koala cuddles...

hola!
as promised, a more up-to-the-minute recap of my advenutres! today we went to the Australia Zoo.
we got a complementary coach for the 50 min drive up from Noosa, on which we got to watch Steve Irwin videos. got me pretty excited! Since typically a zoo is a zoo, i'll just touch of a few of the very entertaining highlights:
1. the majority of the animals were aussie. Koalas, kangaroos, crocs, cassowarys, snakes, echidnas, emus, dingos, wambats, etc. AND you got to to touch a bunch of them! there were 2 stations to get up close pics and pet koalas, aside from getting your pic taken with them professionally. it was awesome! they were SO soft. same for kangaroos. to big areas (one with red roos, and other just ... roos. not sure about the specific type). the non-reds were really soft. and they didnt' care at all when you petted them or even sorta huged them. with the number of kids that go through there, they must be immune.
2. as mostly said above, i got to touch all sorts of the critters. koalas, roos and a wambat. which are SO funny looking and cute. they look like bear pigs.
3. we saw the croc show that steve used to do. it was great! i'm sure it was always a bit better when he performed it, as i don't think anyone can compete with his passion for these animals. and i made a fool out of myself at it, in front of the whole crowd. but not in vain!! to get the crowd involved, they got us to do a bit of a competition for free vouchers for getting wildlife pictures taken (which we had planned on doing). so, our side of the 'crocoseum' had to do monkey impressions. so up on my feet i went, "oooh-oooh-oooh"ing, swining my arms and scratching my armpits. apparently i was a 'clear winner', which means i looked like an idiot (especially when they ask me to do it again, and show it on the big screen), but FREE fits into my budget nicely.
4. with my voucher (value of $20) i got to hold and cuddle a koala. they are just the cutest thing on earth! i'm in love!!! his name was kramer, 4 yrs old and 7 kilos. he has my heart. and the pic didnt' turn out too bad. it's an 8x10 which is a bit big for my liking, but again free. so no complaints. will definitely be scanning it when i get back (and downsizing it too!!).
5. ponchos!!! the garbage bag-esque ones. marcy and i had to get them due to frequent bursts of rain. they have the nice australia zoo logo on the back and all... snazzy! i think we looked pretty hot. it definitely got some giggles out of us.
umm... i guess that's all. it was a wonderful day and i even got myself some playing cards, a postcard and of course the pic as souvieners. even the bratty, noisy, annoying kids on the bus home coudln't ruin my day!
back to the beach tomorrow, me thinks.
miss you all... xoxo