Author: Carol Laird

After a lovely day at the zoo, we made our way to the ocean edge to stay in Hervey Bay for the night.  It was definitely a challenge to find a hotel room due to a huge touch football tournament in the city – with over 6000 people coming in for the games.

In the morning, day started early with the 4 of us getting picked up at the hotel to head to the ferry to cross over to Fraser Island.

Fraser Island is a world heritage due to the fact that it is the only place in the world that a rainforest with HUGE trees are all growing in only sand.  There is a bacteria in the sand that the trees get their nutrients from.  They are sustained and grow despite it being only sand.

Once across by ferry, we boarded a large 4×4 bus that made its way across the island on the bumpiest sand roads ever.  Once across, we got the beach and zipped up the beach. It was so lovely seeing the open ocean and the humpback whales breaching not too far offshore.

Not too far up the beach we were able to take a small 6 seater plane up to see the island and the whales from the air.  What a sight!  It was an amazing experience!

The rest of our day was filled with taking in the sights of a large fresh water lake, a walk in through the rainforest, checking out a shipwreck, and enjoying some great lunch.

Our day ended with a sale back to the mainland and whole lot of memories.

Queensland, Australia

Ah yes… the infamous Steve Irwin zoo filled with all kinds of Australian animals including many crocs! It was great to see the croc show still done in the same ‘Crikey’ spirit as any of Steve’s shows.  Jamie and Mykee were pretty keen on holding the giant Burmese python, so Britt and I were pretty thrilled to actually have a chance to hold a koala and learn some new things about this strange marsupial. They are really as furry as they look and really smell like eucalyptus!

 

Other critters at the zoo were emus, cassowaries, wombats, dingos, kangaroos and a whole new section added including Asian and African animals that are endangered and slowly moving towards the extinction list.

It was obvious that in addition to ‘come see our animals’, this zoo really has a large focus on protecting not only the habitats these animals live in but public education on the endangered species.  And Terry Irwin and kids are every present and working to keep the zoo going.

Another highlight was walking in the fenced area among the large red kangaroos… and seeing Mykee trying to get his hand into a kanga pouch – whose kid is this?!?! (I believe it came out of some bet with his brothers!)

Walking around the zoo you could definitely see Steve Irwin’s legacy live on.  It made me think… what legacy will I leave?  It’s definitely not going to be a large amount of stuff to pass on (sorry kids – we are spending your inheritance now J).  Forbes would have us believe that your legacy is what you physically leave behind as a way to make sense of your existence.   But a legacy is also the values you’ve left behind and the memories that can be passed on.

We may not have much to physically leave behind, but I’m so thankful that our family has a lot to pull from our ‘memory bank’.  So many evenings start with…. “Remember when….”