Sunday was a of an exciting day. Exciting in a stressful way, and not in a fun way, due to my own silly misjudgement. The free Australia Zoo coach taking me to Australia Zoo was to arrive at the closest bus stop to my backpackers at 9.15am. Yet I knew the backpackers I was staying at offered free kayaks and I wanted to try kayaking as I had never tried it before. I couldn't try it later on, because I was to check out that day and head back to Brisbane after the zoo. So I could only do it on Sunday morning. But the backpackers office only opened at 8am, so if I were to make it in time for the bus, I would have to get the kayak at 8am, do as much kayaking as possible, head back to the backpackers and be ready by 9am to get to the bus stop. Had it all planned out. Would not be a problem. Or so I thought.
So that morning I woke up nice and early, but only managed to get the kayak out at around 8.10am. The nearest place to kayak was just across the road, where there was a nice calm lagoon, which at one point, opened out into the ocean. But even that wasn't close enough for me, coz' I can tell you, the blady kayak weighed a tonne, and probably more. And I had to carry the paddle along with it, which isn't an easy feat when I only have two hands and haven't been working out too much lately. So by the time I had carried, lugged, and dragged the kayak all the way to the lagoon, it was about 8.25am. Still had time, I thought. I could go out for about 20 minutes, come back by 8.45am, and start lugging the heavy bugger back.
So off I went in my kayak, paddling along the lagoon, and taking a few moments here and there to lie back and enjoy my surroundings. Out in open water with no one but myself, drifting along. This was the life. 5 minutes into it, I thought it was pretty easy, as I went a pretty good distance in just a short time. I thought it would be equally easy to make my way back to shore, so I went out further into the waters.
Unfortunately, I made the mistake of heading out a bit too close to the part of the lagoon leading out to the ocean. And when I decided to head back to shore, I found it wasn't as easy as I expected. I was paddling and paddling and paddling, but the shore didn't seem to be getting any closer. The seemingly calm currents were carrying me out to the ocean! The closest people were too far away to hear any calls from me. And my arms were getting tired. Not good.
Of course, I had no choice but to keep on paddling. But it still seemed as though the shore was so far away that I would never reach it without help. I was on the verge of panic. Tried to paddle harder and faster, but every now and then, I would use the paddle at the wrong angle, causing the kayak to turn in the wrong direction, sometimes almost tilting it over, and wasting more valuable time. It was getting close to 8.45am, but I wasn't just worried about missing the bus, I was worried about being washed out to the ocean!
Finally, I took a few seconds to calm myself down, pray for strength and steadiness, and continued on, focusing on paddling correctly, in the right direction, and ignoring how tired my arms were. The shore was inching closer and closer, and the closer it got, the more tired I became. I just wanted to stop and rest, but I knew I couldn't coz' that would waste more time and the current would carry me back out again. So I kept going and going and going. Miraculously, thank God, I reached the shore at about 8.52am. Which meanted I still had time to catch the bus. But now I had to carry the kayak back to the backpackers. I dragged it across the sand a few metres before letting it collapse. I was too tired, and it would've taken me forever to carry it back on my own. There was only one thing to do....
A few minutes later, I had reached my backpackers, carrying my paddle while a nice strong guy whose help I enlisted on the beach was carrying the kayak back for me. I was soooooo grateful, I was ready to kiss the guy! God bless his soul, man.... It gave me just enough time to return the kayak, wipe myself dry, packed my stuff, return my keys and run to the bus stop 6 minutes away. But it wasn't over yet.
The bus stop was about 100 meters around the corner from the street where my backpackers was, and as I was walking along that street, I could see the big bus coming down the road, heading for the bus stop. I hit the panic button again, and started dashing down the street. Didn't help that I was dragging along my suitcase and a backpack. I turned the corner and could see the bus waiting at the stop, too far away from the bus driver to see me coming from behind. So I ran some more, and was praying that it wouldn't leave without me. Please please PLEASE don't leave without me.
Thank God again that I did manage to reach the bus in time, where I saw the driver walking along the street, looking for me. Fortunately, he had my name listed to be picked up since I had called the zoo earlier. I probably looked like a massive mess at that point. But I didn't really care at the time, coz' I was just happy that I managed to reach the bus on time. Soon I was on board and on my way to Australia Zoo.
