The Australia Zoo and My Obsession With Kangaroos and Koalas (and All Other Animals)!

Well yesterday was absolutely MAGICAL (I know I've already used that word in my blog a lot, but it's the best word to describe this spectacular place, plus it's one of my favorite words)! I woke up at 7am (5pm NC time! So weird!) to eat my Rice Bubbles breakfast, make my PB&J (I knew food at the zoo would be ridiculously expensive), and get ready! Helen, Amy and I headed to the bus lot at 7:45 and met up with the student guild people who informed us the bus wasn't actually going to get there until 8:30. Luckily, that gave me the chance to call my parents. I always love talking to them but talking to them when I'm all the way on the other side of the world makes it even better, and I'm not just saying that because I know they're reading this! On the bus ride we learned about what shows would be happening and heard that we HAD to go to the "Australia Zoo Wildlife Warriors Show!" in the "Crocoseum". The zoo was by far the best zoo I've ever been to (I've decided this is where Bio Club needs to go on our next field trip)!!! I'll let my photographs help me describe the rest...

 The zoo workers walk around with animals, so this is who I was greeted by when I first got to the zoo!

 This cockatoo talked to us!

 Can you tell how excited I was?!

 Skeleton of a Reticulated Python- the longest snake in the world!

 Wombats are adorable!

 Tasmanian Devil on a leash!

 There was an awesome aviary!

 So obsessed!!!

 First (and hopefully not only) time ever petting a koala! :)

 Red Pandas are ADORABLE! Got a picture of this little guy/girl with their tongue out!

 Tigers are so beautiful!!!

 Got to feed an elephant- SO MAGICAL!!!

 "Africa" was really pretty!

 A Brolga (really cool bird!)

 Love how she (all the kangaroos were females) has her arms crossed!

 What I believe was a wallaby!

 Me, Amy, and Helen

 A whole wall of things signed for Steve Irwin. The Australia Zoo was his zoo so there were a lot of things about him there, which was really awesome. I learned a lot about him and truly admire his passion and dedication to wildlife. Such a hero!

Love this quote!

 Steve's shoe with crocodile bite marks in it!

 A camel skull!

 AHHHHH STILL CAN'T EVEN BELIEVE I GOT TO HOLD AN ADORABLE KOALA!!!

 I paid for an 8x10 copy of the picture the photographer took of me holding the koala (the money went to conservation efforts- best money I've spent in Australia so far)! Can't wait to hang it up in my room!

 Amy and Helen decided to get a picture with the snake. I would have too but didn't want to spend more money!

A Short-beaked Echidna. Echidnas are monotremes, meaning they are egg laying mammals!

The show at the Crocoseum was SO cool!!!

 No idea how, but they train birds to fly around the stadium. This bird is called a Jabiru and it uses its powerful beak to stab prey (they can even eat rodents!) Got to see some pretty awesome birds! Made me think of you, Dr. K!

A HUGE vulture!

They got really close to this crocodile and did tricks with him! I love crocs but I'm not sure I'd ever be brave enough to get close to this guy!

 She held my hand as I fed her- so cute!

 This is my favorite photograph that I took! She was so cute!!!

 Hopping around!

 This girl was so relaxed! Reminded me of my old cat, Hootie!

 She cracked me up!

 Just posing for the camera!

 This is called the Aldabra Giant Tortoise and its the world's largest tortoise! It weighs about 300kg (about 660 pounds)

 So many alligators!!!

 Cassowary!

 Dingo!

 Laughing Kookaburra! SO adorable!!! 

 Tawny Frogmouths!

 Perentie- Australia's largest lizard!

 We got to go into the Australia Zoo Wildlife Hospital! It was amazing! I asked the woman if they offer internships but was disappointed to find out they don't. I also asked the people in the normal part of the zoo and they don't either :(

 Operating table

 Where they keep the sick/injured animals

 THIS IS WHAT I WANT TO DO WITH MY LIFE (I think)!!!

Wish I could work/intern there!

So, as you can tell, yesterday was one of the best days EVER!!! I was so excited about every single animal, my friends probably thought I was a little crazy haha! :)

When we got back from the zoo, my third roommate, Megan, was there. She's from Boston and goes to Niagra college and is super nice! I spent the whole day with her today, but I'll post more about that later (SUCH a fantastic day!). I went to bed at 10 last night (what has happened to me?!?!), so not much else to write about yesterday! Waking up early-ish tomorrow for another magical day, so I'm going to end this post here. Hope everyone is having an awesome week, miss you all! Lots of love from the Land Down Under!!!