Noosa, Caloundra and Australia Zoo

Noosa, Caloundra and Australia Zoo

Arriving in Noosa we booked into our Park the Big 4 Noosa at Tewantin about 10km from the main part of town.  There are not a lot of parks in town, this one was  well run, clean and good for kids but well out of town.  Next time I would choose the Noosa River Caravan Park which is not as flash but on the river and much closer to town but still a few kilometres away.  Unfortunately on our first day a strong onshore wind was blowing,  but the boys loved their first swim in the surf the whole trip.  Jordy and Kurt spent a long time in the water getting rid of a bit if energy and loved it.

Saturday is Eumundi Market day and Jim and the boys were suffering from market overload and decided to let Chrissy have some peace and quiet on her own with beautiful food, arwork, awesome clothing, fabulous  music and a million other fascinating things.  She had a very relaxing time grabbing a few bargains and enjoying some high quality markets.  Later in the morning we all headed for the beach.  When the traffic snarls started about a kilometre from the beach , Jim knew we were  in trouble.  The family was dropped at the beach and Jim did circles for 40 min before finding a park. Loaded with hire surf equipment he arrived at the beach eventually. It was worth the effort as the wind was offshore with a lovely small swell. All round good conditions. Add to that,  the beach is patrolled all year and is very safe (unlike most beaches in Northern Queensland).  Will and Kurt both got out to the first point for a  surf,  in excellent conditions for beginners. We ALL loved the boogy boarding!   Jordy was delighted to get Mum back into Body and Boogy boarding action.  The Noosa SLSC club overlooks the beach with a huge dining area with plenty of patrons and very cold beer. How did Jim know that? He says he asked somebody! What could be better, day at the beach, kids have an icy pole and Mum and Dad have a cold one before going home. The beach made the parking effort worthwhile but makes you realise how easy we have it in Albany. 

                                                                 Will at First Point

                                                    Jordy and Kurt loving the waves.

Next morning we got organised early and headed to the Noosa Farmers Markets for breakfast. The Morcom Males returned to the market scene on the promise of food.  Nobody was to be disappointed with the most professional, well organised and high quality morning markets we have seen.  The fresh food was of a very high standard with a huge variety and the hot food was to die for. We loved the crepes, Turkish breads, breakfast burgers, coffee, juice and everything else that we ate.  And to top it all off, parking was a breeze, too easy!

                                                               Breakfast Heaven!

                                     Banana and Nutella Crepe with ice-cream for breakfast.

                                                             Does it get any better?

                                                Wash it down with some Orange Juice.

                                                Kurt gives the Crepe stall his approval

       By purchasing a market basket, Chrissy is reducing her carbon footprint, apparently.

                                                     This is the place to be, do not miss it.

One needs to remember that the Sunshine Coast from Noosa to Caloundra is highly populated, very busy and a bit of a traffic nightmare. We didn't get the best of the weather with high winds but it would be nice with good weather here. And as it is with Albany, locals do avoid the madness by finding quiet beaches away from the crowds. On Sunday we moved down to Caloundra to be closer to Australia Zoo for our visit on Monday.

Australia Zoo.               By Will Morcom

Yesterday we went to Australia Zoo and we saw Tasmanian Devils. Next we saw some turtles in the water and some cheeky otters.  After that we saw some enormous tortoises that can live to 150 years.

The Tigers were in the Asian section of the zoo.  Some people still kill tigers for  their skin and to use in medicine.  That is not the right thing to do, they are breaking the rules. Tigers are endangered so we need to try to stop them killing them.  The tigers are cool about how high they can jump.

Mum took us down to see the white rhinoceros  in the African section.  When he sees the Australia Zoo green ute he lays down near it because he knows they will give him a massage with the cleaning brushes.  The zebras were cool, their stripes looked black and orange..... We think the giraffes were young ones because they were not very tall.

At the show at the Crocoseum we saw a Condor - the biggest bird of prey.  His wingspan can get to over 4 metres.

