Trip to Australia

[katev17]

Here are some pictures from my recent trip to Australia... for those of you that don't know, I went to Australia for 6 weeks, 4 of which I was volunteering at the Australia Zoo. Here's a few pictures from the zoo... Trust me this is the WAY WAY cut down version, as I took over 700 pictures from my entire trip.

Aldabran tortoises - I fell in love with these guys... seriously... they were the first animals I really worked with. I spent most of the day "playing" with them... they'd follow me just to make me give them a scratch under their shell. Then they'd bite my shoes if I stopped to get back to work. Absolute sweethearts and the best characters! They're about 25-30 years old.

http://img37.photobucket.com/albums/v115/katev17/aldabspost.jpg

American Alligators - I don't remember which one this is... but the enclosure is very nice! The closest I got to working with these guys was washing their fences, haha.. oh well!

http://img37.photobucket.com/albums/v115/katev17/alligatorpost.jpg

Aviary- This is a picture of a waterfall in the rainforest aviary... very beautiful and a great place to go when the temperatures reached 42 degrees celsius! Sprinklers were always running in there.

http://img37.photobucket.com/albums/v115/katev17/aviarypost.jpg

Bearded dragons - You can't see them in here, but this is their enclosure. It's huge! Imagine having this as your beardies' enclosure!! Beats an aquarium, eh?

http://img37.photobucket.com/albums/v115/katev17/beardedspost.jpg

BrianO feeding a croc- This is "BrianO", he's the curator of crocs at the zoo. (Head keeper of croc guys). In this picture, he'd just finished giving the crocodile demonstration, and had brought out a second, new crocodile that was just learning how to do demos. He's feeding him in this picture, and if I recall correctly, the croc ate the food, then instead of swimming along to the other side of the pond where there was MORE food, he turned around and went back to his "home". Oh well, better luck next time!

http://img37.photobucket.com/albums/v115/katev17/brianopost.jpg

Dromedary Camel- This is me walking DJ the dromedary camel in an area behind the zoo... Just as this picture was being taken, the keeper just out of the frame said to me "Uh oh... she just chewed a cud." Needless to say, as soon as the picture was taken, DJ was back with the regular keepers... no way was I getting projectile vomitted on...!

http://img37.photobucket.com/albums/v115/katev17/camelpost.jpg

Dromedary Camels again- Their names are DJ and Teela... DJ's the one with the longer eyelashes if you can see...!

http://img37.photobucket.com/albums/v115/katev17/camelspost.jpg]

Cassowary - COOL! This guy was EVIL... He was so awesome. I'm pretty sure he spends his life waiting for some little kid to come up and stick his arm through the fence or something... He air-attacks everything that walks by. I remember seeing the keepers in there cleaning out the enclosure, and it so seemed as though they needed the same amount of people as when they were cleaning out the crocs... It was awesome, they had to fight it off with the end of a rake!

http://img37.photobucket.com/albums/v115/katev17/cassowarypost.jpg

Collett's snake - Apparently very rare!

http://img37.photobucket.com/albums/v115/katev17/colletspost.jpg

DINGO! - OH MAN! One of my favourite animals at the zoo. I got this picture while cleaning out their enclosure. I also got to play and swim with dingo puppies because they were training for doing demos. When I was cleaning out the adult dingo pond, I slipped right into the water because of the algae, and of course... Murphy's Law... a group of tourists just HAPPENED to be walking by and got the whole thing on tape. I told the friends I made in Australia to let me know if I'm ever on "Australia's funniest home videos".

http://img37.photobucket.com/albums/v115/katev17/dingo2post.jpg

Asian Small-Eared Elephants - These are on loan to the zoo until they get the permanent elephants. They are so beautiful... The public were allowed to feed them 1 piece of fruit. Twice a week I'd help out with the feeding, and would get to feed off the rest of the bucket when there was nobody left. They were so gentle and sweet... until they spat into their trunks then went to spray themselves to cool off... Normally they'd miss and hit the feeding helpers (me)... Nonetheless, definitely an awesome experience!

http://img37.photobucket.com/albums/v115/katev17/elephantspost.jpg

Green Tree Python - Very familiar to you guys I'm sure! These guys never once moved in the 4 weeks I was there... well maybe they moved to eat, but still... They had a HUGE enclosure, too! Oh well! Aren't they gorgeous?

http://img37.photobucket.com/albums/v115/katev17/gtppost.jpg

Hannah - She's the white red kangaroo. She's actually leucistic, and she's very friendly. Everybody loved her! This was taken in "red roo heaven", a little park where you could walk through and pet/feed the kangaroos. It was beautiful!

