After our second night in Brisbane, our plan was to rent a car and spend the next few days on the Gold Coast, south of Brisbane. We picked the car up as planned, from the Avis portion of a downtown parking garage. But before heading for the Gold Coast, we first made a point of visiting the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary, just outside of Brisbane.

Welcome to Lone Pine!

Map of Sanctuary

The Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary was established in 1927, and is the world’s oldest and largest koala sanctuary. It’s twenty minutes or so from the city center, located upstream in the suburb of Fig Tree Pocket. As suspected, it was found to house many koalas, as well as a selection of other Australian beasts. For those who don’t get out much, koalas are those cute Australian bear-like creatures which aren’t really bears but marsupials, and Lone Pine is home to 130 of them. They mainly live in trees and eat eucalyptus leaves.

Koalas Eating Leaves

Koala at Lunch (WMV Video, 9.9 MB)

They spend a lot of time sleeping and normally don’t move all that quickly, as their diet is so low in energy.

Sleeping Koala

Active Koalas (WMV Video, 5.6 MB)

They were hunted nearly to extinction in the early 20^th Century (for their fur, not their ferocity) but have since recovered somewhat, despite their habitat being continually reduced. Their current threatened status seems to depend on whom you talk to. But be nice to them, should you have the chance. They’re so cute.

Koalas in Action (WMV Video, 5.6 MB)

Energetic Koala (WMV Video, 5.3 MB)

The many animals of Lone Pine are scattered throughout the sanctuary, some in enclosures, some in cages, and some, like large lizards and brush turkeys, wandering around loose (it’s possible that some of these don’t belong to the sanctuary, strictly speaking).

A Wombat	A Dingo
A Wandering Peacock	Large Native Lizard

There’s a large open enclosure where you can go in and pat kangaroos, wallabies and emus on their somewhat annoyed heads and buy food which you can hand-feed them. There are convenient sinks where you can wash your hands afterward.

Connie with Emu

A Wallaby (WMV Video, 5.3 MB)

Lone Pine also has many shows and presentations which are scheduled throughout the day. Some are essentially discussions of certain types of animals, but others are active demonstrations of some of their capabilities. We attended discussions of koalas (of course) and snakes (with a twelve-foot-long olive python present) and were impressed by demonstrations delivered by sheep dogs (amazingly talented with sheep) and birds of prey (which flew around loose and in some cases were quite large and capable of inflicting damage).

Olive Python (WMV Video, 8.2 MB)	Dogs Herding Sheep (WMV Video, 10.0 MB)
Barn Owl with Handler	Wedge-Tailed Eagle in Flight (WMV Video, 4.0 MB)

A Reptile House ("Tails and Scales") showcased cold-blooded Australians, some quite venomous.

Hosmer's Skink	Inland Taipan - World's Most Venomous
Large Monitor Lizard	Large Monitor Lizards (WMV Video, 3.7 MB)

An area was also set aside where visitors (for an extra fee) could have their pictures taken holding a koala or a snake. We did both.

Bob and Connie Holding Olive Python	Handler Removing Python
Connie and Bob with Koala (WMV Video, 6.0 MB)	Connie and Bob with Koala

We ate a quick lunch in the food area, sitting at an outdoor picnic table. Vacated tables were being promptly scavenged by large, pushy brush turkeys and a lone peacock which was wandering about.

Peacock in Dining Area	Scavenging Brush-Turkeys (WMV Video, 6.8 MB)
Peacock in Dining Area	Connie and Peacock (WMV Video, 5.3 MB)

On finishing, we thwarted the scavengers by throwing all of our trash into a receptacle, walked out through an area of cages holding mostly birds and departed the sanctuary.

A Red-Headed Parrot	A Kookaburra
Fruit Bats Aslumber	Bob and Brisbane River

More Photos:

Talking Koala (WMV Video, 7.2 MB)	Connie and Wallaby
Olive Python and Koalas	Olive Python
Sheep Dogs	Sheep with Dog and Trainer
Barking Owl with Handler	A Barn Owl (WMV Video, 4.3 MB)
White-Bellied Sea Eagle	White-Bellied Sea Eagle (WMV Video, 4.9 MB)
Wedge-Tailed Eagle	Wedge-Tailed Eagle (WMV Video, 10.6 MB)
Peacock Patrolling Dining Area (WMV Video, 7.7 MB)	Lorikeets

Continue to Gold Coast Back to Brisbane