Yet Another Zoo, But a Great One

A lava plug

A jovial lemur

Me with a koala

Today we started our drive to Rockhampton from Brisbane.  On the drive we stopped a few times.  First, we stopped to see the Glass House Mountains, which are a series of volcano plugs.  Volcano plugs are the igneous rock interiors of volcanoes after magma inside the cone had filled up the cavity and solidified.  When the outside of the volcano (sandstone) eroded, the more durable igneous rock remained.  These mountains were first discovered by captain Cook, who mapped much of the east coast of Australia around the time of the American Revolution (around 1770s).  Cook named the plugs the "Glass House Mountains" because they reminded him of the furnaces used to create glass (in particular, the chimneys) in his hometown in Great Britain.

Our next stop was the Australia Zoo, founded by Steve Irwin, the Crocodile Hunter.  Again, we saw many Australian animals, and at this zoo, we even got to hold a koala.  Up close, we got to look at its paws, which differ from most five-fingered animals.  Their hands have two opposing thumbs and three other fingers to help them climb.  Their feet have five toes, but two are fused together and have two claws used for grooming.  Surprisingly, koalas even smell like eucalyptus!  Also at the zoo, we saw lots of crocodiles, giraffes, rhinoceroses, a few red pandas, tigers, and lemurs.  We also saw an animal that I had never heard of, called a binturong.  They look like big black cats that walk around the canopy searching for food.  They mostly eat fruit, but can also eat small mammals, birds, and even fish.  They are native to Southeast Asia.

After the zoo, we had sandwiches, and continued on our drive.  Today, we are hoping to make it more than half way to Rockhampton.