Blog | Josie Hewitt Photography: Australia

Australia Zoo ~ Sunday 04 August 2013 ~

Hello everyone. As some of you may already know, I recently visited Australia for the first time in my life. I found it a bit too hot, being around 27 degrees C on most days, with a high of 33 degrees in Alice Springs (but I'll save that bit for another post). However the birding was amazing, and I saw loads of new birds. I have decided to split my trip into a number of shorter posts, which I will try to keep quite brief. I hope you enjoy the posts and photos from my trip.

Anyway, back to the trip:

Having left the UK at the very civilised time of 22.35 on the 1st of August, we arrived at Brisbane airport at 07.45 on the 3rd. From the airport we got a taxi to our hotel where we spent the rest of the day relaxing, trying not to give in to jet-lag, and catching up with a relative.

The following day we all woke up extremely early, I woke up at 02.15am, but we were all excited about the day ahead. We packed our bags, got some breakfast, checked out from the hotel and then picked up our hire car. From Brisbane we drove to Australia Zoo, somewhere I felt we had to visit since we weren't too far away.

Arriving at Australia Zoo was rather overwhelming as it is one of those places you see on tv a lot, but never imagine you'll get the opportunity to visit there yourself.

Rhinoceros Iguana - Cyclura cornuta

Spotted Turtle-dove - Streptopelia chinensis

We walked around very slowly, trying to appreciate the hard work that goes on there with all their breeding programmes and conservation projects.

Asian Elephant - Elephas maximus

As well as there being a large number of ginormous aviaries and enclosures, there was a huge number of wild birds that took full advantage of the blossoming trees, free food and shaded areas.

Scarlet Honeyeater - Myzomela sanguinolenta

Australian Brush-turkey - Alectura lathami

We walked around the zoo until 11.30 when we stopped for a quick lunch before heading to the 'Crocoseum' to watch the main show of the day.

Saltwater Crocodile - Crocodylus porosus

Jabiru (Black-necked Stork) - Ephippiorhynchus asiaticus

Following this, we continued walking around parts of the zoo we had not yet visited before being kicked out at closing time. We then made a quick dash to the Wildlife Hospital which is on-site where we were told about the care and effort that goes into rehabilitating injured animals.