The Great Koala Debacle of 2010

After weeks of anticipation and excitement, I finally touched down in Australia five days ago - Brisbane to be precise. We didn't make it to Brisbane on the first trip down here, so it's been fun to experience a new city. First on my list, of course, was to go to the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary, much to my Aussie friend's chagrin. One of my biggest regrets last go round was not getting to hold one of those cute little guys, so I vowed to make up for it this time!

Things were going swimmingly until I was set to hold the poor little drugged up koala. As the handler started to hand it to me, I noticed it had started relieving itself. As I was wearing a white shirt and wanted to keep it that way, I moved my hands back and leaned away. Seemed like a natural reaction, no? To say that the zookeeper berated me would be the understatement of the century. She really let me have it, informing me that all animals go to the bathroom and I should NEVER move my hands when a roofied koala was being placed in them. Then she stormed off, probably cursing me the whole way. It's worth mentioning that while I waited in line for this pleasure, I saw her yell at multiple Asian tourists for not being still enough, and she actually sent them away. Who was this maniac? I think of her fondly now as the Koala Nazi. Luckily, she had a much more level headed and reasonable co-worker who brought over Serenity, a mild mannered koala with a grip of steel. I got my obligatory photo and was relieved that the whole experience was over quite frankly!

Serenity providing some calm after the storm



Guess which person did not want to be in this photo



After the koala debacle, we moved on to the kangaroo petting area, which was highly enjoyable. I had those little marsupials eating out of my hand!

Hanging with our new friend, Joey





Our last stop was the bird of prey show which was a nice way to close out the day. My only regret from my visit to Lone Pine was that I missed my opportunity to get my picture holding a baby crocodile. I guess I'll have to make a return trip someday!

Random musings about the day at Lone Pine:

- we were the only adults in attendance without kids in tow...

- my friend, Simon, refused to speak a word to anyone there as he was embarrassed to be Australian and be at Lone Pine

- this entire experience, as with most things in life, would have been greatly improved if they had sold beer :)