Koala Love in Brisbane

Once upon a time there was a little Puertorican girl with dreams of holding a Koala down under. When I found out it was possible to do so in Brisbane, I made it the number one item in my agenda. The second leg of our Australian adventure took us to Brisbane in search of the sunshine both the Dutchman and I were desperately seeking. Another cosmopolitan city, Brisbane provided us a very diverse set of experiences in the 40 hours we spent there.

Run with a View: Brisbane

We arrived on a Saturday evening in Brisbane. Given the time constraint, it was challenging to decide what we wanted to see. We stayed in a charming B&B called The Collingwood in the suburb of Paddington. We decided to discover the city by running downtown to the Brisbane river and studying the cafés, antique shops, and boutiques which lined Latrobe Terrace which led us down to the river. In two and a half miles, the sun had set and we were running by the river banks. There we were taken by the beauty of the city and its gleaming lights. In our return, we ran mostly uphill, welcomed by the stillness of Paddington.


Orinoco and I meet

The next morning, I woke up like a kid in Christmas morning, excited to hold my Koala. We were the first ones to arrive at Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary. We went straight to the koala section. The sanctuary allows you a brief ‘cuddle’ of a koala and a picture for $16 AUD. I got to hold Orinoco, the name of the adult koala I briefly got to hold. There was a mixture of excitement, fear, and disbelief when I finally got to live a childhood dream. Although the moment lasted a few minutes, I am happy I got to do it. Afterwards, we walked around the sanctuary and spoke to one of the zookeepers who shared with us a lot of interesting information about the koalas and the condition in which they live. The sanctuary works to rehabilitate koalas from the wild and become socialized during the process. Some are born there and have no experience in the wild. That being said, Orinoco and his friends are way more docile than the ones in the wild. In others words, don’t try to hug one outside the sanctuary! The claws on these little furry treasures are huge!


Kangaroo Love at Lone Pine

From there, we proceeded to tour the rest of the sanctuary in order to see more animals indigenous to Australia. We got to feed the kangaroos, which was a little intimidating at first. When I place the small pellets in my hands, a large kangaroo came hopping towards me. I have to admit I was a little scared. After an amicable experience with the first one, we continued to go around the farm feeding more of them as the happily hopped towards us. Again, these animals are in a highly socialized environment which makes their behavior different than in the wild. Although we were probably in the minority of guests without children, I felt like a child again reminiscent of my petting zoo days with my father, but with much cooler animals. Overall, it was a dream come true and a must see for any animal lover.

Scene from City Hopper

We concluded our last evening in Brizzy (as it is fondly referred to by the locals) with the City Hopper,  a free ferry ride through the river. Again, we got to experience a lovely sunset through the city and concluded the evening with roulette at the casino. We bet big, we won big, and then we walked away with a little more than we came with as I got a little too ambitious. Thankfully the Dutchman was there to make me quit while I was ahead. Although it was a short time in Brizzy, I left with the desire of one day returning.

Koala Posing