The whole place is set up with daily educational shows about the animals where you can learn all about them. And of course a lot of info about how you can help protect their natural habitat and keep their numbers nice and high in the wild. That I enjoyed. I didn't enjoy how they were always trying to sell a great encounter with all the animals. For a small fee (small is relative) you can get up close and personal with any of the zoo's animals and have the moment recorded by a personal and professional photographer. No word on how much the photos will cost you afterwards.Anyway, forget the money the place is huge and here are a few of the little animals I liked.
That's a giant tortoise. It may not look that way in this picture but this guy was about the size of a coffee table. Yes, I could have easily sat on him and taken a ride.
Ok, not my favourite but it is the Crocodile Hunter's zoo so there need to be a few pictures of a crocodile.
That is the blue head of a cassowary......a bird smaller than an emu but much bigger than a turkey. You can find them in Australia's rain forests. They have these giant claws and apparently can be very mean if you get too close to their nest.
Found the koala habitat. Still cute as can be.
I love the fluffy ears. I think he is trying to hear what everyone is saying.
A big sleepy tiger. It was nap time for them. They had a big show to put on in about an hour. These tigers like to swim for the tourists. Nap time was also for the zoo keepers because there were also a few of them hanging out in the tiger enclosure.
Those are elephants of India behind me (just like Bindi's song). It's bath time. One of them tried to hide in the water most of the time.....but I found him.
What's this? Maybe a ROUS (that's rodent of unusual size........and if you've seen The Princess Bride as many times as I have.....you find that funny).
Actually it is a cute as a button wombat. Here are the rest of them having a snack. Seriously cute little guys. Like giant hamsters or something.
Crikey! Can't you just see The Crocodile Hunter driving along and then jumping out to grab a snake he just saw? I watched the show enough so I can.
This is the Steve Irwin Memorial. you will find it just as you enter the zoo. The zoo is celebrating it's 40th anniversary. The zoo was started by Steve's parent's back in 1970. November 15th is Steve Irwin Day at the zoo.
And that was my very long day at the zoo. I saw lots of very fun things and was glad I made the trip but in the end......I'd rather look at a koala than a crocodile.
Julie
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