Australia Zoo – Brisbane & Gold Coast

Would you believe if I told you that the only reason that I have been planning to go to Australia was to see Steve Irwin’s Australia Zoo. I know, hard to believe but it’s true.

Brisbane turned out to be a beautiful and a different experience with lot of “firsts” involved. First of all, it was in Brisbane that we hired a car in another country; to begin with the firsts, Aan and Aananya sat alone at the back seat of a car by themselves for the 1st time, sat in a car seat and in a booster seat with seat belts for the 1st time, we all interacted with Kangaroos, Wallabies and Koalas for the 1st time and the best of all - I drove the car while on a vacation for the 1st time.

Brisbane turned out to be a perfectly planned holiday with some amazing memories that will stay with us forever. The location, the hotel and the view from the room of Brisbane river with so many ships and boats was simply awesome. The moment we checked into Park Regis, we checked the weather forecast for the next 3 days and accordingly made our plans. We decided to stay put in Brisbane for the day since it was raining heavily and did a little bit of shopping there.
 

The next day we drove down to Gold Coast, did some shopping again and enjoyed the beach. I was apprehensive how kids would take to the booster and car seat since they had never been buckled before but to my surprise neither of them cried or insisted to take off the seat belt and Aan was very supportive and kept distracting Aananya when she wanted to get out of her car seat providing her with toys and milk bottle from time to time.

The last day we had kept for Australia Zoo. Man O Man! Was I excited or what? We got ready in the morning and drove to Australia Zoo which was an hour and a half away.

I was so excited to see the Khaki wearing staff and remembered Steve Irwin and so wished if he were alive. Anyway, enjoyed the zoo thoroughly, patted Koalas, interacted with Kangaroos and various other animals and was saved by a second from stepping on a snake that was crossing my path. Aan and Aananya thoroughly enjoyed playing as well as feeding the Kangaroos and running after the ducks. Over all a fun filled day for all of us. The high point – I drove the car on our way back.

The next day I was super thrilled to take the flight to Adelaide since I was meeting my bestest friend after a very long time.