it's all I ever wanted from Australia.

Many of my dreams came true on our second day in Brisbane. 

First off- it stopped raining and we didn't see another drop our entire trip. I prayed a lot that it would stop raining and I'm grateful that my prayers worked!

Second- we went to Steve Irwin's famed Australia Zoo.  Steve Irwin is still very beloved and quite the legend in Australia- but especially so in Brisbane where his family lives and continues to run the zoo.  The place was astounding. Honestly one of my favorite things that we did in Australia.

Just check out the foilage. I've never been anywhere so green.

I love that you've got palm trees, coniferous trees, and then normal deciduous trees all in the same spot.

I'm assuming this is what Hawaii looks like?!

The zoo is no ordinary zoo.  Some animals just roam wild (mostly lizards and birds) and run over your feet!

and check this out- even their pigeons are better than ours.

I have no idea what kind of bird this is- but I loved it.

 The very coolest thing about the place was that you could walk freely through the uncaged animal areas!!!
I was obsessed with the koalas.  They have to be the cutest little creatures you've ever seen. I just wanted to SQUEEZE them.  We weren't supposed to bother the sleeping ones - but I couldn't help snapping a gazillion pictures (and maybe touching a few). 

You can't tell me that this guy isn't adorable?!

While I was petting one of the awake koalas and talking to Kent- I realized that my feet were getting wet.  I looked down to see that I was being peed all over.  Lovely.  It was well worth it, though.

Honestly I probably took at least 75 pictures of these guys.  These are just a few of my faves.

The zoo is obviously quite famous for the crocodiles and the crocodile show was pretty exciting.

Plus- they gave away free stuff to the person who could be the best wild animal.  Yea. I totally won that one.  There's not much I won't do for free stuff.

and Kent won us some more free stuff when he volunteered to be a landing pad for birds. 

 We hit the 'Asian' section of the zoo where we got to see tigers and feed elephants!

 The elephants got our hands pretty snotty and gross.

My favorite animals of all were the roos.  Such amazing creatures!

We even saw a bunch with joeys in their pouches!  it was really really cool.

They had pretty sharp and large claws but only got temperamental when I tried to pick one up.  They do get you pretty nasty and gooey with their saliva, though.  We got some food to give them and they got pretty crazy trying to get every last piece!

The wallabies liked Kent lots more than they liked me.

I couldn't believe how soft and fluffy the roos and wallabies were.  I was expecting them to be rougher.
We definitely lucked out with a very non crowded day. We got to spend a lot of time with the animals without  very many people around!

This roo wouldn't let go of Kent's hand, I loved it.

I had to include this sign at the eating area.  I love the word rubbish.

After a long day at the zoo- Kent posed with Steve and we made our way back to the train station to head back downtown.

If you ever go to Australia- you've got to go to the zoo.  I really wanted to see roos and koalas- and it made it so much better to be able to play with them!!  plus just the atmosphere of the zoo with all of the trees and plants and flowers.  A-mazing.