The AFL game I blogged about on Sunday was just the start of what turned out to be a great weekend.
Going back a few weeks; on my way from Surfers Paradise to Brisbane I met two girls from Manchester called Becky and Beth. We kept in touch and last week I dropped them a text seeing if they fancied a trip to the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary on Sunday.
So off we went (via a very confusing walk around Brisbane trying to negotiate the bus stops) like a bunch of kids who’d had too many E numbers. As a 23 year old guy, I’ll admit I was much more excited than I probably should have been.
After a quick walk around looking at koalas, platypus’, dingoes and whatnot, we queued up to get our pictures taken holding a koala. Again, I was still overly excited like a nine year old girl. Arsed?
Not even bothered that I got stupidly excited for this.
This excitement however, was put to shame just a few minutes later when Beth started screaming and jumping up and down (no exaggeration – sorry Beth!). As someone was getting their picture taken holding a crocodile, my initial thought was that he had dropped it and it was going around snapping at people’s ankles. As the male of the group, I was ready to do the honourable thing…run.
The star-struck Beth just about managed to regain her composure to shout the words; “Grease! Grease!”. Again, I still didn’t have a clue what was happening. Things became a little clearer when I saw a tall guy in a baseball cap at the front holding a koala. It was John Travolta.
My initial reaction was; “Why the f**k does he get to push to the front?”, however a few minutes later (being the tourist I am) I really wanted a picture. Beth started running after him, but he was away into the distance. Ah well.
Before long it was my turn to get my koala picture. Nice and simple I thought. Wrong!
One of the many koalas that hated me…
Not one bloody koala wanted a picture with me. I felt like the drunken idiot at the end of a night who tries to crack on with every girl in the building (no sly comments please!). They were all squirming and refusing to come anywhere near me (their loss). Finally, at the sixth attempt, one poor koala took pity on me and swallowed his/her pride and gave me the privilege of having a picture with them. I later found out my koala was called “Victory”. Ironic!
After that we went to feed the kangaroos. I couldn’t wait to get away from that queue of people waiting for their pictures, I was a bloody laughing stock!
And another!
Having heard about how powerful a kangaroo’s kick can be, I was slightly nervous to just go up to one and try and feed it. When you consider how much of a disliking the koalas took to me, I was fully expecting a kick to the bollocks from a kangaroo. Thankfully, the kangaroos were welcoming and at one point I actually had two of them fighting over me. We even managed to collar Travolta for a picture too. I always preferred kangaroos.
Always preferred kangaroos to koalas anyway…
After a bit more wandering around we decided it was time to head back to the city and experience the worst bus journey of my life. The minute I sat down, the guy next to me fell asleep and was pretty much dead to the world. With every corner his head ended up on my shoulder and at one point almost in my lap, much to Beth and Becky’s amusement. I almost wanted him to miss his stop as punishment, but sadly he woke up with a few corners to go.
Look at the excitement on Beth’s face!
So that was that, Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary ticked off and it’s almost time to leave Brisbane. Me and a couple of girls from my room have borrowed a car for three weeks and are driving up north to see the Great Barrier Reef and whatever else that part of the country throws at me. I’d say I’m looking forward to it, but in all honesty I’m not 100% confident the car will get us there. Either way it’ll be an experience!
Rambling Northerner 
I cracked up that the koala bears hated you. I can’t believe you met John Travolta! That is so awesome
Haha, I have no idea why they hated me! Yeah, Travolta was a bizarre moment to say the least. He’s a pretty decent guy!
Looks like you all had a fab day. Loved reading your blog
Yeah, it was a great day! I’d been determined to go since I arrived in Brisbane haha. Thanks for reading!
Hi great website! Does running a blog like this take a lot of work?
I have absolutely no understanding of programming but I had been hoping to start my own blog in the near future.
Anyway, should you have any recommendations or techniques for new blog owners please share.
I know this is off subject but I simply wanted to ask.
Thank you!
Hi there, thanks for the comment! Much appreciated!
It can be as much or as little work as you like. I personally really enjoy writing so it feels like very little work to me.
As for advice, I’d say choose something you’re truly passionate about, add a bit of your own character to it (I like to be informal). You can do it for free too. A wordpress.com URL is free and there are plenty of free themes!
Cheers,
Jack