Have you Hugged your Koala today?

On Monday, we walked around Brisbane. To give an idea of the time difference between here and PA, we were enjoying our breakfast at a coffee shop Monday morning, and back home it was half time of the Sunday afternoon Steelers game. After breakfast, we walked along the Brisbane River where they have an attractive pathway with nice trees, and some flower-covered archways. We decided that one of the things we really like about Brisbane is that there are no pesky little flies here.

Down by the river, they have what's called the "Wheel of Brisbane", which is a big gondola that you can ride and from which are beautiful breathtaking views of the city of Brisbane. (We did not ride the gondola.)

We boarded a boat called the Miramar that took us on a 1 hour and 15 minute ride down the Brisbane River, complete with commentary, for a nice tour of the area.

The purpose of the ride on the Miramar was twofold: one was to enjoy the sights along the way; the other was to arrive at the destination, which was the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary.

This sanctuary is like a small zoo, but has only Australian wildlife.

Here we saw koalas, kangaroos, wallabies, wombats, platypus, dingos, tasmanian devils, kookaburras, lorikeets, crocodiles, and cassowaries. Contrary to popular belief, the koalas are not bears; they are marsupials. So they don't call them koala bears, they just call them koalas. The koalas at the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary (as the name suggests) are plentiful. I had an opportunity to "hug a koala", although it would be more accurate to say that I let a koala hug me. It is very controlled. They tell you how to hold your hands, then they place the koala in your arms and they wrap the koalas arms around your neck.

Since koalas are used to hugging Eucalyptus (Gum) trees, a hug is a more-or-less natural pose for them. So they hang on tight. They are very cuddly. I hugged 2 koalas; one was named Wisely, the other was Orinako.

After this we walked in and amongst the kangaroos. At one point, a large group of them hopped across the field together like a herd - it was a very impressive sight. We also saw a sheep shearing demonstration. It was fascinating to watch the shearer as he took a razor and shaved all the wool off the sheep. The sheep was just very still - like putty in his master's hand - as the shearer would gently turn the sheep this way, then that way, until he was finished and all the wool lay in a big pile on the platform. After this we took the Miramar back to Brisbane. On the way back, we passed under a bridge that is called "Green Bridge". No cars are allowed on the bridge - only [natural] gas powered buses, along with bicyclists and pedestrians. When we returned to Brisbane, we took a walk through the Queensland Museum and then called it a day.