Shark-hunting bear finds the Wizard of Oz - or does he?

The birds were out in force again - seems to be a regular habit of theirs. They certainly do make a lot of noise - but not in a bad way. ( I am sure the neighbour living in the property across the caravan park feeds them a daily dose of bread or something).  With all this squawking, how a bear is s'posed to get his beauty sleep is a mystery yet to be solved!?  I won't repeat what Mamabear said about my beauty and the idea of sleep improving it.

We have more or less settled into a routine and by the time we finished the routine it was time to pay our bills and depart from the noisy but very lovely and relaxing camp-site.  Found another helpful sign in the parking lot - this one a bit more in the comedy line, yet still very helpful!  Along the way we also saw a creepy miniature-dragon-look-alike-crawl-on-your-belly thing and more of our feathered noisy friends.






These old bears need their creature comfort but would not pay the (steep) hire charges for 2 deck chairs so we bought them on the cheap from the local' Bunnings store - after getting directions from the Campsite owner and the Navigator decided that left is left indeed!!!  Noted -we did not get lost!

We then felt VERY brave and hunted – oops drove across town to the  “Lone-pine Koala Sanctuary”! We walked 'round and saw lots of wildlife.


Here Mamabear can bee seen having a wee chat with the local parrot who repeated most things.  Polly and cracker were the most often used words.



Eventually we found the holding cells for my cousins thrice removed from our Western Island.  Actually they are not cousins at all - but (psssst) we let them have this illusion!
The sanctuary is just that - a sanctuary for Koala's who suffered  a misfortune in the wild and need a helping hand in order to survive - so they get to see out their "re-tirement" in relative cared comfort. 
We also found out that their diet consists almost exclusively from the leaves of the eucalyptus trees and being that, they get very little nourishment and to much fibre - which of course effects energy levels - thus (it would seem to be a VERY good excuse) they sit in trees mostly and - snooze - too tiered and lethargic to move! hmmm some life!! 


This little fella decided a drink is a good idea.  You have to keep hydrated after all.



 





Eventually we got to the Bird of Prey show! Ah yes - no - not THAT bird of prey (sorry Trekkies) but the feathered variety and we saw some of the regular larger birds of prey from Australia.  This eagle is the second largest native bird in Australia.  Pity that our own Haast eagle is now extinct - it would tower over this one!! 

The show involves a show and tell and a flight  across and from here to there and sometimes (in the case of one owl) between the rows of people watching - so you got real close up to the action.  If you pay extra extra - you get to wear the gloves and hold one . . . . .  

Despite the 'touristy' nature and the real good looking logos used on their uniform - sadly no cloth badges (sighs).  Time to re-hydrate ourselves and we went back to the van and boil some water (for this very English tradition of a cuppa tea!)  -   eventually - right after we discovered that the plugs only work when you have the camper-van plugged into mains supply!! Still thats what the gas is for - so the kettle was soon singing.

We were still in the heart and heat of Brisbane at this point and the hunt for sharks looked less likely as time went on.  I have to say - as we flew in (to Brisbane Airport) you could clearly see below the water line, in and around the airport (which is right out on the beach) and sadly no great white lurked around there. Maybe they have heard tales of this fearless shark-hunting bear and that he is visiting their shores, so went to ground - oops hiding in some deeper waters??

Not to be outdone we felt brave and consulted Mr Google and found a long and windy route through Brisbane to get to Tweeds head (rumoured to have a resident killer fish in some waters nearby).

When arriving there - we found instead 'Dorothy' - who missed her Lion and Tin Man and hmmm the strawpersonthingie.  Time to have dinner and a general catchup and make some sort of plans for the next day!! Dinner was yummy,
bed was even yummier - no banging of feet against the bulkhead on the campervan.  I dreamt of big fish with big fins . . . . . .

to be continued . .

Have fun