Queensland Holiday Part 5: Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary

Day 4: Wednesday

The next day dawned sunny so we decided to take a risk and go back to Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary again. What luck, the weather held! We were able to walk around the large park for around 4 hours, and to see the pelican, cormorant and eel feeding and the Wild Skies bird show. 

The pelican feeding was the first of the day. While the pelicans were more slow and ponderous, the tiny cormorants jumped up and down like eager little children. Then it was time for the eels. The eels are huge and nearly blind, they navigate by vibration. They had to stamp on the side of the bank for the eels to find them. When they finally arrived, slithering around in the shallows like some kind of small and creepy dinosaurs, they used tongs to put chunks of meat in their mouths. An ibis had come over and was trying to fight the eels for the food, luckily it was not injured, however when I saw another ibis with a missing toe later that day, I suspected an eel was responsible.

The Extinction Trail

They are building a frog section!

The Wild Skies bird show was fantastic. While I had seen a bird show before, it was a bird of prey hunting show where they attacked dummy animals. This one was more family friendly with the birds flying over our heads, sometimes brushing us with a wing. There were hawks, black cockatoos, a wedge tailed eagle, parrots, an owl and a bush stone curlew who was kind of the comedic break. 

Black cockatoos

Wedge tailed eagle

Exotic parrots. These aren't Australian.

After that we wandered to a nearby bridge over a sunlit lake that seemed to be unoccupied. Suddenly tiny black heads popped out of the water. There were turtles watching us! Now I lived a lot of my life semi-rurally, so I have seen a lot of wildlife, but it is always still exciting to see them! They watched us with knowing little eyes. 

Further on there was a crocodile enclosure. I saw this big one at once.

Somehow I did not spot any of these crocodiles until I was standing right next to them!

There was also a section where you could feed and pat kangaroos. The kangaroos were almost all lying on the ground soaking up the sun, very peacefully, and really had pretty much no interest in the humans, but didn't mind if you patted them and scratched them behind the ears. The males are huge and you would not want to get on their bad side!

This little joey looked too big to still be in the pouch!

This one was smaller and quite hairless.

Even the big males were chilling out

Giant lizard

Lemur

My new favourite bird the South East Asian Nicobar Pigeon.

Tree kangaroo

Capybaras- one of my favourite animals (South American)

Red panda sticking out its tongue (Eastern Himalayas)

Tasmanian Devils

That evening, we went to the Surfer's Paradise beachfront markets. We got these really cool necklaces made of cut out coins. You can find the creator on Facebook and Instagram

Photo from HappyCow website.

We had dinner at Blossoming Lotus, my favourite restaurant franchise. I go to one of the Sydney ones whenever I was in the area, so I was excited to go to one on my holiday. Blossoming Lotus is an all vegan Thai restaurant, with cheap but delicious meals. Their mock meat is amazingly real and I am absolutely addicted to their fried soy.

The statue of Matey, a homeless dog who lived in Surfer's Paradise

Front Inscription

             " MATEY "

Friend Of Thousands Of Tourists

& Residents Of Surfers Paradise

For 12 Years Showed No Distinction

To Class, Colour Or Creed.

This Memorial Was Erected

By Residents And Visitors To

Surfers Paradise In 1957, The

Year Man Sacrificed A Dog In

Space To Help Make Safe The

     Pathway To The Stars.

      Proceeds In Aid Of

            R.S.P.C.A.

Surfers Paradise Life Saving Club

Plaque A Gift From Sutton`s Foundry Ipswich

We went to San Churro for dessert and got churros for two with fruit. We got the vegan light chocolate and cookie dough dipping sauces. Delicious. Jon got a Azteca hot chocolate but it was hot for him and he enjoys hot food. We walked the couple of streets back to the hotel in the night, it was still lovely and warm in Queensland despite being the end of Autumn.

Next week part 6!