Showing posts with label Brisbane. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Brisbane. Show all posts

Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary Brisbane

Posted by Unknown at 6:30 PM Saturday, September 22, 2012 Labels: , 0 comments
Brisbane . 2012 . Aug 10

Our river cruise with Mirimir Brisbane River Cruise brings us to Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary after more than an hour of cruising.



 A small footpath leads from the dock to Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary.


Koala Kingdom


Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary does live up to its name as there are lots and lots of koalas in the sanctuary. These koalas are also divided into different zones based on their age groups.

Koalas can sleep for up to 20 hrs a day, and their waking hours are mainly spent grooming or feeding on the leaves of the eucalyptus tree that it rests on.  Just like the kangaroos, koalas belong to a unique group of mammals called the marsupials.  These mammals give birth to very under-developed young who then complete their development in their mother’s pouch.



With the great number of koalas in the sanctuary, we could see them in different actions – some snoozing at the fork of the tree branches, some were climbing up the trees, and some were feeding.

Cuddle a Koala


Queensland is one of those few places in Australia where visitors get to cuddle a Koala for a photo opportunity (holding a Koala is actually banned in many other states in Australia). Proceeds go to conservation efforts for the Koalas.  As much as we humans like to touch and cuddle these cute animals, this kind of handling places considerable stress on the Koalas, and as a result of this, there are regulations to ensure that each koala only gets ‘hugged’ for 30 mins at a time.  They also get every 3rd day off.

At Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary, visitors have to pay a fee of AUD$20 for a photo opportunity with the Koala.  Photo tickets can be bought at the General Store and visitors are welcome to use their own cameras as well to capture the moment.  Judging from the long queues, this must be a popular activity.

Koala Retirement Home


The elderly koalas at Lone Pine gets their own retirement home within the sanctuary where they can rest and live out the rest of their lives!



Kangaroos


Besides Koalas, there are also other animals in the Sanctury, including the popular Kangaroos. The Kangaroos roam freely in this open enclosure

Kangaroo feeding is allowed here, so purchase the kangaroo feed from the General Store before making your way to the kangaroo enclosure.  The kangaroos are generally tame and let visitors and children feed and pet them, but we’ve also seen the kangaroos smack each other, so you might want to be careful there.



Some of these kangaroos have a joey in their pouch! Keep your hands off the joey, you won’t want a protective mum smacking your face!

Wombat


The closest relative to the Koala, the wombat is also a marsupial native to Australia.




At Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary, each wombat is kept in a separate enclosure. We caught an adorable one catching up on sleep while sun-tanning.
  
 And another one basking and stretching under the sunlight.

 and stretching....
 
 and finally waking up....
 


This one is lonely and needs a teddy bear to cuddle.
 
We hope you enjoyed Part 1 of our review of the Lone Pine Koala Sanctury. Stay tuned for Part 2 of our review as there are more animals in the sanctury including Emus, Birds, Platypus, Pythons and a animal barn!

Check out our in depth review of Scoot Airlines below!

Read these articles about our Gold Coast / Brisbane Trip too!

Check out the Hotel we stayed

Check out the good eats!



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Mirimar Brisbane River Cruise

Posted by Unknown at 6:00 PM Friday, September 7, 2012 Labels: , 0 comments
Brisbane . 2012 . Aug 10

There are many operators offering river sight-seeing cruises along the Brisbane River such as River City Cruises and Kookaburra River Queens.  Some offers a hop on – hop off option, while others package a lunch or dinner with the cruise.

We chose the Mirimar Brisbane River Cruise as it combines a round-trip sightseeing river cruise along the post-card perfect Brisbane River and a visit to the lovely Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary for some koala hugging.

The first part of our Brisbane city tour began at the Queensland State Library located at the river bank and near the boarding area of the Mirimar II for our cruise.




Boarding starts promptly at 9:30am.  Be there early to snag a good seat.
 

Those who want a good view of the river should sit at the exposed upper deck at the sides of the boat. We were not early enough and had to settle for seats at the centre portion of the upper deck.

The cruise starts off punctually at 10am, passing bridges, beautiful luxury vacation houses, and the University of Queensland located along the riverfront.

Most of the owners of the river front mansions are so rich that each of them has their own private docks and boats leading from the mansion!

The places of interest that the cruise passes by along the Brisbane River.  The journey is fully narrated to give you a background on the places of interests.

Picturesque scenery seen from the back of the boat.  Conditions got cold and windy after a while (it was winter while we were there), so we had to adjourn to the covered lower deck for some food and warmth.


 The on-board café at the lower deck, offering a simple menu for food and drinks.


Some hot egg and bacon sandwich and hot coffee is a must to recover from the cold.  It was well worth the money that we paid for it.  The waiter will give you a gold token to operate the coffee machine for a hot cup of coffee.

 Getting the tickets ready for Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary.


After more than an hour of cruising, we are finally reaching our destination!

And finally, after a day outdoors, we were delivered back to the Cultural Centre Pontoon.  Stay tuned for our next articles as we bring you to Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary and our Brisbane City Tour.


Mirimar River Cruises


Mirimar River Cruises departs once daily at 10am (boarding starts at 9:30am) from the Cultural Central Pontoon situated outside the Queensland State Library.

The cruise will stop at Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary at about 11:15am for 2 hrs, departing at 1:45pm and returning to the Cultural Central Pontoon at 3:00pm.  During peak vacation season, it may be advisable to book your tickets early to ensure a seat, though we saw some walk-in customers on our trip.
Tickets are AUD$65 per adult for a round trip and include entry into Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary (entry tickets for Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary is AUD$33 per adult).  For more information, check out their website at http://www.mirimar.com/

Check out our in depth review of Scoot Airlines below!

Read these articles about our Gold Coast / Brisbane Trip too!

Check out the Hotel we stayed

Check out the good eats!



We hope you enjoyed reading this article. To receive notifications on updates, subscribe to our blog via RSS feed and email.

Like us on Facebook @ Discover. Book . Travel and follow us on Twitter @Discoverbooktra!

Do check out our Flickr photos & Youtube videos too!
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