Brisbane: Finally Kangaroos!!!

Monday the 9th til Tuesday the 10th of December: On my arrival day I strolled through the city. From my hostel I got a lift by their shuttle service to the Brisbane River. I passed The Wheel and got on the City Hopper, a ferry that you can use for free! It got me to Kangaroo Point. There I watched a dog and an Australian Bush Turkey play with each other. First I thought the dog was trying to attack the turkey and it threw dirt at the dog as a defense. Then when the dog turned around, the turkey chased it. So who was hunting whom??? The dog owners came along and explained that they play like that every day 😄 After that entertaining show, I moved on to the Botanical Gardens. But my legs were still so heavy from my last days surfing, I had to go back to my room and have a rest 😅. In the evening, I went to the River Quay Green South Bank and had a nice meal with a beautiful view of the city. While sitting there, I watched an opossum going down and up a tree, trying to build up the courage to get on the ground. A couple, lying on the grass, was watching it too, giggling. Then it jumped down and ran on top of the couple to the next tree. They freaked out and got their umbrella out to fight off further opossum traffic 😂. On Tuesday, I checked out and went on a river cruise to Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary. Because I could not leave Australia without seeing kangaroos, of course. They also have other interesting Australian animals there that are hard to find in the wild like the platypus. The cruise was very nice, with interesting commentary on the surroundings. And Lone Pine was great. I fed the kangaroos and wallabies, saw emus, dingos, wombats, crocodiles, snakes, a Tasmanian Devil, and many more. Aaaand I petted a koala. Very cute. But I must say, the animal I found most fascinating was the platypus. Very agile and active, these little creatures were swimming and diving really fast. It was hard getting a pic. I love that they have a beak, lay eggs, have a poisonous spur, but are mammals. After cruising back to Brisbane, I went straight to the airport and left in the evening for Auckland.