Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary – the last time

Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary – the last time September 26, 2009

Filed under: Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary — coliely @ 8:52 am

Since we are heading home in a few weeks, we are beginning to revisit all of the interesting and fun sites here in Brisbane. One of these sites is the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary. It is the oldest koala sanctuary and has had many famous people coming though to hold koalas (including the past Pope). Last Saturday was a beautiful day and we decided it would be a great time to visit the cuddly, sleepy koalas. Of course, we also love to feed the kangaroos and marvel at the Emus. We purchased our little lunch baggy filled with pellets (similar to horse pellets) and made our way to the large field, which houses probably close to a hundred kangaroos, along with a few Emus. Last time I went was with Cassie and her friend from Seattle. Ethan was still a little afraid to feed the kangaroos and was too timid to pet them as well (by the end, he fed them one little pellet at a time). Well, this time Ethan had his own bag and fed the kangaroo by himself, as well as, pet them. One of the emus recognized the little paper bags as food and chased me around a little bit for some free food. Although there are signs posted stating to refrain from feeding the birds, I threw some chow on the ground to end the chasing around Gus. This time Andy could walk just fine and was no longer in the stroller/pram. However, the kangaroos out in the open was a bit much for him. He whined a little bit and then hid behind me. He was still curious though. So, most of the time he crouched down between my legs and popped his head slightly out to see, while holding on to both of my legs. I think this comforted enough to be relatively close to the kangaroos.

Again, I held a koala. Well, actual 2 koalas. The first koala did not particularly want to be held. I was the third person that the koala rejected. Later, we were told by the handler that it was a koala in training. Well, the next koala LOVED me! I held her in my hands and she immediately began sniffing my face. She was extremely comfortable and just wanted to check me out. The photographer had some trouble trying to get her to turn head toward the camera, although you would never guess this by looking at the picture. This time I do not remember the name of the koala, but it was similar to Catherine. While the koala was behaving in my hands, Ethan had different plans. He was held in the back by daddy making kissy faces, which made the photographer and handler laugh. We took three pictures and this was the best one!

Here is the link to the koala photo for 60 days: http://photo.koala.net/1909023663en.htm

We also viewed the turtles (a family favorite), wombat, all of the birds, dingoes, snakes and lizards. We were also entertained by a sheep shearing. Now, this is a job I would never want to do. Hold a sheep still and shave the sheep as fast as possible. We are heading the New Zealand, which I think is the sheep capital of the world, so we may see another shearing. At the time we didn’t realize it, but Ethan loved the sheep shearing. From the presentation, we learned that sheep are only sheared once a year. . . I wonder how many sheep it takes to make a sweater or rug?

It was a great day at Lone Pine. We ate lunch, while be entertained by a peacock trying to ward off a brush turkey. He had all of his feather spread wide, which is quite a spectacle. Here are some more pictures of the day: