Alan and Amanda's Adventures in Oz: Australia Zoo/Fraser Island

On our next weekend, we were able to get away for a few days to one of my favorite places around Brisbane: Noosa and the Sunshine Coast. Not only did we have the opportunity to explore Noosa and surrounds, including the world famous Eumundi Markets, but we also stopped in at the Australia Zoo on the drive up, and then took a few days trips to Fraser Island and Lady Elliot Island as well.

The deadly hose is allowed to roam free at the Australia Zoo.

First up, the Australia Zoo. The Australia Zoo is the home of Steve Irwin's biggest and baddest crocs. The Irwin family is well represented here, with a life size bronze statue of the four of them greeting you at the entrance. Both Bindi and Bob, Steve's children, have action figures, dolls, and a series of books named after them. It's pretty impressive. The zoo itself is a massive park and you can easily spend the day here, feeding kangaroos, getting up close and personal with koalas, and watching all the different animal shows and information sessions that the park offers.

Oddly cute little things

Crocs!

Stick bug, in his natural habitat.

Tasmanian Devil

Oddly cute as well.

Cassowary

My new friend. I've developed an obsession with kangaroos.

They are so cute. And this one fell for my imaginary food in the hand trick.

Bruce the Brolga

Emu! Or Emoo, as I made the mistake of pronouncing it. I blame the Friends episode when Joey is talking about opening an emu farm.

Elephant

Sleepy red panda

The cheetah was out for a walk with her handlers, which made for an awesome photo op!

What do you see, girl?" (It was the tigers, apparently cheetahs and tigers don't get along. #zooproblems)

I also love giraffes. We have a zillion photos of them.

Why is this one blurry? Because I took it. But look, it's the rock from The Lion King!

Zebra

More giraffes

I also love koalas. And here you can get much closer than at Lone Pine in Brisbane.

Climbing

Chilling

Snoozing

Sleeping

The birds here are so colourful!

A bush stone curlew. We have these birds living by our apartment. They make a horrific noise at night. Check it out http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FMxIf9xst5o

Cute lil wombat

Dingos!

A bird of prey... can't remember what it's called.

Kookaburra!

We were able to take in the signature Australia Zoo show, held in the Crocoseum, a massive outdoor arena. While Steve is no longer around to show off his favourite Australian creatures, the two blokes who put on the show did a great job. Especially the "bogan" who demonstrated what not to do when bitten by a snake.

Some more beautiful birds

That's not a croc, that's an alligator!

Now that's a croc!

Crikey!

Careful there...

After we finished up here, we drove on to Noosa, and got settled into our accommodation. We went to bed early, so that we would be bright eyed and bushy tailed the next morning for our 5:55 am pick up for our Fraser Island tour.

The 4WD bus picked us up at our condo, and we drove out to Rainbow Beach to catch the barge, the Manta Ray, over to Fraser Island. Fraser Island is the largest sand island in the world, and is a World Heritage site. While you can drive your own 4WD on the island, we were glad to be passengers this time in order to see what driving on sand would be like. Our tour guide, Greg, was terrific, and he was full of interesting factoids and anecdotes about Fraser Island.

Our barge to the Island

Fraser Island at a glance

The driving conditions looked a bit challenging at times

We made a pit stop on the beach road that also doubles as a airplane runway, so that the two bus drivers could change a flat tire, and we also had our morning tea on the beach. I imagine it would be a little bit unsettling to look in your rearview mirror and see a plane coming in to land behind you, but apparently, that is exactly what happens. Fraser Island is also home to a tow truck, a police officer, and a taxi, all 4WD of course.

Sand highway

We follow the slop, slap, slip rule. Slop on some sunscreen, slap on a hat, and slip on a shirt.

Our first stop was The Pinnacles, also known as the coloured sands, because they are just that - dunes and sand formations with different layers of coloured sand.

This picture got us extra beer at lunch.

We also drove past the Maheno shipwreck, which was a luxury ocean liner for trans-Tasman crossings that was eventually sold to a Japanese ship breaker. While it was being towed back to Japan to be broken down, it was caught up in a strong cyclone off the coast of Queensland and became beached on the east coast of Fraser Island. Where she still sits today. It was later used for target practice in WWII for the Royal Australian Air Force. Our driver thought it was a bit of a eye sore so we didn't actually stop for pictures, but it looks like this.

We didn't have a sunny day like this either so our pictures wouldn't have looked very good anyways. :)

Next stop was Eli Creek, one of the largest freshwater creeks on the island. The water was so clear, and nice and cool, you can walk up the creek, or take a boardwalk and float back down to the beach.

Up a creek without a paddle

The only taxi on the island

Our next stop on the tour was Lake McKenzie, one of the many freshwater lakes located on the island. We stopped here for a swim, and a BBQ lunch, which was fantastic! Growing up in land locked Calgary makes you appreciate any bodies of water that are warm enough for swimming so I thought this was great! Apparently it was a little cold for some people, and it took a little bit of extra time for the rest of my party to join me in the water, but once you got in, it was glorious!

I don't have pictures of us swimming...

We got back on our bus and headed to Central Station, another area on Fraser Island (I forget the significance of it, I think I fell asleep on the bus...) We took a little walk down to a creek nearby, and at first we thought it was a boggy creek because it looked unlike any creek I had seen before. But then we realized that it was actually just super clear water running over a sandy creek bed. And not only that, but it didn't make a sound. It was so surreal! We don't actually have pictures of the creek because Alan (the camera holder at the time) was distracted by a kookaburra nearby, but trust me, it was cool.


Also not our picture, but doesn't it look like a scummy boggy creek?

Don't hate me, but this sand reminded me of snow in Calgary when it gets all dirty and hard to walk in...

Our time on Fraser Island was drawing to a close, but we still had to make it back to catch the barge which meant driving on the beach at high tide, which was also a special experience. So special, we got back on the inland road to drive the rest of the way back because the driving conditions got a little bit dicey. Then it was back on the Manta Ray barge, and a stop in Rainbow Beach for our evening tea, complete with lamingtons (sponge cake, coated in chocolate and coconut - delicious). Then onwards back to Noosa.