So much excitement and it was only 9.15am! Even the zoo wasn't as exciting as all that. Although, of course, the zoo was fun in it's own way. I've always loved hanging around animals. They're such fascinating creatures. So diverse, yet so simple in that their sole purpose in life is merely to eat, sleep and have babies. For the uninformed, Australia Zoo is the home of the Crocodile Hunter, Mr. Steve Irwin and family. I didn't get the chance to see Steve Irwin coz' I guess he was off in some other part of the world shooting another show or saving some big mother of a croc or something. But I DID get a chance to see and meet his wife, Terri Irwin and their cute 6-year old daughter, Bindi Sue Irwin. They were in fact, at the first attraction I saw as soon as I walked into the zoo, the Galapagos tortoises. Terri was in there feeding a tortoise a bunch of flowers (and the fella was really chomping them down!) while little Bindi Sue was doing the commentary on the tortoise.
I tell you, even at that age, it was obvious that Bindi Sue doesn't have a shy bone in her body, coz' she was doing that commentary just as good as her dad would, being all animate and excited about it. Made the whole crowd giggle like crazy! Even the story of how her parents named her was funny. Apparently when she was born, the first name that came to Steve's mind was Bindi, the name of his favourite croc, while Terri thought of the name Sue, the name of Steve's pet dog. It's not everyday that a kid is named after a crocodile and a dog, but then what else would be expected from the Crocodile Hunter?
I took quite a number of cool photos with some of the local wildlife at the zoo, most of which were taken by myself, which explains why you can mostly just see my face in the photos. Hey, when you're alone in a place like that, it's so much easier than hassling strangers to help you take photos for you! Here's a good one of me with a koala being carried by a zoo helper.
And another me getting up close and personal with a snake!
I like this one with the camel coz' it looks like she's (or he, can't tell...) posing for the camera!
Didn't really feel like getting too close to a croc, so this would have to suffice...
Got to pose with a couple of macaws...
Got a pic with a human being. Ooooooo.....Unfortunately, I couldn't get the little person on the left in my photo coz' apparently her favourite koala had just died at the time and she wasn't looking too photogenic. Ah well...
And finally, I managed to get REAL up close and personal with a tasmanian devil!
That photo, unlike the others, cost a little extra to take coz' I paid extra to get to spend some time with the tazzy. For $20, I was taken into a pen with a female tazzy kept on a leash and whose name I can't really remember...went along the lines of Jimbi....anyway, for about 20-25 minutes, I was allowed to take the cute fella on a walk around the pen while a photographer took some photos of me and the tazzy. Wasn't allowed to carry the tazzy though, coz' these little buggers can bite, although I could pet its back and feel its tail. Was very cool!
A zoo helper watching out for me the whole time also told me some interesting info about the tazzy. Like the real tazzies aren't as nasty as the Warner Brothers cartoon character, and they don't go around in whirlwinds, snarling like a rapid dog. Although the fact that the tazzy was hissing and snarling at another tazzy in the pen at the same time, with another girl on the same tazzy tour, didn't help me believe that. And although they don't go around making whirlwinds, they do go around a lot, literally! A little later on, I was at an enclosure where another tazzy was allowed to run around, and man, that fella was just running and running and running and running around in circles! It would go a long the same route for a while, and on occasion, turn around and go in the other direction, or go in a slightly different route. But it would keep on running and running and running, like it was on a morning jog or something. No kidding! Here's a few photos I took of the hyper fella going on its first lap.
And its second lap.
And its third lap.
And its fourth lap.
No wonder I fell in love with these guys so quickly, eh? Anyway, I would love to show all the other pictures I took of the animals, but due to laziness and not wanting to overload my blog with photos so it won't take forever to load, I'll only put up the best. here's a super Kodak moment with a koala!
And a handsome looking gecko that posed just for me.
A dingo that was pretty photogenic as well.
Some super cute goats at the kid's petting zoo. Yeah yeah, I know it's kinda lame to be at a petting zoo when I could see some more exotic animals, but hey, they're cute!
A little sleeping calf at the kid's zoo. One of those "Awwww....." moments, isn't it? :)
And some piggy butts. Man, these guys were probably the noisiest animals in the whole zoo!
Of course, what's a visit to the home of the Crocodile Hunter without croc photos?
Plus a pic with Steve Irwin himself...:)
Yup, it was a busy day all right. And at just 3.20pm that day, I had to hop on a Croc Connection bus sending me back to Brisbane city to get my beauty sleep at my cousin's place so I could tackle the next part of my holiday itinery....sky diving!
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