A day at the Zoo

Brisbane was another five days of pretty intense night life and sightseeing, although the city doesn’t really have the same grade of attractions that Sydney does. There is a waterfront which runs along the river which is pretty nice, but most of the city is made up of Business and Shopping districts.

We managed to meet up with our good friend Kristjan from Iceland whom we met in Sydney. On Wednesday we all ventured out of the city walls and headed an hour or so north to Steve Irwin’s Australia Zoo. The zoo is home to a wide range of reptiles, birds and animals – and of course there is always the chance of catching a glimpse of the rare Irwin himself.

Unfortunately the main man was not around on this occasion, although he had been there two days earlier for his daughter’s eighth birthday. Darn it! Anyway, we made the most of it and caught all of the day’s major shows - feeding the crocodiles, watching the Macaw display and the Tiger show which was easily the most impressive of all. Trainers played with the tamed animals to show off their size and strength, and they even managed to get the cats to dive into a pool of water which was pretty cool.

Kristjan managed to pull of a display of his own as we waited for one of the crocodile shows to begin. A couple of staff asked if anyone could do a good Steve Irwin impression with the chance of a prize at the end, so of course the hands all went up and Kristjan was an obvious choice. However, he went a little quiet once in front of the audience as he realised he had never before seen Steve Irwin or one of his shows. Nevertheless he managed to make enough of an arse of himself to be awarded a free photograph with a superimposed image of Steve, which he kindly invited us to be in.

The boys and Dig

Gez, Kristjan, Shad and Dig

Watching the Tigers on display

These guys were everywhere!

Shad, Gez and Skippie himself

A Red-tailed Black Cockatoo

It takes a very brave man to tempt one of these crocs!

This guy almost didn't get away

A wee kangaroo in the sun

The famous Australian Kookabara. These guys are loud and sound a lot like monkeys!

A Dingo lazing in the sun. I wouldn't advise petting these guys, they'll take your hand off!

Kristjan being eaten by a four metre croc

He survived to feed the roos tho

That's one shiny set of teeth

Taking the Cheetah for a walk

Kristjan at work, making a complete a**e of himself. Well funny.

His hard work paid off and we got this photo with the main man Steve Irwin free! Cheers Kristjan!

What a legend

We finished off a really good day in the hostel bar. What started off as a quiet one soon turned into a jumping party as we met up with a couple of crazy American guys and hit the stage for some Karaoke. Evan was definitely the first big cat trainer from Las Vegas we had all met. I recon that’s right up there with being a pilot, but he tells us it’s not really as profitable. Anyways, you American boys are good fun so you get two points on the country charts for that night!

The American and Scots join forces on the Karaoke

Look at the passion on that boys face!