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<blockquote data-quote="Marguerite" data-source="post: 9496" data-attributes="member: 1991"><p>Hi, dreamer. Yes, we've been to Australia Zoo, about three years ago. It's literally 1000 miles from here, we were on holiday in Queensland but it was high on our list of things to do. As you drive north from Brisbane up to the Sunshine Coast, you drive past the big sign at Beerwah, with a giant Steve Irwin on the sign.</p><p></p><p>We loved the zoo - absolutely amazing. As husband has described, we're zoo junkies. Wherever we travel, we visit whatever zoo or wildlife park we can find. And Australia Zoo is one of the best we've ever seen. Basically, they're ALL nuts about the animals there, as nuts as Steve. Instead of a sign, "This way to the Galapagos Tortoise" it was "This way to Harriet, the Galapagos Tortoise". Harriet was at that time the oldest living animal, having been collected by Charles Darwin on his first Beagle voyage. Harriet was dinner-plate sized at the time. When we saw her she was a grand old dame being spoiled rotten by being fed rose petals and hibiscus flowers - her favourites. Unfortunately, she died about six months ago.</p><p></p><p>But everywhere we went we could see the wonderful things Steve was doing. All the money he makes - it all gets ploughed back into the zoo, to expand it, make the facilities as perfect for the animals as possible, to build the wildlife hospital there (a very important thing, with the Bruce Highway going right past the zoo, and all the native animals needing care). It's also a research centre, with universities around Australia working together with Australia Zoo and the Irwins to learn more about wildlife and zoos.</p><p></p><p>We didn't meet any of the Irwins that day - they were in the US at the time. But we did get to meet most of the others, including Wes, who showed us the scar on his leg from the croc that Steve saved him from. We got to handle that huge Burmese python (I love pythons) and difficult child 1 got to spend time gazing lovingly at his favourite Wedge-Tailed Eagle.</p><p></p><p>The "crocoseum" - I don't know what you saw of the memorial service, but the big grandstand where people were in front of and speaking - it's the top floor of a two storey structure with a canteen at the top. Running up through the inside at several places are a few koala enclosures. There are trees, going right from the bottom to the top, with feeding vases holding fresh eucalypt branches for the koalas. People can be standing there watching the crocs, or sitting further back and having lunch, without even realising there are koalas right next to them. We knew to look, and from a few angles we could see the koalas watching the memorial service too.</p><p></p><p>It's good to see Bindi doing so well. She's an amazing kid, but then, she has amazing parents. Bindi has been home-schooled because they travel so much, but home is always where they come back to. It's a small, three-bedroom single storey house inside the zoo grounds but fenced off for privacy. Certainly nothing luxurious or big.</p><p></p><p>It's been funny to hear some of the criticisms levelled at Terri - "Bindi shouldn't be being pushed to do all this stuff, she should be in school" - the thing is, all our kids are still on school holidays for a few more weeks. Besides, she's already several grades ahead, so I'm told. I mean, what better education could you get, in zoology, than to live in a zoo?</p><p></p><p>I daresay they'll have her back home soon after Australia Day, on 26 Jan. We'd love the chance to meet them one day, preferably back at Australia Zoo. There have been a lot more improvements since we were there and we want to go back and check it all out.</p><p></p><p>We're loving our summer at the moment - it took its time getting here. We had some early hot weather in September but it then fizzled out to mostly dreary and cool over Christmas, until the last week or so. Now it's perfect. A bit more rain would be nice, but it seems we've had all we're going to get. The ocean currents are cooling (down a couple of degrees) and that is enough to stop what little rain we were getting.</p><p></p><p>I would love to spend time one day, staying in a place where we can wake up in the morning and watch snow fall. I've never experienced that. easy child 2/difficult child 2 has, a couple of years ago. She was on a Young Carers camp down in the Snowy Mountains area and there was a blizzard which socked them in for the weekend. None of the kids minded! It was all too new for them. But my sister spent three years in Canada back in the Sixties, including one of the coldest winters on record, I believe. She came home and said she never wanted to see snow ever again.</p><p></p><p>The first time I saw snow, was on a school excursion which drove through the Snowy Mountains. We spent part of a day playing in what we thought was snow - we realised years later it was half-melted slush. Then when husband & I took the kids through there six years ago there was nothing except man-made snow (pitiful slush) and a spot at the top of one mountain that looked like someone had defrosted their fridge. Nothing more, until we got to the Victorian snowfields a week later on a day trip. But we've never stayed overnight anywhere and watched it snow. Maybe this year...