The Koala Sanctuary with the Thompsons

We made arrangements to meet up with Thom's cousin Wayne & his family in Brisbane.  They had very recently relocated to Australia from Calgary. Brisbane is a couple of hours south of Noosa so we headed out early to get there in decent time.  It worked out great until we realized that we didn't have a detailed map of the city & had no phone to contact Wayne & Karah.  So we went in search of a free wifi signal (a few fast food places or coffee shops have it but it is not readily available at all in Australia!). Ya so Brisbane is not so easy to navigate & we got lost downtown.  It was almost 2 hrs before we found someplace!

Once we did all was well & we made our way to the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary.  It was a great place - so much more than Koalas - although there were tons of the fuzzy grey guys.  It really was just like a zoo.

 

Again, there were lizards everywhere - Kalyssa loved them

Just a typical sign down here - we are loving all the native animals!

Kalyssa was excited to see so many Koalas - they were literally everywhere in this place

Many were quite active & were walking around their areas

This guy was so cute - loved the bushy ears!

They had so many different areas of Koalas, separated by Koala type - bachelor pad, nursery, retirement home etc.  The guy below was a bachelor who was actually running around - first time we had seen one move so fast!

This lizard sat under our table while we had a bite - he would not go away!

Emu`s were running around free in the Kangaroo/Wallaby area

Here are Wayne & Karah`s girls Olivia & Kendal. Kalyssa was shy at first but warmed right up to them pretty quick.

Feeding the Roo`s together

All 3 girls off feeding their own. These roos were kinda lazy & some didn`t even get up to be fed - ha!

Olivia liked the little one

I think Kendal liked them all!



Roo pushing another away





Wallabies were there too



Kalyssa loves feeding the Kangaroos!

 

Kendal & Kalyssa double teaming this guy



This guy was hilarious stretching & scratching at the same time




Tom got lazy & started giving them the whole bag of food




Attemping to box a roo again....




But really he was freaked they might actually do it so he just shook their hand

 



The Kangaroos were pretty chill




We happened to catch feeding time for many of the reptiles.  It was kinda gross as they were fed rats, chickens etc - blech!  But it was also pretty cool & we all followed the zoo keeper around to watch the next guy get fed!





Tilman was popular with the girls :)
He is such a good little guy - literally doesn't say a peep all day long, just takes it all in.  Which is good for us as Kalyssa is a huge handful these days. Lets just say she is going through a very unpleasant phase.....3yrs old is so fun -- NOT!! 




Cutie Kendal.  Both Thompson girls were so sweet & Kalyssa had a great time playing with them.

 

We caught the Lorikeet feeding - it was crazy as there were so many of them & they were so loud!




This guy was a deep thinker - lol!





Kookaburra



The Dingoes were all sleeping




A platypus.  It was super hard to get a good picture of them as they swim around so fast and their exhibit was very dark.  It was very cool though as we had not seen one before!



We picked up dinner & went back to the Thompsons place after.  Kendal & Kalyssa played so well together & both had to sit next to Tilman at dinner - it was very cute. There were tears when we left as Kalyssa didn't want to leave her 2nd cousins/new friends!  Big thanks to Wayne & Karah for getting together with us & suggesting the Koala Sanctuary - we absolutely loved it!  We are so jealous they get to live in this beautiful country for the next 2 yrs.