We set off early this morning at 7:45 on the bus to Australia zoo, the one we had been holding out for! The bus ride was about an hour and a half but we did arrive as the zoo opened. Just inside the door we were greeted with several animals we could have our picture taken with for free. Firstly we stroked an Echidnas, which looked like a Porcupine and felt like straw. Secondly we could stroke a small crocodile that felt so soft and not scaly at all.

We continued on to see the various crocs and reptiles in their enclosures, all with their own Crocodile hunter tip. The zoo did seem to be a huge tribute to Steve, which was nice but occasionally felt a little uncomfortable when there were pictures everywhere. I did find it interesting reading about the relocation and training of wild crocs. Steve and his team found if they relocated a croc even over a large distance it would eventually find its way home. So they decided it was better to train them to understand humans were bad and to avoid them. This was achieved by capturing the croc and surrounding it with boats playing loud noise before releasing it. They found this kept the croc away from people, keeping both parties safe.

Next was the croc show in the Crocoseum, so we found some shady seats as the temp was over 40 degrees. The show started with exotic birds, a dingo and a small croc, before the big one was bought out. They showed its huge size and fast reaction time when someone invades its territory. Overall the show was good but slightly short and the trainers were difficult to understand. Now it was time to cuddle a Koala, previously we had stroked one but in Queensland they allow holding. April the Koala was fairly heavy and had very shaper claws as you clung to me, we did get a lovely photo though and she seemed reluctant to leave when the trainer took her back.

Next stop was the kangaroos and lucky for us there were loads about, Ant even ended up feeding 3 at a time claiming himself 'King of the Kangaroos'. Although they soon disappeared when we ran out of food! Moving on we continued to see more Koalas, one had a little joey hiding behind her back. This then led us to an aviary followed by snakes, I am not sure if I have ever seen such a vast collection but the trusty Crocodile hunter tips told us which ones to avoid. (Everything in Austrlia seems to want to kill you!).

Overall an enjoyable day and somewhere I had really wanted to visit. So stocked up on animal tips and photos of strange exotic animals we headed to catch the bus back to Brisbane. Where we could relax and enjoy an evening meal at a local Sushi restaurant near the hostel, which unfortunetly was not up the to Japanese standards.