</p><p></p><p>Enjoy your winter while you have it. Your days are already getting longer.</p><p></p><p>Marg</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Marguerite, post: 9496, member: 1991"] Hi, dreamer. Yes, we've been to Australia Zoo, about three years ago. It's literally 1000 miles from here, we were on holiday in Queensland but it was high on our list of things to do. As you drive north from Brisbane up to the Sunshine Coast, you drive past the big sign at Beerwah, with a giant Steve Irwin on the sign. We loved the zoo - absolutely amazing. As husband has described, we're zoo junkies. Wherever we travel, we visit whatever zoo or wildlife park we can find. And Australia Zoo is one of the best we've ever seen. Basically, they're ALL nuts about the animals there, as nuts as Steve. Instead of a sign, "This way to the Galapagos Tortoise" it was "This way to Harriet, the Galapagos Tortoise". Harriet was at that time the oldest living animal, having been collected by Charles Darwin on his first Beagle voyage. Harriet was dinner-plate sized at the time. When we saw her she was a grand old dame being spoiled rotten by being fed rose petals and hibiscus flowers - her favourites. Unfortunately, she died about six months ago. But everywhere we went we could see the wonderful things Steve was doing. All the money he makes - it all gets ploughed back into the zoo, to expand it, make the facilities as perfect for the animals as possible, to build the wildlife hospital there (a very important thing, with the Bruce Highway going right past the zoo, and all the native animals needing care). It's also a research centre, with universities around Australia working together with Australia Zoo and the Irwins to learn more about wildlife and zoos. We didn't meet any of the Irwins that day - they were in the US at the time. But we did get to meet most of the others, including Wes, who showed us the scar on his leg from the croc that Steve saved him from. We got to handle that huge Burmese python (I love pythons) and difficult child 1 got to spend time gazing lovingly at his favourite Wedge-Tailed Eagle. The "crocoseum" - I don't know what you saw of the memorial service, but the big grandstand where people were in front of and speaking - it's the top floor of a two storey structure with a canteen at the top. Running up through the inside at several places are a few koala enclosures. There are trees, going right from the bottom to the top, with feeding vases holding fresh eucalypt branches for the koalas. People can be standing there watching the crocs, or sitting further back and having lunch, without even realising there are koalas right next to them. We knew to look, and from a few angles we could see the koalas watching the memorial service too. It's good to see Bindi doing so well. She's an amazing kid, but then, she has amazing parents. Bindi has been home-schooled because they travel so much, but home is always where they come back to. It's a small, three-bedroom single storey house inside the zoo grounds but fenced off for privacy. Certainly nothing luxurious or big. It's been funny to hear some of the criticisms levelled at Terri - "Bindi shouldn't be being pushed to do all this stuff, she should be in school" - the thing is, all our kids are still on school holidays for a few more weeks. Besides, she's already several grades ahead, so I'm told. I mean, what better education could you get, in zoology, than to live in a zoo? I daresay they'll have her back home soon after Australia Day, on 26 Jan. We'd love the chance to meet them one day, preferably back at Australia Zoo. There have been a lot more improvements since we were there and we want to go back and check it all out. We're loving our summer at the moment - it took its time getting here. We had some early hot weather in September but it then fizzled out to mostly dreary and cool over Christmas, until the last week or so. Now it's perfect. A bit more rain would be nice, but it seems we've had all we're going to get. The ocean currents are cooling (down a couple of degrees) and that is enough to stop what little rain we were getting. I would love to spend time one day, staying in a place where we can wake up in the morning and watch snow fall. I've never experienced that. easy child 2/difficult child 2 has, a couple of years ago. She was on a Young Carers camp down in the Snowy Mountains area and there was a blizzard which socked them in for the weekend. None of the kids minded! It was all too new for them. But my sister spent three years in Canada back in the Sixties, including one of the coldest winters on record, I believe. She came home and said she never wanted to see snow ever again. The first time I saw snow, was on a school excursion which drove through the Snowy Mountains. We spent part of a day playing in what we thought was snow - we realised years later it was half-melted slush. Then when husband & I took the kids through there six years ago there was nothing except man-made snow (pitiful slush) and a spot at the top of one mountain that looked like someone had defrosted their fridge. Nothing more, until we got to the Victorian snowfields a week later on a day trip. But we've never stayed overnight anywhere and watched it snow. Maybe this year... Enjoy your winter while you have it. Your days are already getting longer. Marg [/QUOTE]
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