http://img37.photobucket.com/albums/v115/katev17/hannahpost.jpg

Koala - Another of my favourites... I got the pleasure of holding/carrying a few of these guys.. I also have a picture of me holding them, I'll have to scan that though. They're so soft and amazing... I wish I could sleep as much as they do!

http://img37.photobucket.com/albums/v115/katev17/koalapost.jpg

Komodo Dragon - "Slim" ... Every day he was let out into his outdoor enclosure he runs right to this same spot!

http://img37.photobucket.com/albums/v115/katev17/komodopost.jpg

Kookaburra - hmm... cool birds! I never worked with birds, so I don't really have much to say.

http://img37.photobucket.com/albums/v115/katev17/kookpost.jpg

Long Neck Turtle - Oh these guys are rascals. Their enclosure was attached to the tortoise enclosure, and they'd find their way through the most MINISCULE cracks and get all the way to the other end of the tortoise enclosure. I'd pick them up and put them back at least 3 times a week. One of the tortoises, Igloo, then decided it was his turn, so he climbed over all the rocks and fences and in the morning, they found him floating in the turtle pond. I was then put on tortoise watch until they could put in a brand new fence to keep them apart!

http://img37.photobucket.com/albums/v115/katev17/longneckpost.jpg


Saltwater croc - This girl was defending her nest cuz she recently laid eggs. Some loser visitors were jumping and shaking the fence to make her come out of the water, and she did. Losers.

http://img37.photobucket.com/albums/v115/katev17/saltiepost.jpg

Saltwater croc enclosure- They all pretty much looked like this, they were big and beautiful. I'd love to be a crocodile at this zoo, it was just amazing. Very very well kept!

http://img37.photobucket.com/albums/v115/katev17/scrocpost.jpg

Black Tiger Snake - I think.... Maybe.... perhaps.... Correct me if I'm wrong! :)

http://img37.photobucket.com/albums/v115/katev17/tigerpost.jpg

Triples ponds- 3 crocodile ponds in a row... Charlie & Amy, then Bluey an aggressive juvi, and Casper the leucistic croc. All clearwater ponds so you can see their behaviour and stuff... Very neat!

http://img37.photobucket.com/albums/v115/katev17/triplespost.jpg

Water dragon- These water dragons were EVERYwhere in the zoo... they'd sneak up on the tortoises ' food and steal the tomatoes and watermelons. It was super cute but pesky! Anyway I took this picture because a bunch of tourists kept walking by and going "LOOK! It's a baby alligator!" ... they were serious...

http://img37.photobucket.com/albums/v115/katev17/waterdragonpost.jpg

Water monitor - Don't have any stories for this one... :(

http://img37.photobucket.com/albums/v115/katev17/wmonitorpost.jpg

AND THE LAST ONE!!

http://www.ssnakess.com/photopost/data/500/1178auszoopost.jpg
Haha I edited me out

Anyways , I have at least 700 more... when I sort through them maybe I'll post more, but I don't htink your guyses' computers could like.. NOT explode with all of them.

THANKS FOR LOOKIN! :)
Kate

[HeatherRose]

Ahh, Kate it's like I was THERE! <3 The pics are amazing and I can't wait to see more tomorrow!

Now don't ever leave me AGAIN!!!!!!!!!! >: [

[sketchy4]

great pics!!!!! that must have been a blast!!

[chappy]

AWESOME pics Kate, I'm glad you had such a great time. Just one problem, I WANT MORE PICS!!!!!

Heather, that was pretty LAME :rolleyes:

Nick

[HeatherRose]

*YOU're* Lame....

I get to go see the rest of the pics tomororw anyway :P

[katev17]

Oh Heather, Next time you can come with me!!

NICK: If I end up going to university to Guelph/York/UofT@Mississauga, I'll bring the CD and you can see all 700 pictures!!!!!!! :D Either that, or I'll make a copy and mail it to you. Sound ok??

[CDN-Cresties]

Awesome pics, thanks for sharing!!!

[chappy]

LOL Thanx Kate you're the best

now who's LAME :p Go eat some crested food!!!:medpuke: :medpuke:

[Bartman]

hey, i remember when you were talking about how you were so excited to go...it looked like you had an awesome time...im gonna start saving for that!!!!!!! I wanna go :( ~so jelous~

[beth wallbank]

thanks so much for sharing your trip with us. its so nice to see 'zoo' tenents actually kept in great enclosures. Glad you had a good time.

[Don Patterson]

being a fan of any aussie animal, thanks so much!
those pics were awesome. i love the cassowary, they remind me of living dinosaurs.

[Bighead]

Kate- I'm sure you posted this somewhere else, but what is the story about how you got to go and help out? I am so jealous!

[Lisa]

wow looks like a tonne of fun!

