October 28, trip to Koala preserve

The activity du jour was a boat trip to the Koala sanctuary. The trip was about two hours each way. We had the VIP tickets, which gave us tea and scones on the way there and a cheese plate on the way back.

The scooter went on the boat with us, Isaac or a crew member tending to it, so I could help Paula. As warned, there were 28 steps up the bank to the sanctuary, but Paula was prepared for it, and managed it slowly but very steadily. Once up, almost everything in the sanctuary was accessible.

The sanctuary was well worth it. Considered as a zoo, it was top-notch. They have somewhere around 130 koalas, scattered around the preserve. Koalas spend about four hours a day eating and the other twenty sleeping; we didn't see any eating, but some of them moved a bit. In one clump of koalas, one appeared to have a joey sticking its head out of a pouch.

There was also a good selection of birds. Also, though we weren't particularly interested, some snakes, crocodiles, and lizards. The more interesting lizards were on the paths, not in cages.

We attended a raptor show, which was quite different from the one in Katherine, but just as interesting.

One of the pictures below is where Brisbane is building a new bridge. It's clearly some kind of preliminary structure for doing bridge construction, but other than that I can't make any sense out of it.

On our return to the city, Paula still had a few spoons left, so we visited the (free) city museum. That's where the picture of the giant squid is from. She used up her last spoon, though, so we took an Uber back to the apartment.

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Going to the boat
 
Paula on the boat

Large bat, called a "flying fox"
 
Cockatoo

Cockatoo
 
Kookaburra

Koala
 
Koalas, with joey

Cassowary
 
Lizard alongside path

Ready for show
 
Wedge-tailed eagle
Barn owl
 
 
Platypus? (Taken using night mode)

Kangaroo that wandered by
 
Paula in information center

Boat ready to take us back
 
Hitchhiker on boat

Bridge under construction
 
At the museum

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