Australian Adventures: Whale Watching and Australia Zoo!

Hey, all!

It’s been an very eventful four days since the last post! A lot of exciting things happened!

Monday (June 26), we went to the SeaLife Sydney Aquarium in the morning. When we were done with that, we had lunch and walked around Darling Harbour while we were waiting for the boat to appear to go whale watching! There was a bit of a rough start as the boat didn’t go to the wharf it was supposed to go to, but the one next to it and my mom was a little upset, but things worked out for the better. We were able to watch the humpback whales breach and such, so it was a great experience. We also managed to see dolphins swim in the wake of our boat! That was really awesome!

Tuesday, we woke up early to check out of the hotel and head to the airport to head to the Sunshine Coast! The way through security was much more simple than it was in America. I didn’t even have to take off my shoes! My mom could take her coffee through, though it needed to go through the same X-Ray thing as our carry-ons, but she could take it through. We rented a car after we landed in the new city and had the experience of my dad driving in Australia and my mom freaking out and making sure he was doing things correctly. We checked in to the hotel (a rather expensive, but not the most expensive resort) and then walked to the nearby mall to see if they had swimsuits (since there was a jacuzzi and I didn’t bring my swimsuit). We didn’t see any swimsuits, so I ended up getting some exercise clothes. My mom and I went to the jacuzzi shortly after and relaxed. We ended up seeing a bat fly around before landing in a nearby tree and messing around in the tree. I didn’t get the chance to take a picture since some kids chased it off before I could get to my phone.

Wednesday, we traveled to the Australia Zoo, the home of the Crocodile Hunter! We saw a bunch of different animals and I took a ton of pictures and a few videos! I learned that day that I would be going to see a red panda up close and personal (a special encounter) the next day at the zoo! It was a birthday present from my parents and it was extremely awesome to experience that!

Today, Thursday, we returned to the Australia Zoo pretty early (an hour before the opened) so I could check in and sign some paperwork. I was to have about 30 minutes with the red panda, by myself (with the photographer and zookeeper)! The zookeeper put food in my hand since the red panda was in my lap and kept giving me food to keep him there. She also told me a lot about their red pandas and how they train him and it was a great experience! About half way through, he decided to jump from my lap and go into his tree, even though he hadn’t finished the food the zookeeper had for him. I was okay with that. I had a lot of alone time with him. I was told that there was usually at least two or three people in the sign up, but it was just me that day and I was so happy! We finished the rest of the zoo and I got more pictures of the red panda and got a few souvenirs from their gift shops. After we got back to the hotel, we left to go to the nearby beaches! We did a lot more walking and got a few shells and enjoyed the water, even though it was a bit cold at first. When we were done, we had dinner at a restaurant near the beach and had gelato after that! It was fun and tomorrow morning, we leave for Adelaide! I’m not sure what we’re going to do there, yet, but I’m sure it will be fun!

I think that’s it for now! Until next time!

^^: A video of the whale breaching!

^^: a part of the show they did at the Australia Zoo!