Busy times.. October Part I

October was a busy month in our down under househaold - a month full of travel, friends and photos. Blogging fell by the wayside as Tom and I hopped from work to slep to train to plane, all in aid of living our Australian life to the full.

The fun times kicked off with a long weekend in Queensland, devoted to Australia's premier wildlife and marine life. Our first stop was Australia Zoo, the legacy of world famous crocodile hunter Steve Iriwin. He was tragically and perhaps ironically killed in a freak stingray attack in 2006, aged 44. Steve's passion lives on through his widow and children, and the Irwin empire includes an ever-expanding wildlife park and a contraversial media career for his 12 year old daughter (think Hannah Montana meets The Really Wild Show).

The highlights of Australia Zoo were the crocodile show, tiger play time and elephant bath time. The focus is on visitor interaction and convenying the conservation message, which was heavily played at all opportunities. Many Australian's object to the commercialism of Australia Zoo, but there is no denying the fact that the animals on show looked healthy and happy. Obviuosly I'm no Dr Dolittle, but we had a fun day none the less.

Tom and Katie join the Irwin family

Tiger playtime

More tiger playtime

We can never get enough of feeding kangaroos

Can tyou spot the sausage?!

A three hour roadtrip in the driving rain too us to Surfers Paridise. A place that we have now visited twice and will most likely never return to! Surfers is the Benidorm of Australia, which might prompt you to tell me that two vists is two too many. The attraction for us was Sea World, where we loved the dolphin show so much that we watched it twice!

Look who joined us on our trip!

Dolphin mania!

Watching the polar bears fighting was incredible

I'm sure they love each other really

Always time for ice cream!

Shark feeding

I took hundreds of these photos, you are lucky I've only posted two!

Discovery Cove

We rounded out the weekend with a whale watching trip in which we spotted.... virtually nothing! Below is the best photo that I have, and even that is zoomed in far more than I care to declare. I consoled myself by buying a pair of shoes in a nearby branch of Nine West, and I think the fact that there was even a shopping centre so close to the 'nature' of the Gold Coast probably sums up Surfers Paridise for you!


More stories to follow in Part II....