Koalas and cuddles
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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 10/09/2016 (3394 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
Halle is a professional cuddler. This little two-and-a-half-year-old koala has my daughter, Grace, in a eucalyptus-scented embrace. Grace smiles and snuggles and Halle half closes her eyes.
Rather than being content with this human interaction, Halle may just be tired. After all, koalas are notorious slackers. These Australian marsupials munch on eucalyptus leaves, their sole diet, for four hours a day and sleep for the other 20.
My wife, Kerry, along with Grace and I, are at Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary in Brisbane having the quintessential Austrialian experience. Lone Pine is one of the only places in the country you can hold and pet koalas, so we’re taking full advantage. We each take our turn at the hugs, photos are taken and Grace even snaps a selfie with Halle.
By the way, this cutie is named after actress Halle Berry. “She’s our little Bond Girl,” says koala handler Alyson. “Halle’s a complete sweetheart until she’s hungry and then it’s all Jekyll and Hyde.”
Koalas at Lone Pine only work with the public for 30 minutes a day and get every fourth day off. The sanctuary is also where we pet and feed kangaroos and wallabies and check out the dingos, wombats and Tasmanian devils.
The segway romp whets our appetites for a return to Story Bridge and Kangaroo Point. Outfitted in blue-and-grey jumpsuits we ascend and descend 1,138 stairs on the bridge, culminating in an aerially-amazing summit on the top span 80 metres above the river for an exhilarating view of the Brisbane skyline.
My daughter and I are pumped and my wife is terrified. As a result she opts out of the next day’s rappelling off of Kangaroo Cliffs. So, Grace and I climb the 107 steps to the clifftop, hook our harnesses to the safety ropes and hang over the edge backward, defying gravity. The Aussies call it abseiling, and whatever you label it, it’s a blast walking backwards and bouncing down the cliff.
With a week in Brisbane there’s also time for a daytrip to Noosa and the beach on the Sunshine Coast with Q Tour and a jaunt to Mt. Coot-tha to say goodbye to the city while searing the spectacular view into our memories.
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— Postmedia Network Inc. 2016
