{"id":11782,"date":"2025-04-25T21:16:52","date_gmt":"2025-04-26T04:16:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/petersontravels.com\/?p=11782"},"modified":"2025-04-25T21:41:05","modified_gmt":"2025-04-26T04:41:05","slug":"brisbane-australia-harbor-views-and-lone-pine-koala-sanctuary","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/petersontravels.com\/index.php\/2025\/04\/25\/brisbane-australia-harbor-views-and-lone-pine-koala-sanctuary\/","title":{"rendered":"Brisbane, Australia; Harbor Views and Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary"},"content":{"rendered":"

On our first night in Brisbane we had dinner with Ian and Sherril McKay, who we met earlier on this trip at Saffire Freycinet.\u00a0 On the walk to\/from dinner I took a few shots of the Brisbane skyline at night (we should have taken a photo of all of us at the restaurant…doh!).<\/p>\n

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This is the beautiful Story Bridge, with the Brisbane skyline in the background.<\/p>\n

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The next morning we visited the famous Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary (#1 on Trip Advisor).\u00a0 Founded in 1927, this is the largest Koala Sanctuary in the world.\u00a0 The sanctuary was opened to take care of sick, injured and orphaned koalas, at a time when they were being killed for their fur.\u00a0 Can you imagine killing a koala??\u00a0 WTF?\u00a0 U.S. President Calvin Coolidge actually banned the importation of Koala fur into the US, likely saving the species.\u00a0 Before the ban, hunters were getting $10\/pelt….which equals about $185 in today’s dollars, so the incentive was high, and they aren’t exactly hard to find.<\/p>\n

The first spot we stopped was the Crocodile enclosure.\u00a0 If you look hard you can see a Croc on the right.\u00a0 We saw him later that day, and he hadn’t moved an inch!\u00a0 He’d make a great US government worker.<\/p>\n

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We walked by a Cassowary enclosure and saw this poor bird who just looked miserable.\u00a0 I’m sure there is a good reason for him to be here, but it was sad to see him just sit there.\u00a0 This is perhaps the most majestic “flightless” bird!<\/p>\n

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There is a reptile house where we saw this “Boyd’s Forest Dragon”, a rather rare lizard.\u00a0 This guy was hard to spot at first!<\/p>\n

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We saw one in the wild in Strahan, Tasmania, but I was able to get a lot closer to this Laughing Kookaburra.\u00a0 He didn’t make a sound, so I still have no idea what they really sound like.<\/p>\n

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We then had a private tour called the “Koala Discovery Tour”, which was an in-depth introduction of the Koala’s in the sanctuary.\u00a0 This cutie was a focus as our guide talked about how they check on the koalas health on a daily basis.<\/p>\n

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We got a chance to pet a Koala for a few minutes, which was quite cool.\u00a0 When we first booked this trip in March 2020 (remember Covid?) you could actually hold the Koala’s.\u00a0 That unfortunately is no longer allowed.\u00a0 Still, at least we could get close and pet the little bugger.\u00a0 They are very soft!<\/p>\n

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I don’t think they ever stop eating!<\/p>\n

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These “Eastern Water Dragon” lizards were everywhere on the grounds of the sanctuary.\u00a0 Some little kids kept chasing them.\u00a0 I just wanted to watch one turn around and bite one of the little bastards.\u00a0 Oh well, I’ll have to get my joy elsewhere.<\/p>\n

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Our next encounter was feeding a Platypus.\u00a0 We went behind the scenes of the enclosure and tossed a whole bunch of worms into the water, then went back around to watch them eat.\u00a0 I found it interesting that this guy picked up the worms from the bottom of the tank and then floated to the surface to eat them.\u00a0 I also thought the circular style of swimming to the bottom was interesting.<\/p>\n