Brisbane - Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary

Phil and I headed up to Brisbane this past weekend to look at Landcruisers. We went left right after Phil was done work on Friday night and pulled up to the hostel that we'd booked into around 10:30 pm. It's an old Queenslander from the 1920s that has been converted into a hostel and the couple who run it don't live on the premises. When I chatted with her earlier in the week, she said she'd leave the doors open and a set of instructions in our room - fair enough. We showed up, only to find the place locked. Another tenant let us in, but the door to our room was also locked up and we couldn't get a hold of the owners until 11:00 pm. When they showed up they were really accusatory, telling me I had given them the wrong days (which I hadn't). They told us that they could boot a friend of theirs out of his room and we could stay there but move in the morning. To be honest, the place didn't even meet my fairly low hostel/hotel standards so we moved on. The problem arose when the next few motels we tried were full - we finally ended up getting a very nice (though pricey) hotel room just after midnight. It was one of those nights when I was so pleased to have a nice bath, a beer and fall asleep on a very comfy bed (a nice change from our apartment where the mattresses are terrible).

We spent all of Saturday, from about 9:00 am to 4:30 pm, looking at cars in lots and private sales. Oie! It was hard work and there is so much crap out there, but we found a few really good options and are feeling very good about our options. As most people know, we were getting a bit nervous about finding something of quality in our price range but now we just have to decide on which 4wd we want - a much nicer position to be in for sure.

On Sunday we decided to go to Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary which is located right in Brisbane. I wanted to hold a koala - it's one of those "must do while you're in Oz" type of activities. We had a great time!! I got to hold a koala, as you can see here (though not the most flattering picture of me) - they're so cute, but with harder bums than you might imagine. The place had a bunch of koala "pens" with several koalas sleeping in trees - they look either like little kids or drunks slumped over on their little branch seats. Very cute. We saw a baby one wake up and have a snack on some nearby leaves.

The other thing you get to do in Lone Pines is feed kangaroos. We fed three of them - a young little guy, a big old fella and one of the cute little red ones that Phil is feeding. They are so cute when they eat out of your hand, except for the big one who was quite drooly.

It was a great trip and it made me realize what a big city Brisbane is and what a small city Bundy is - all that traffic was driving me crazy. We might go back next weekend to pick up a car if we decide we want one from there, so maybe there will be more Brisbane adventures to come...