When we travel to a distant place, viewing native flora and fauna is always a checkbox item. For Australia, we’ve done fairly well for aquatic species – crocs, coral and fish. We even saw a lizard or two. But not so much for land-based animals and birds. I had hopes my rain forest walk the other day would be fruitful, but nothing except a parrot in a tree. There’s only one more land excursion before we leave the ship but that’s going to be in a town – Newcastle – and so a pigeon or two is all we can expect. So today we broke down and went to the zoo.
Actually, when we signed on for this trip, today was supposed to be spent in Brisbane, the capital of Queensland. I had looked forward to learning more about the 19th century history of this town but Viking, in its infinite wisdom, changed the itinerary to anchoring at Mooloolaba. Mooloolaba (kinda fun to say, once you get the hang of it) is another resort town like the others we’ve seen, this one having more sailing yachts per foot of waterfront than any other port we’ve called at. Lots of fishing boats too – shrimp prawn fishing, I’d guess. Frankly, I’ve had enough of these resorts. I’m convinced the Aussies of Queensland are a wealthy lot. Like most such places around the world, there were few empty berths. The yacht owners are all busy earning money to pay for the berthing fees, rather than sailing, I guess.
The trip from the dock to the zoo was only 20 minutes or so over very nice motorways – there’s much to be said for living in places lacking cold weather that make frost heaves and potholes a fact of life. The Australia Zoo was founded by the father and mother of Steve Irwin, the guy known as “The Crocodile Hunter” who had a television series of that name in the 1990s. He’s the one who introduced the word “Crikey,” meaning “oh dear me,” as in “Crikey, that croc took a bite out me mate’s bloomin’ onion,” to mix a metaphor. Steve Irwin died tragically when he was bitten by a stingray in 2006 while filming an underwater documentary in the Great Barrier Reef.
The zoo was quite nice. I particularly liked the reptile and bird displays, Judy perhaps not so much. And of course there were kangaroos and Koala bears to see and even pet. The only thing I missed was seeing the dingoes, the wild dog of Australia. Dingoes are variously listed as a protected species or a pest depending on which governmental agency and area of Australia you might be visiting.
Maybe we’ll get lucky and see a dingo in the Outback. It would be nice to see a ‘roo in the wild too. We’ll see.
It’s now Sunday, December 3 as I type, an “at sea” day and I must admit I’ve slacked off on my blogging since not every day is an “on” day. The Internet service, provided via Skylink, is very slow and intermittent here. I suspect Elon hasn’t launched enough satellites in the Southern Hemisphere to provide good service. It worked much better up north near the Equator. Judy has two videos on Australia ready to go but cannot upload them.
Tomorrow at Newcastle is our last day on the Orion. They kick us off on Tuesday and we’re off to the Outback. Who knows what Internet service we’ll find there so you may not hear from us for several days. But all should be good in Melbourne and Sydney.
