Nosing Around

September 23, 2001-Flicks

(photos:
Toby,David, & koala;
Toby & roo;
Toby & lovelorn emu)

The weather here has two descriptions. There’s mostly fine & fine. Mostly fine is pretty damn good. Fine is perfect. The rain last night didn’t take away from the 300 sunny days that I told you about because it rained at night.

Last night we were going to walk across the street to the movies to see Blow. It was raining so we drove. We ended up meeting a couple we know and saw Bridgett Jones Diary with them. It was a more fun and upbeat choice. We grabbed a bite to eat afterwards and called it a day. I can’t say enough about our location. It’s so convenient. By the way, the movies were at a first run cinema. They really do get them late. It’s a twelve-screen complex and very impressive. The lobby/snack area is modern and huge with dramatically high ceilings. The cost was $A8.50/person.

Flack

We woke up to bad news here. One of the mosques in Brisbane was burned to the ground last night. There is a lot of anti-Islamic feeling here now. Aside from the crime of it, it does raise sympathy for the Muslim community.

I wonder if it would be a good idea to pamphlet Afghanistan and tell the people that if they hand over bin Laden, we will re-build their houses, schools and hospitals and get their agriculture going again? Maybe we don’t need to do that and we already know where he is.

Kute Kritters

Today we went to the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary. They have about 150 koalas that are in the breeding population. They only get about 15 joeys (koala babies) per year. Koalas aren’t endangered. The joeys aren’t released into the wild because their habitat is decreasing and it can’t support any more. There are 40-80,000 koalas in the country. We actually got to hold one and pet it. My cutie gripped me so hard I got a puncture wound. Glad I had all my shots. It was “no worry.” The staff was ready with a cleanser and alcohol wipe. They are as cuddly as they look. Their coats are thick and soft. They eat constantly when awake. The food passes through them in 20-30 minutes, so they have to move slowly and sleep a lot to conserve energy. They sleep about 16 hours a day.

The park also has a kangaroo compound where you can walk around with the roos and feed them. They’re quite blasé about it. Kangaroos are also not endangered. They even cull them in over-populated areas as they do the deer in Northeast Ohio. The cause of the problem is loss of natural habitat. We learned that kangaroos have one joey and can get pregnant while nursing the first-born. If the nursing mother gets pregnant, the fetus stops growing until the nursing joey is weaned. Then the fetus starts to develop again. Amazing!

We also saw Tasmanian devils, dingoes, wombats, & an emu who fell in love with David. The acreage on which the sanctuary is located is quite lovely. It’s on a river and is left in a mostly natural state with wooden walkways and dirt paths. One way to get there is to take a ferry from Brisbane.

Getting to the sanctuary took us on toll roads. Some toll roads are privately owned. I guess it goes back to the old English system. It’s an interesting entrepreneurial concept.

Toby