Year 2 – 1 March 2025 -Brisbane – Trip outside
If anyone reading this and is free in all or some of April to mid July 2025 to come to Australia then do contact me as I am short of crew during this period at present.
We had a smoothie for breakfast and it was a pleasant sunny morning with a bit more cloud. We headed off early to collect the car we had hired and then headed to the Australia Zoo (Steve Irwin’s) which was about an hour and a quarter North. This meant driving along the motorway and going through a lot of urban warehouses and areas which sold tools, cars, trucks and even wooden shacks/houses which I assume would be transported to your piece of land. We also began to pass through Oz bush -mangroves and trees etc.
We arrived at the zoo with a massive number of car parks which were pretty full, but we managed to find a place. The zoo had lots of pictures of Steve Irwin who was a legend and on television when I was young wrestling crocodiles and picking up snakes etc. His family still run the zoo and his son Robert is still part of it. I thought it would be really crowded due to the car park but there was plenty of space. We saw otters, various lizards, then the Komodo Dragon which can weigh up to 100kgs and are from Indonesia. We then saw large turtles but not the size in the Galapagos Islands, Koalas and then dingoes. They looked almost like domestic dogs and can jump up to 2m. They are Oz’s largest mammalian predator and can live up to 10 years in the wild and 13 in captivity. They can reach speeds up to 37mph in short bursts and can go long distances and have good endurance. They have a complex family structure and live in family groups as packs – normally 3-12 and have an alpha pair which leads them. Breading is limited to one litter per year and 4-6 pups are born. They typically stay in their area of birth but range 6-12 miles a day.
Then there was the crocodiles and alligators. There were a number of saltwater crocodiles which Irwin had rescued when they became a problem and have lived here ever since , with Acco being the largest and he was massive. He was nearly 5m long and weighs some 1,168 pounds. It took Irwin two years to track him down and rescue him. Acco was in his own pool with Cassie a smaller female. Then there was Occy and Bosco in their own separate pools nearby being about 4m, both males. They are the largest reptile on the planet. Males can grow up to 7 m and females 3m. There are saltwater and freshwater crocodiles (being smaller between 2-3m).
So, what is the difference between a crocodile and an alligator. Well for start their head. An alligator’s snout is broad and U shaped whereas a crocodile is narrow and V shaped. Alligators are found throughout freshwater swamps and lakes in the Southeastern US. They can live to about 80-100 years and 3-4.5m in length.
At 1.15pm Robert, Steve Irwin’s son came on to feed the crocodiles and he explained that they mainly feel the vibrations on the waterside and that is what attracts them. They can be very fast and strike extremely quickly. He had some dead chickens and some fish and got some of these crocs out of the water and one nearly got him. It was quite a dangerous display I thought.
We moved on and saw Wombats, Kangaroos, Cassowary’s (large emu shaped birds about 1.7m tall), Tasmanian Devils and of course snakes. Oz has some of the most venomous snakes in the world and they looked horrible and deadly in their glass faced containers. Apparently, the largest python was 10.1m!! We also saw a variety of birds including parrots, eagles, budgies, Storks etc. It was a fantastic zoo, looked well run and neat and tidy and clearly they are looking after the animals well.
We decided to drive on to the Auckland Air Museum which has a fantastic display of military and civilian aircraft over many decades. It has in fact 80 aircraft including the BA111 which only the Americans and Australians had. It also had a couple of Hunters and Meteors – which my father flew early on in his career with the RAF. It was a great museum and so much to see.
After the museum we went into Caloundra, the local town on the coast to get a cup of tea. We saw their beach and could see big white horses out at sea. It made me wonder about Alfred – but at present it is still uncertain as to whether it will hit land next week.
We drove back to Brisbane and had a nice meal in Bulimba – by the ferry terminal we have used a number of times. We then returned to Stormbird and all seems quiet before the storm.
The picture of the day is me with a large saltwater crocodile which luckily was not hungry!!
Need/Opportunity Year Two
I am in need of more crew from late April to Mid-July so if of interest do email me at hine.nick9@gmail.com
In year two I will be going from New Zealand to Sydney and hen up the Eastern Australian Coast, Indonesia and then through Bali, Singapore and on to Thailand to end year two about the end of November 2025.
The blog will continue as we continue the journey. If you have any comments or suggestions about the blog then do email me on hine.nick9@gmail.com