Australian word of the day: Crikey. Oh my Goodness! Coined by the late Steve Irwin, famous Crocodile Hunter/Conservationist.
The last two days were heaven for Shir Ron and Orr. Yesterday we visited Underwater World in Mooloolaba, and today Australia Zoo near Nambour. We saw almost everything
Our Sunday morning started too early at 5:45am with Orr crying for no reason at all. Lately she has days where she cries monotonously for what seems like hours at a time, for no reason at all. Drives us crazy, but then a few minutes later she is miss charming, laughing and playing nicely with her brother and sister. So we got up early, had a relaxed morning which included duck and turtle feeding at the campground pond. We then drove through the snazzy beachfront streets of Maroochy and Mooloolaba to get to the pier.
We got to Underwater World just as it opened at 9am, but Orr and Shir fell asleep while we were driving. So Ron and I went to explore the pier and found a nice playground to play for a while. At 9:30 we entered the aqua zoo and spent 6 hours exploring and learning. We saw stingray feeding and got splashed by the excited rays as they smelled their food arriving. We saw a river crocodile feeding. We saw sharks and manta rays and a giant frozen squid. We saw otters eating and learned how intelligent they are. We saw a fun seal show.
Ron can already spot and name the different fish types seen in Finding Nemo (Nemo is a clownfish, Dory is a Blue Tang). After lunch in a nice restaurant at the pier we returned to the oceanarium for an additional session before heading back to the campground. All three kids fell asleep the moment we placed them in their car seats, but were happy to wake up and go to the playground once we got back.
Today we got up at the sane hour of 7am. Ron was leading the girls in play in their communal bed. Most mornings the pleasantness lasts for a shamefully few minutes before one of the kids starts to cry, but today they held it together for over 20 minutes.
We drove to the Australia Zoo, a short distance that took way too long due to a series of navigational mistakes on my part. This is the first America-size entertainment center we have seen in
The zoo was founded by Steve Irwin, the croc hunter, who became famous for his nature shows on Animal Planet and Discovery Channel. He and his wife, and kids were local celebs here. Last year, while filming an underwater documentary he was killed by a stingray. The entire zoo is a tribute to Mr Irwin.
Aside from local animals, we also saw Asian Elephants, Sumatran Tigers, and giant tortoises. Of the local variety, we finally saw wombats and a Tasmanian Devil up close. I dropped my lens cap into a Cassowary enclosure and had to wait for a zookeeper to fish it out for me. The kids also enjoyed a couple of rides and bouncing house for measure. They also bottle fed baby goats.
All in all a fun day.
In the late afternoon we arrived in Caloundra, another sunshine coast town. We are at a campground very near to the beach and can hear the waves. I took Shir for a brisk walk as the sun was getting low and we saw the rusting remains of SS Dicky, a small ship that was wrecked here a while ago, thus naming the beach.
Tomorrow we head to
Good night,
-Hemi