Crikey! Crocs Rule!

Fourth day in Queensland. Sarah and I hopped in the car and drove north to the Sunshine Coast. It just so happens that Steve Irwin's zoo, The Australia Zoo, is on the Sunshine Coast. Needless to say, that was a must do for me. Sarah wanted to go hang out with her cousins and do a couple of other things, so she dropped me off at the zoo around 11:30. Since it was the middle of the week, the zoo wasn't super crowded and it was kinda nice to just be able to wander around and do things at my own pace. The zoo was awesome and all but 2 of the animals (the elephants and the tigers) are animals that can be found naturally in Australia. It wasn't like your typical every day zoo either. A lot of the exhibits where areas that you could go into WITH the animals... not the crocs though. There was a "rainforest" that you could walk around in with all these different birds flying around. I bet there were 5 or six areas like this, but my favorites were the koalas and the kangaroos. I got to pet a koala! It was so cute and I wanted to bring one home with me! I also got to pet a couple of kangaroos and got my picture taken with one.
Unfortunately, the kangaroo was not aware that we were taking a picture and kept trying to hop away. Eventually he stood still long enough for me to squat awkwardly behind him and have a random stranger take our picture. I also made friends with a Burmese Python, not that good of friends though because I already forgot his name. I went to the Croc Show after I ate lunch and it was one of my favorite parts of the day because everyone has seen the clips of Steve Irwin doing them, but it was cool to actually see one live. I could not get over how big the crocodiles actually were! It was crazy to be 3 feet from something twice as big as me and could also kill me in one snap... if it could get through the 2 fences that separated us. After I walked through the crocodile section of the zoo I had the "Never Smile At A Crocodile" song from Peter Pan stuck in my head for the rest of the afternoon. Not cool.

I hung out at the zoo for a little while longer, but eventually had to leave because it was closing. Sarah wasn't able to get there until about an hour and a half after the zoo closed because something happened to her car and it just turned out to be a whole 'nother adventure in itself. Needless to say, when she found me sitting on a bench in the parking lot, I was cold and hungry and glad to be headed to her grandparents condo at Golden Beach for the night. Sarah's grandparents were hilarious and so great! Her grandfather kept telling me to stop calling him "Sir" and said, "Why do you keep saying 'Yes sir'? Do you call our dad sir? You are making me feel like I'm in the military!" I said, "Yes sir, sorry! I can't help it! It's my southern upbringing." He said it was ok if that was just my good manners showing. He also asked me if I grew up on the coast and when I said no, someone at the table said (I forget who), "Well when did you learn to swim? When you got to college?" "Umm... no I always knew how to swim. I didn't grow up on the coast, but we went to the swimming pool and the beach in the summer." Apparently that was an acceptable answer because my swimming abilities were no longer a topic of conversation. Random! Anyways, her grandparents were so welcoming and I just loved them. Their condo also had a great view! There condo was waterfront, but it was on the channel between Bribie Island and the ocean, but you could see the ocean on the other side of the island because they were up high enough. You could ALSO see the cargo ships passing by on the ocean. We saw four going past each other in all different directions at once! Out the back, you could see the Glasshouse Mountains. I never quite got used to the mountains being right there at the ocean and was amazed at that all week!

I also have to add that my camera died while I was at the zoo and I forgot to pack my camera charger, so the rest of my Queensland pictures were taken with my cell phone.