I arrived in Brisbane about tea time. I was in a room full of Asian girls and after a bit of confusion over which bed was mine I got settled in. I went for a walk to find something to eat. I found a nice street full of shops and cafes. There were bands playing and street entertainment. Everything was really modern and new looking. It was also very clean, no rubbish anywhere or graffiti. It was perfect. I walked around for a quite a while looking at things and watching the entertainment. When I got back to the hostel there were two non asian girls about to watch a film in the lounge of our room so I watched it with them before going to bed myself.

The next morning I got up early as I had booked a ticket to go to the Steve Irwin Zoo. The bus left at 7:45am and we got there just as it opened at 9am. Also at 9am it started to rain, really fast. Everyone bought one of the plastic Australia Zoo ponchos to keep dry. I first walked down passed all the crocodiles. None of them moved they were all laying ver still. I then walked around a bit where there were Australian animals such as Koala bears and wombats. There were also camels, gaint tortoises, iguanas and birds. There was even a Tasmanian Devil. At 10:30 I queued up for my picture taken holding a Koala bear. It was 7years old and wasnt really that heavy. It sat on your left hand and gripped onto your arms each side. Your other arm went behind its back and gave it a cuddle. It was really soft and fluffy to touch.

After that I went to the crocosium at 11am to watch the animal show. It was like a mini football stadium but with a pool in the middle. It started with a message on the screen from Steve Irwin and then out came a very lively girl to compare the show. It was also lucky as it had stopped raining and the sun had come out. The show started with a bird display. They had obviously trained them really well as they were flying freely outside in the open air and all of them did exactly as they were supposed to. They flew from one corner to another and back again and when they had finished their turn they all flew back down the tunnel again. Next out were some small green parrots. They flew around the stadium really fast, just like bikes in the velodrome. They were only a few centimeters away when they flew passed. It felt like they were going to fly into you. After the birds they brought out the 3 Asian elephants to do a lap of the stadium. Then the bit everyone had been waiting for, the crocodiles. Out came a crocodile called Monty. His trainers showed how they react to vibrations on the ground and in the water. Monty would swim to where they made the water vibrate. They also made him pounce at the waters edge. This is where they are the most powerful. The trainers also made him jump up to get a fish to show you can still be in danger if you are on an overhanging branch. After Monty had finished the show was over.

After the show I went to the Kangeroo enclosure. I bought a bag of food for $2 and spent a good half an hour at least feeding the Kangeroos. They would come and eat out of your hand. There were lots of different sized ones and slightly different colours. The Kangeroo enclosure led through to the bird enclosures and from there to the South East Asia section. Here you could watch the elephants being trained and doing jobs, see some red pandas and tigers. After that I walked through the Koala section and a different kangeroo section to get to the exotic bird section. There were lots of bright coloured birds there. Then it was the snakes. On one side of the room were all the poisonous snakes and on the other side the non poisonous ones. After that I caught this little train to the Africa section where there were zebras, rhinos and giraffes. The cheetah was not outside as it was raining again by now. I got the train back and looked at the last section of animals such as otters and lizards. It was raining again and I had had enough by now but there was still 2 hours left until the bus came back. Seven and a half hours was a bit long to spend there really, especially on your own. I wondered around the gift shops to keep dry and sat in the cafe for a while to pass the time. The bus bus eventually came and took me back to Brisbane.

When I went back I went on the internet to put my photos on and bumped into Howard again. We decided to go out for dinner and went to a Vietnamese restaurant in the China town area. It was very nice and we tried a new fruit for dessert called Jack fruit and had it with icecream. After dinner we walked around looking in the bars and clubs as it was a Saturday night. I didnt go in any as I wasnt dressed for it and once again all the girls had very short dresses on and very high heels so I would have looked very out of place. We manged to make our way back to the hostel without getting very lost.

The next day I got the bus to Mooloolaba and Howard stayed another night in Brisbane.

Photos:

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