Day 71.

Australia Zoo.

Ok, so I've finally recovered from the tragedy that was losing my phone. I know, I KNOW... I don't know how I coped either! But it just shows there are genuinely nice people out there and a MASSIVE thanks to the guy who picked it up and kept it safe until I was able to pick it up, the thing shall never leave my hand ever again!

Ok, so without a phone we've missed out quite a chunk! So here's a quick recap. I've started my trip up the east coast of Australia now, I have a travel buddy! (Meet Rachel! You'll see her in photos to follow) and so far I've visited Byron bay where I stayed in the Inbetweeners hostel which was featured on the movie, apparently this was a big deal?... I had a surf lesson in which I have countless bruises, took in countless mouthfuls of sea water and perhaps spent more time underwater than on the board but I did stand up! Narly dude!!! #surfboart. I then left Byron Bay for Surfers Paradise which all I did was lay on a beach all day then have one too many drinks on the evening, I'm holiday! I'm allowed!! Now I'm in Brisbane, so it's been a busy few days to say the least but with my phone in hand I'm now reconnected so let's dive into Brisbane shall we!?

I'd scored a deal with my hostel that if I booked 2 nights with X Base Central I got a free ticket to the Australian Zoo. Considering the tickets were $59 dollars and I needed a roof over my head anyway, it's a total win win! 

I hadn't seen the face of 7am for a while, but thanks to two Scottish boys in my dorm room I also got to see the face of 2am, 5am and 6am as well! Not a fantastic start, luckily it was going to get so much better!

Our bus got us there literally on doors opening at 9am, after being presented with a map of the zoo (lord knows how much I love a map!) and lathering up with sun oil, it was a hellish warm day, we set off! Our first few steps into the zoo and we were already greeted by a croc! I actually got to hold it too, such an odd feeling, they're really soft and smooth and feel of pure muscle!

There's also photos of Steve Irwin EVERYWHERE, obviously it's his zoo but your never prepared to see his face that much! Oh and the word 'CRIKEY!' plastered all over too! As we walked through the zoo we met huge alligators, both American and Australian, salt water and fresh water. 

We then met little Tasmanian devils, some very cheeky water dragons and a HUGE tortoise! Whose shell got rubbed very oddly by the zoo worker to get him to 'twerk'... Well I've seen a tortoise twerk I suppose!

Seeing as though I'm totally a surfer now, here's me surfing a croc! (Ok, it's not actually real, I'm not frickin' Steve Irwin!)

Dingoes, koalas, camels and the petting zoo were after! Meeting some hilarious goats, which were just stood in tables!! I swear it looked like a circus trick and they were so blasé about it! ITS A GOAT ON A TABLE!? No one sees the funny side to this!?...

You can never get sick of kangaroos in Australia, so we paid a visit to the Roo Haven where the kangaroos have free rein of the area, as it was SO hot most were just chilling in the shade, perfect selfie time!!

We'd been told we have to visit the Crocoseum where they have a show at midday. The show was AWESOME! I thought it would be only crocs and alligators but they had a bird show of amazingly trained birds, snakes (which got walked round the audience!), a gorgeous dingo which played a poorly patient and then finally the big croc show!! So apparently as long as you don't go near a croc's water, you'll never have problems with them? I mean, I'm never going to try this theory! But yes, crocs are only territorial over mates and water, knowing this the crazy guy still went running through the water to demonstrate a 'strike attack' which was pretty cool seeing this 12ft croc shoot out the water towards prey!

After some croc watching and some lunch eating we decided we hadn't seen enough of koalas so we took a walk through koala walk where they are all just hanging out in their trees eating leaves and you have to spot them out! Honestly, koalas really are as cute as they appear (as long as you don't touch their leaves of course!) seeing some sleep in the trees and others sit there eating and eating and eating some more! They then go sleep for 18-20 hours... Excuse me? Can I come back as a koala please!?

Look at the baby koala!!

Dashing across to Africa (enclosure) to then see the giraffes, rhinos and zebras. Except I'm thinking the zebras have maybe spent too much time in the same enclosure as the giraffes because they were orange!? Are they bi-zebras!? Zebra hybrid? Zebraffes?