[Tim_Cranwill]

That's awesome! Thanks so much for sharing.... now, post the other 675 pics! :D

[doenoe]

Oh wow, those are some great pics Kate.
Im glad to hear you had a blast there. Kookaburra................isnt that a laughing bird or something? Great to hear those birds :)
Oh yeah, tell me when you are going again, im deffinetly comin with you then :D
Greetz Daan

[JimmyDavid]

Very nice pictures. Lucky you to go there...
Just one thing i noticed: the Water monitor looks more like a Gouldii to me, but perhaps that's the common name for it there. Am i right?

[Yness]

It certainly looks like you had a blast there! You should create website because I would certainly love to see more picutres:)

[Sunrunner]

very nice :) I was wondering as well how you got to do and do that?
Kim

[asphyxia]

Thanks, sweet trip

Take care
Brian

[katev17]

Hey guys! Thanks for all the comments! I felt completely lucky to go there, and it completely seemed like I was dreaming. It really is the nicest group of people I've ever met!

How did I get to go? I e-mailed the zoo about whether or not they had a volunteer program, and they sent me the forms to fill out. Once I'd filled out the forms and sent them in, they had to contact my references and everything to be able to "accept" me... (At first I wondered if they were crazy for going through such a process for FREE help, but when I got there, it was clear that they only wanted people that were really serious about it and where there for the ANIMALS... not for like... "When do I get to meet Steve!" and such...)

After I got the news I was accepted it was just a matter of saving up. I had to pay to get there and stay there and eat there and EVERYthing... It wasn't TOO bad, except I have a huge credit card bill that I'm paying off right now. The flight is insanely expensive AND long. Except it was pretty cool on Japan Airlines, they have little TV screens on the back of the seat in front of you, and you can CHOOSE what movie you want to watch! And there's games, and everything. You can even connect to a camera that looks underneath the plane, so you can see what you're flying over.

JimmyDavid, I know there's different kinds of water monitor but that's just about it, lol! I'm not sure what type that was cuz I didn't even know it was there till the day I went around to get pictures... I didn't really have anything to do with him, although I'm pretty sure its name started with an "M" ... make any sense to any one??

I AM working on a website actually... it's not going to be anything fancy cuz I get too frustrated and impatient... but I have to go through the pictures and fix them up cuz some you'd have to turn your head sideways to look at. I'll let you all know when it's finished!!!

Daan --> Oh don't worry, I 'll let you know! I've also made a friend there who's told me I can stay with her whenever I want to go back... WOOHOO! :D

OH AND ... to those of you who gave me your address for a postcard... I HAVE POSTCARDS FOR YOU! I swear!!! I just was in the middle of nowhere and couldn't get any stamps to send them out!! I'll send them from here... when I get more money... :\ But still :) I tried!

Thanks again for looking! I'm glad to be able to share my experience with you guys :)

Kate

[katev17]

I just found another really cool picture...

For anyone who's watched "Croc Hunter Diaries" ... you might recognize the guy in this picture. This is Richard, on the episode today he was getting married (at the zoo nonetheless!!).

I think this was his first time feeding Acco!!

http://img37.photobucket.com/albums/v115/katev17/zoo13.jpg

[TheRedDragon]

Wow! Those pics were really nice to see! Thanks for sharing! It looks like you had a blast. :)

[Cruciform]

Wow! That's a huge croc in that last pic.

I'm so envious! But now that I know they accept volunteers I'm pumped :) My girlfriend's company has offices in Australia, and she can do an exchange there for three months or more. I told her I was all for it, since I'd like to move there eventually anyway :)

Did you get out to tour the outback at all too?

[Melly18]

Kate those pics kick ***! Your so lucky you got a chance to go there!!! It's a great experience for you and i'm sure you will be able to use that experience in the near future for the field you want to go into ;) I can't wait to see the rest of the pics! Missed ya lots! :) Now you've made me wanna plan a trip to Australia hehe...some day!

[Yve]

wonderful pics Kate....I had comments on one, then two, then three...and so on...I gave up...all the pics are awesome!:)

[reptiguy]

Great Pics!
I have been saving for a trip there myself. Can anyone volunteer at the zoo or was it part of some schooling? I was thinking about going to guelph for zoology/herpitology so the trip would fit in well. My dream is to become the croc hunters side kick LOL
-Reptiguy-

[Oliverian]

Very awesome. That's like a dream trip! :D Glad you had a sweet time. I won't hold anything against you if you post more pictures... ;)

-TammyR

[katev17]

Hey reptiguy, It wasn't any schooling or anything.. just me wanting to do it! Although I've also applied to Guelph (for Wildlife Biology) so it does tie in nicely.

Thanks for all the great comments guys! !!

Kate