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Checking things off the bucket list in Brisbane | Day 4

Last full day in Brisbane! Slept like a champ and am super excited for the day ahead! I’m going to get back in the car (please don’t crash) and head to Mt. Coot-tha and then the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary.

Every time I get ready to drive this rental car, I get anxious. This driving on the left side is wack! You really have to pay attention. Apparently I’m wary of the cars coming towards me and have a tendency to hang more to the right. Good thing the car has an alarm for not staying in my lane! May that be the worst of my driving problems. Also, it’s hard to get used to the turn signals being on the right side and the wipers are on the left. I can’t tell you how many times I meant to signal but turned on the wipers.

So I took off for Mt. Coot-tha around 11am. White knuckles all the way. Only a 20 minute drive. And I finally got the apple car play to work so I can see the directions! The drive was partly on the highway and partly through the suburbs. Once I got to Mt. Coot-tha I drove directly to the summit where they have a lookout and a restaurant. I had lunch overlooking Brisbane. Absolutely beautiful! And this kid Curtis kept me engaged in conversation. He just turned 3. His parents are from Lithuania and live in Brisbane now.

After lunch I drove around the park. It said it was a scenic drive but there isn’t much to see except the forest. I did pass by a bunch of tv stations that I guess are located there because their towers are there? I even passed by a Paramount lot. Who knew?

There is a botanical garden at the foot of the park so I stopped in. Absolutely gorgeous! And hardly anyone was there! Took lots of pics. I didn’t have time to do the whole garden but I’d love to go back and see more.

I then made my way to the main event-the koala sanctuary. I purchased a Koala Close Up Encounter which was described as a 20 minute in depth experience with a koala and no more than 5 other people. I knew they didn’t let you hold them. The sanctuary stopped that a few years ago as to not stress out the koalas.

I was really impressed by the sanctuary! First, the grounds were really pretty. They have a digital map you can access and if you allow it to connect to your phone it will show you where you are on the map. Brilliant!

I started off by enjoying some cockatoos. Really beautiful. I then went into the platypus exhibit. It was super dark in the viewing room so it was hard the see the platypus. I thought I had captured a great video but it didn’t come out. The platypus was much smaller than I imagined.

I left to go check out some snakes (in glass cases/exhibits) and then some koalas. Oh! These sometimes huge iguanas were EVERYWHERE! Most of the time I was so busy looking up that they kept appearing in front of me and would scatter out the corner of my eye. I thought I would have a heart attack I got so startled! And they are quick fuckers.

The koalas are exhibited all throughout the sanctuary so there are lots of opportunities to see them. I made my way to the kangaroo area where I read you can feed them! You just need to buy a $2 bag of their pellet like food from the gift shop. To make sure the kangaroos don’t get out, you have to go through 2 sets of doors and then you enter a large park that is enclosed. I immediately spotted a kangaroo so I made a beeline for it. The kangaroo had a Joey in its pouch! All you could see was the Joey’s leg sticking out. I approached the kangaroo and was able to pet it and feed it! What a crazy experience! The fur was pretty soft. And the kangaroo was very indifferent. She did eat out of my hand though and thankfully didn’t slobber all over my hand! I also fed one of the emus however I didn’t feed it by hand – I tried but instead I put the food on the ground.

After the kangaroo adventure I wondered around the sanctuary until 3:40pm – my encounter time. It was just me and this family of 4. The husband and wife had 2 little kids with them. Thankfully they weren’t annoying. The koala person brought the koala into the private area we got escorted to and put it on the tree. She instructed us on petting the koala – you could only pet its back. Koalas have very little muscle and fat protecting their bellies so they don’t want you to touch that area because it’s just organs. I let the family meet the koala first. When they had their fill it was my turn! Total bucket list adventure!!!! I was petting the koala! And the koala keeper was taking pics and videos. The koala was super soft! Similar to the kangaroo. The 20 minutes we had went fast but the koala keeper had some interesting facts to share. This koala was a male, about 2-3 years old. Koalas will live to approximately 15 years in captivity while only about 10 years in the wild. And dingos are a huge predator of them.

Well after that amazing experience, I had seen the rest of the park so I decided to go back to the Airbnb. Everything was going very smoothly until I got in the parking garage. The garage is super confusing! I went past the down ramp somehow and had to reverse the car. I was watching out my back camera but still managed to gently hit a large truck/car. Oops. The other car had this fierce bumper and there was no damage to it. Thank god. My car has a very little damage that I think I can get away with. Just need to rub down the scuff. Oops.

I ended the day back at that great Italian restaurant I liked the other day-Massimo. It was a really nice walk along the river to the restaurant. This time I ordered what they call a lasagna bite (very similar to an arancini) and the cacio de peppe – where the waiter prepares it table side in a wheel of cheese. It was SO delicious!!!! Omg. Super rich but really good! There was a table nearby with THAT guy sitting there with others. He was SO unbelievably loud!! The table between mine and his asked to move their table away! It was bad. I hate how some people are just not self aware. So I made an exit as soon as I was done. Had to get back and pack up and shower. The road trip to Cairns begins tomorrow!!