Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary (aka the zoo)

the zoo in australia is pretty different from an american zoo.  the australian zoo inhabits animals of the country.  whereas the bronx zoo inhabits lions, but, believe it or not, there are no free lance lions in the usa.

this sanctuary included tons of kangaroos, koalas, and crocodiles.  we passed through an entire section of over 100 kangaroos just lounging under the trees.  some of them were small, some of them were huge and muscular... at least 6 feet tall when they stood up.  some female kangaroos even had their babies in their pouches! i also got to see a few kangaroos hop! they moved too fast for me to get a recording.
there were too many koala sections for me to count, but it seemed around every other corner was a koala ground. one koala was trying to climb up the wall to escape.  all i wanted to do was pick it up and take it home with me! do you think stealing something that should be part of its natural land is a criminal offense?

we also walked by one of the sanctuary workers with a dingo on a leash! it was so cute!! yes, i know they have the ability to bite my hand off, let alone kill a child, but i couldn't help thinking i wanted to play with it.  it looked like a combination of a dog and a wolf/fox.  the dingo was beautiful.  we were able to pet  its back, not close to it's face, while it was on its leash, but it seemed to be more interested in getting lunch.  there was a gated area of dingos and they looked like they were having so much fun running around.

there were also a bunch of different kinds of colorful birds.  i think birds are beautiful but there are so many different types i don't know any better.  we went to a bird show and an eagle flew right over my head and it's wing actually hit my head.  really cool.

the greenery of the sanctuary alone was a zoo.  there were so many colorful flowers and plants. and really tall tropical trees including palm trees.  although the entire park was shaded, it was pretty brutal to walk through the humidity.  

lizards just live everywhere (even on my campus) in australia.  you can hear them rustling in the grass and they often pop out in the middle of the sidewalk when you least expect it.  i almost stepped on one.  gross!  

overall, the sanctuary has been my favorite part of my week here.  animals scare me, especially snakes of any kind, but i don't mind when they are behind a glass. plus, now i got a close look of all of the snakes i have to avoid while walking to class, like the red bellied ones =X. 

i'll keep you posted on more of my campus animal sightings... we have a koala habitat on campus so i'll look out for those... and the snakes and spiders