Another trip down memory lane this time further south to the town of Mooloolaba. When we had visited this town last time we unfortunately had 2 days of cloud and rain and so were hoping this time to see it in a better light. On arrival it was just as we remembered it, grey and rainy so we headed to an indoor shopping centre for a look around to escape the dismal weather. The trip to the centre paid off as we found a fantastic second hand book shop and managed to trade in some of our used books for yet more James Patterson classics! After looking around the centre we then headed to check into the campsite. The next day and whilst it had finally stopped raining it was still a little overcast so we decided to take the short drive to Steve Irwin's Australia Zoo. We had never got round to visiting the zoo last time and with so many people saying it is a must see we thought it was probably worth a look. We arrived a little after opening and with the zoo putting on lots of interactive sessions and organized feedings as well as your own self guided tour there was plenty of things to see and do. The first stop was the feeding of the giant tortoises and boy these guys were massive but as it was breakfast time they were surprisingly active and much quicker on their feet than you would imagine! The zookeeper also gave a really informative chat about the tortoises and how they came to live at Australia zoo. After the tortoises there was only a short break before it was time for the elephant feeding. This zoo is the only zoo that allows its visitors to feed their 3 rescue elephants. It was a little intimidating when it was your turn to step onto the mat in front of a huge elephant with a small piece of carrot in your hand. The elephants however have clearly done this before and smoothly lift the carrot with their trunk and put it into their mouth. It was a great experience and something neither of us had done before however I could have done without the elephant drool souvenir I was left with on the palm of my hand after the feeding, yuk! After the elephant feeding we took in some of the other visitors including some crocodiles (Steve's favourites), snakes, lizards, and alligators before it was time for the main show in the "crocosseum". The show was to be honest pretty average however there was an impressive bird show and we got to see one of the zoo keepers feed a crocodile. After the show we went to the children's corner where they had baby goats and the cutest 1 week old piglets I have ever seen. You were able to pet them and if you wanted you could also buy food to feed them! It was soon lunch time for us and having not stopped since we arrived at the park we were both happy for a rest and some "Bindi Burgers" and fries (Bindi is Steve's goldmine of a daughter). After lunch we took in the camels, dingoes and foxes before heading to the kangaroo walkway to watch a talk on Koalas. Then a stroll amongst wallabies and kangaroos that are not caged they just roam wild on the walkway where you can feed them and get a real up close look at them without them being frightened of you and running away. Next stop were some scary emus, a birds of prey show before the grand finale and for us the highlight of the day some rescued Bengalese and Sumatran tigers. The zoo is massively involved in the conservation of these extremely endangered animals and as such they have a charity called the wildlife warriors and it is their aim to raise funds to save the tigers from extiction. The aim of the demonstration is to show how beautiful the animals are and to allow you a rare glimpse at their power and natural elegance. As soon as we arrived at the enclosure I was completely hooked on watching them at play. There were 6 in total and whilst some were grooming others were playing and rolling around looking pretty mean. For the demonstration only 2 of the tigers were used and with the zoo keepers in the enclosure they had the tigers jumping around, chasing the keepers and jumping into their big swimming pool. It was such an impressive sight to watch a huge tiger leaping off the edge and splashing into the water. Even after the demo was over I had to be dragged away as they were so beautiful and by far my favourite animal of the day! After the zoo we headed back to Mooloolaba to get ready for dinner. When we had been here last time we had dinner one night in the most amazing award winning pizza shop and even after Australia was a distant memory we always talked about the awesome pizza we had. Tonight we were going back to Augiellos for another pizza of dreams and we had been salivating over it all day! With an expected 30 minute wait for a table we headed to a nearby bar for a drink to pass the time. The pizza was worth the wait and it was just as we imagined, absolutely delicious and I have no idea how to describe to you how or why these pizzas taste so good and the only disappointment was that there wasn't more on the plate. After our delicious meal we had one more drink before heading back to the campsite but not before tracking down star bucks to indulge in their festive gingerbread latte, which whilst being delicious just isn't the same if your not absolutely freezing!The next couple of days saw a vast improvement in the weather and so we had a couple of days lounging on the beach and having only ever seen Mooloolaba in the rain it was really nice to see how it should look and whilst the water is getting colder the further south we travel it was completely clear and great for a cooling dip. Our last afternoon in the town we managed to drag ourselves off the beach in time to take a walk around the esplanade taking in the shops and restaurants along the front and whilst not as posh as Noosa it had a really nice chilled out atmosphere and if anything we both agreed we liked it even more here and having the most amazing pizza certainly helps!