Day 30 : Australia Zoo = Cuddling koalas !!!!!

Finally the day arrived, the first time I would be able to hold a koala in my arms. I do not care that those animals are known as dangerous and carriers of chlamydia. To me they are nice and cuddly:).
The bus left at 7.45 am from Brisbane to the zoo (1h30min). While entering the zoo, I already had to decide which animals I wanted an encounter with. Unfortunately the prices were too expensive to see and touch all animals. For example : To encounter a cheetah, you had to pay 150 AUD, and to have the pictures you had to pay an extra of 50 AUD to have +/- 8 pictures on a CD….. It is not that I think that the animals are not worth spending the money on it, but I am still a backpacker and I have to save as much money as possible, as Australia is not a very cheap country.
So my moment was finally there…. HOLDING A KOALA IN MY ARMS!!!! We had to stand in a line to hold the koala. As we only were able to hold the koala for one picture (25 AUD) , I was happy that I did it. They feel so nice and soft.
We had the whole day to spend in the Australia Zoo. First I thought I was going to be bored after a few hours as I was all by myself and I never expected the zoo to be that big. I did not even get bored for 5 minutes, I was way too busy to explore the whole park. I loved it. I never saw a zoo this beautiful and big. Even if I do not like animals living in cages, they really had a lot of space to live in. This zoo was build in memory of Steve Irwin, the famous animal lover. There was not even one animal he did not like. Unfortunately he died from a bite. He is really loved here in Australia.

In the afternoon I bought myself a ticket to encounter with the dingos. They look so nice and friendly, even if they are wild dogs. To see them I had to spend 39 AUD, to buy the pictures an extra of 50 AUD. BUT it was worth the money. I was able to spend 30 minutes with the dingos, touch them, taking pictures, even got a lick in the face of one of them. That is their way to show you that they like you.

In the evening I went together with Dick (Dutch guy I met my first week in Sydney) to a restaurant of Jamie Oliver, the famous English cook. Dick and I ran into each other again in the hostel of Brisbane, apparently we were both staying there. That is the funny and nice thing about taking a hop on hop off bus, you always see people back in other places. The food was very nice and we went for a little walk afterwards. The thing I did not know, is that this was not just food to him… While we were walking, he started to tell me that he liked me and it felt kind of awkward, as I did not feel the same way. I told him that he is a really nice guy but that I only was interested in a friendship-way. He appreciated that I was honest about this and then he dropped me off at the hostel, where I still needed to pack my luggage as it was my last night in Brisbane.