Today I picked up my Britz campervan and drove up north to Beerwah, where Steve Irwin’s ‘Australian Zoo’ is located.

The zoo had, as you might suspect from ‘the crocodile hunter’, a large amount of crocodiles, but also (next to the ‘common’ zoo animals like Tigers and Elephants) quite a number of Koalas, Kangaroos, Birds, Wombats, Tasmanian Devils, Kasuaris and Echidnas. The cages were all quite big with a lot of plants, rocks, waterfalls and streams in there; no cramped cages as you sometimes see in other zoos. While the zoo itself was nice, I found it a bit commercial in the way that you had an expensive tourist shop around every corner. On the other hand, the money seemed well spent (zoo + wildlife protection programs). I skipped the huge arena where Bindi (Steve’s now famous daughter) has an animal show with crocs, birds, etc.

After the zoo I decided to drive a little bit further up north to spend the night in Noosa, where I also had been with Sebastien in 2001. While driving over there I passed ‘Aussie Town’ (?), where our 2001 bus (the Oz Experience) stopped for a break. I recall Noosa as being a lively -but touristy- jet set town with nice walks through tropical forests along the coast line where a lot of surfers spend the day riding waves in the sea.

That night I completed the video message / DVD I made for Colin & Amy’s wedding on the 20th.