Australia Zoo Part III: Birds of a Feather

Ha, I said I was going to drag this out didn't I? So here is part 3 of our Aussie Zoo adventure- the Birds! I have to say that my favourite bird was definitely the Andean Condor that they brought out during the wildlife show- he was huge- and he was still a juvenile! You see them on Discovery channel doing that kind of hop/jump when they're heading over to a carcass- but it was amazing to see this huge bird bounding around in person! There's a rain forest bird avery that you can walk through with heaps of birds bomb diving you as you walk through, which JBV got a kick out of! Then we came across the "Birds of Prey" exhibit. We couldn't see anything in there! JBV wanted to go in, and wouldn't listen to me when I was trying to tell him that this wasn't like the rain forest avery- you couldn't walk through it! And he was a bit skeptical when one of the workers told him the same thing, adding that it wouldn't be wise to go in there with these meat eating birds anyway! But as we were walking away-  a wedge tail eagle came bounding out of the scrub. This thing was so huge, and didn't seem like it could fly! But JBV quickly changed his mind about wanting to go in with these birds!

Australia Zoo Part 1
Australia Zoo Part II: Where Crocs Rule! (and lizards too!!)

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 Andean Condor

 Wedge Tailed Eagle

 Australian Darter - Shag

 Red-tailed Black Cockatoo

Blue and Gold Macaw 

 Juvenile Scrub Turkey

 Bush Stone-Curlew

 Cassowary

 White Egret- This guy is actually just a wild bird that hangs around during the croc shows to pick up the bits of food the croc misses!

Emu

Australia Zoo Part II- Where Crocs Rule!! (and lizards too!!)

Continued from Australia Zoo Part I
So we pulled up in the car park, to the zoo, and the kids eyes were fantastic to see- so excited- what a surprise! This is why us parents keep putting ourselves through stressful days at zoos and theme parks etc- for the kids (even if at the end of the day we swear we will never go again!!). But then JBV burst the bubble- he told them that there was a park behind the zoo we were going to, to feed the ducks! Bastard! Master J new dad was of i, but Miss K was furious! She refused to get out of the car! I finally made her understand that dad was full of crap, and we were off. I know that I've posted a few photos earlier, but to make it easier (for me), I thought I'd group the next few blogs into types of animals, so a couple of these may be repeated from the first blog! I thought I may as well start with the crocs! We went to the wildlife show and saw a few animals, but we were there for the crocs of course! The trainer tried for a long time to get him to jump out for the 'chook' for quite some time before he gave up- but came back to it at the end of the show and finally got some results. But it was a pretty poor effort on the crocs behalf- he barely left the water!! I promised the kids that one day we would go to Darwin and we'd go on the Adelaide River Queen and REALLY see some crocs jump! But the kids still enjoyed it! So Here are our croc photos! And I thought I could get away with throwing some lizards into the mix as well- they are reptiles after all!! :)
As always, check out my FLICKR Photos for better quality pics, plus many others as well!

Croc Food! Mmmmm!

 Shingleback Lizards

 Master J spotted this water dragon sunning himself on some stairs- scared the C.R.A.P. out of him!

Rhinoceros Iguana

Australia Zoo- Part 1!

I have been just so exhausted with work, that I'm finding it hard to get through these photos, so I'm going to post them in a couple of batches! But let me start at the beginning...!!

Australia Zoo has never really interested me. We've done it a couple of times a few years ago- and I've never thought much about going back. But you gotta keep the kids happy! And they'd been bugging me for ages! Plus the Zoo has a special at the moment- prove you're a local and you'll get unlimited entry until Nov 30 with the ticket. So we did it. I had a day off last week, so we packed the kids up in the car and headed off bright and early- they didn't have a clue where we going! Master J was cracking the poops because he was going to be late for school (I wonder how long that will last...!). As we were driving down the highway he saw a sign advertising Australia Zoo, and continued to bug me about wanting to go there- just as he does every time we pass the sign! But their faces when we pulled up in the car park- as they say- PRICELESS!
To be Continued.....
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Photos are in NO particular order- just posted as I Process!

Wallaby

 Echidna

 Saltwater Crocodile

 Saltwater Crocodile's tail.... 

 White Egret

 Red Roos

Another Kangaroo



A goat!

Rhinoceros Iguana



Andean Condor (vulture)

The Photo Shoot

Little Miss K. She's not usually a fan of photos. Which is why I've got plenty of her with a grumpy look on her face, or the side of her face as she's flicking her hair to turn her back to me. So I was very surprised when she asked if we could "go do photos". I think she was a little jealous that dad was getting all the attention with his photo shoot a few days earlier (which you can see HERE). I would normally jump to the chance to photograph her while she was actually keen, but I was still feeling a little seedy from the night before! But she nagged me until I agreed. And talk about bossy! She chose to have her photos at the park, with some flowers picked from granny's garden. Her brother suggested doing it up  the beach, but he was met with "Noooo! It's MY photo shoot, I get to decide". She also got to decide whether her father was allowed to come or not (thankfully he was- he's my 'roadie'!). But she was throwing around directions like a pro. "I need a photo over at the swings. No, not yet.... OK now", "Now get one of me over here, doing this..." and then out come the cheesiest grins!! But she had fun. She's at me now to print them out for her so she can put them in a book! Models.....!

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Before the Rain

Today was the first day of my 3 day weekend. And its cold, wet and miserable! Just last week, it may have been bloody freezing at night, but the day in the sun was beautiful. So since there wasn't much else to do, I went through and found some photos from our fishing expedition last week! A bit of a mixed bag, from fish to birds to grass! :)

As always, don't forget to check out all my photos HERE!