Currumbin Animal Reserve

Before I get into the excitement of the animal reserve, there is exciting news on the baby front. We’ve been working on some of Rosy’s tricks so now she can give you a kiss, clap her hands, give a high five and...stand! Today we noticed that Rosalin wasn’t really holding onto us while standing against our legs so we tried standing her on her own and she can hold herself up for up to 10 seconds! She’s done it a few times now and we’re super excited, I guess tomorrow will be spent trying to get a picture of it.
After swimming the other day at an awesome pool with a beach entrance our underwater video camera doesn’t work anymore. It’s waterproof-ness proved to not quite work so hopefully we’ll be able to get it replaced. Unfortunately this happened only days before our trip to the Currumbin Reserve which is ultimately a zoo which only has Australian animals. The International Students got to go for free so Spencer got us special permission to go with them on the bus as long as we paid my way. We were so excited and got to the school a little early so that we’d get a good spot on the coach which ended up really paying off as we got the front two seats upstairs on a double decker bus! We were so excited as we were heading out of the city because all of the trees were smacking us practically in the face. We got half way through the city and then had to return because our International Student lady was late and had gotten left behind. At the same spot that we had to turn around last time, the bus started smoking and we got left on the side of the road for half an hour while we got another bus. The second bus wasn’t a double decker, and we had to sit amongst the commoners.
After an hour and a half ride to the Reserve, we got off the bus and went to buy our tickets. The lady told us to wait because there may have been more tickets bought than students who made the trip. A girl had gotten sick, and so our whole little family got in for free! Next we were off to our educational session that is saved for school groups and special classes like ours. We met several animals that had come to the reserve because of injury or some that had been born there and were now being used for educational purposes.
We met a red tailed black parrot that had been shot with several pellets making him unable to fly so he will be staying at the reserve for the rest of his life. He hadn’t been there long so we weren’t able to touch or hold him but it was still interesting to meet him so close. Next we met two blue tongued skinks (lizard). Neither could return to the wild and were both pretty sombre. Spencer and I got to touch the skink and I was pretty nervous. I remember in House A, I touched one of Ricky’s iguanas and after touching it I ran to the bathroom and cried for a little bit. So, in anticipation of touching the skink, my heart was pounding and my legs started going numb no lie. So, when it came in front of me I touched it and it was so weird! It felt so smooth and hard almost like an armour feeling. I expected it to bend under the touch, but it didn’t and I was surprised.
After that we saw a possum that was about a year old and still just young so he was still pretty skittish and we had to be really quiet so he didn’t run up the walls. The last animal we saw were two brother pythons both about a metre and a half in length. Their names were Darth Vader and Spock, and if you asked a question you got to hold them. Spencer thought of a quick question and went up, however taking a picture is difficult to do while you’re holding a Rosy. Afterwards on our way out Darth Vader was there and I got to touch him and I wasn’t nearly as nervous this time. I pet him for a while and was impressed by how cold and smooth he was.
Other exciting things that we got to do there was see a lot of koalas lounging about in their trees, a 3 metre long crocodile, lots of birds, wombats, Tasmanian devils, wallabies, and about a hundred kangaroos. It was so exciting to see the kangaroos and they had them in a huge petting zoo of sorts. Kangaroos were just lying around and you could go up to them and pet them or feed them the food that was for sale there. We got lots of pictures and had a great time with the kangaroos. That was my favourite part of the trip to the reserve followed closely by a show called Free-Flight of the Birds.
The birds show was very cool with all kinds and sizes of birds flying around our heads and huge eagles in the sky. A giant pelican ran just in front of us, and a huge eagle flew over our heads several times. The show definitely held up to the hype that people had given it. Rosy really enjoyed the birds, and was crawling around my lap the whole time. On our way out of the reserve we got to see one more show that had Aboriginal dancers. We got to see the main guy play the didgeridoo and then sing while 6 dancers performed traditional dances and even taught us games that they teach the children in ‘dance memory’. We had so much fun and I think we’ll likely go back again. Love to all.