Brisbane: Koalas and Kangaroos
Brisbane is a beautiful City. A days sail north of Sydney on Australia’s East Coast. We had one day in Brisbane and decided it was time to see two of Australia’s icons: Koala Bears and Kangaroos.
We spent our day at the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary. Koalas sleep up to 20 hours a day. We were delighted to find this fellow doing the Koala Bear version of “friskie”. They invest their waking hours eating eucalyptus leaves. It is all that they eat and there are only a handful of species of eucalyptus that suits their finicky palates. They eat slowly, chew slowly and move slowly. They need to eat over a pound of leaves each day…this becomes a full time job. The leaves have a very low sugar content and the Koalas have to expend a huge amount of energy to break down and digest these tough and toxic leaves. It all contributes to their apparent lethargy.
Cheryl was able to get up close to this little guy.
We were surprised to learn that Koalas are not bears. They are marsupials, the same genus as Kangaroos. Females give birth after a 35 day gestation period to a little Joey who then live in mom’s pouch for the next 6 months.
Amazing! A full days exercise captured on video!
Kangaroos at the sanctuary are unafraid of people. This little guy didn’t mind me getting behind him to pose for this pic..
Visiting this peaceful sanctuary reminded us so much of Donkey Dreams. This is our daughters and son-in-laws sanctuary for donkeys about a two hour drive north of us in Las Vegas. We got a nice reminder of how much we love donkeys when we came across these two minies. Donkeys have the most beautiful eyes.
The sheepdog demonstration was a highlight. The Australian sheepdogs are incredibly bright and very fast. We were happy to learn that the sheep are much less stressed by the dog than they are by any other method of rounding them up. As you’ll hear, sheepdogs of this caliber sell for up to $49,000 dollars,.
Brisbane’s skylne framed by the Brisbane River.
We’ve seen dolphins from the ship a couple of times but never able to capture them in photos. These beauties are from fellow passengers who posted them on line.
As we set sail, a gorgeous full moon lights our way.