The koalas were very cute and fluffy. There was one baby koala that was the cutest.  Koalas sleep for nearly 20 hours every day.

I loved how well trained the birds were at the Crocoseum Wildlife Warriors Show, they were amazing.  We were sad not to see Bindi, but Mum took a photo of her cardboard cutout..... She looks beautiful.

Will Morcom (6)

THE MORCOMS ARE COMING FOR THE CROCMEN!!

( not really mate)

Today is Monday, we got to visit AUSTRALIA ZOO, Home of Steve Irwin, The Wildlife Warrior. The first thing we saw were some lizards called Rhinosaures Iguanas, and true to their name, they were half-rhino, half-Iguana. They had the parched skin like a rhino,  but unlike both elements it had three strange looking ball-like objects at the base of it’s head (this really was mystifying ). Next enclosure was the tassy  devil, one which was happily enjoying an egg, by watching I saw how much they open their jaws, that one could’ve swallowed the egg whole without trouble!

During the day I shot some great photos of various animals,I reckon some might’ve been better than Mum’s. The Koalas were a all time favourite of the day, and some were in the most ridiculous sleeping positions, yet they sleep 18 hours or more a day.

Mum was amazed at the crocmen show at the crocaseum, she wanted to know how they trained birds to fly around the arena in certain formations for an amount of laps before going back into their stations, and let alone with music blasting off around them. After their performance the huge condor was taken out,You know what I mean by huge? Well this was bigger! Being part of the vulture family meant that it was a scavenger.It’s wingspan was bigger than the one of the mighty eagle.  The zoo even had a Africa section, all with a range of Giraffes, Zebras and a rhino (they really had eight altogether, but only one rhino goes on display at a time). The rhino was called DJ,  who really makes the most of his services; every time he sees the zookeepers’ Ute he goes up to it and lies down next to it. He does this because he knows they will give him a rub down, which he really likes , he even lifts his legs up so they can get to his underside! Then stand up and turn over for the other side.

Another good thing at the zoo was the Roo heaven,  roo heaven is a big enclosure full of kangaroos,  however, you can go inside the enclosure and feed and pat the kangaroos. The Roos are friendly and usually just lie down, except for one acation...

There are two roo heavens, one for the greys and one for the red roos,  in the red roo heaven there was this old grumpy fella, who refused to eat any of the visitors’ food, anyway when mum was there A kid went up to pat him, the dad was a dopey type and told him not to. Ignoring him, he went up to the  grumpy roo and...  WHAM! He whacked that roo, but it payed no attention. Later he did it again, This time the roo lashed out at him.

Another all time favourite was the TIGERS, the zoo was lucky enough to have eight Sumatran tigers at the zoo, all which they train regularly, two at a time. We had the privilege of watching two of them. The keepers separated both of the cats and encouraged them to perform different exercises, e.g. going in fighting stances, putting paws on blocks, and doing cool stuff like climbing trees and springing off logs for meat. It was incredible.   

The rest of the zoo was spectacular, from cheeky otters to the amazing borolga, and will almost lost his Akubra golden spur hat. (he was wearing his Bindi’s boot camp hat which he bought from the shop)  and I got an awesome shot of the laughing Kookaburras (though they weren’t laughing) .          

See you next time.

 

                                                         Will feeding one of the elephants.

                                          This Python wasn't an exhibit, he just lives there!

                                                         A Rhino who loves a back rub

                                            Bindi, well a cardboard cutout of her anyway.

The Condor.

Will and his Wallaby friend.

 These guys were awesome.

 If a tiger chases you don't climb a tree, Just give up!

 Jordy and Burmese python

 The Otters were cute.

 The Animal hospital at the Zoo.

 Australia Zoo is a wonderful zoo, in which each animal looks to be comfortable there and certainly well cared for. The staff are amazing and lets hope the work of Steve Irwin can continue for the sake of many species throughout the world.