We’ve received yet another wonderful surprise from our publisher – Skyhorse! We had no idea this was coming!
We are so honored that the incredibly talented Danielle Ceccolini agreed to lend her original work to our book jacket – look what she has created for us!
We feel beyond blessed that someone of Ms. Ceccolini’s caliber could take our goofy little sleep-deprived, airplane-napkin doodle and turn it into… CONTINUE READING to see it in its full glory! >>
We’ve received yet another wonderful surprise from our publisher – Skyhorse! We had no idea this was coming!
We are so honored that the incredibly talented Danielle Ceccolini agreed to lend her original work to our book jacket – look what she has created for us:
We feel beyond blessed that someone of Ms. Ceccolini’s caliber could take our goofy little sleep-deprived, airplane-napkin doodle and turn it into an incredible work of art:
Quick, what’s the first thing that comes to mind about Australia?
Bet it involves animals, and likely some strange ones at that, right?
It was for us, so a trip to The Australia Zoo was an essential element in our tour of Queensland.
We had barely stepped past the gate when we encountered our first previously unknown creature, an echidna.
At first glance it appeared to be a porcupine, but once we saw that face, we knew that this was a hedgehog of a different color. These odd little anteaters, along with the platypus, are they only mammals left on earth that lay eggs.
We couldn’t see why, but they take their name from the half-woman/half-snake mother of monsters in Greek mythology.
There seems to be no resemblance to either a woman or a snake, and once the surprise wore off, the little guy was actually kind of cute. He even let us pat his thick, quill-like fur.
Maybe the mother of monsters tag would be better applied to some of the enormous crocodiles the Australia Zoo is famous for, because they are downright scary!
It was The Crocodile Hunter himself, Steve Irwin, that transformed the Beerwah Reptile and Fauna Park that his parents founded in1970 into the world-class attraction that it is today. The traditions, and his memory, are carried on by his widow, Terri Irwin.
So crocs are the stars of the show, they even have their own coliseum, The Crocoseum, where five thousand spectators can watch in awe as these prehistoric predators demonstrate their speed and power.
And keep the zookeepers on their toes, one mustn’t let a two ton, twenty-foot mass of muscle and teeth get too close. “Crikey!”
But the zoo’s relationship with crocodiles goes way beyond entertaining the crowds.
They are also a part of International Crocodile Rescue, helping capture and relocate crocs that pose problems when they get too comfortable around civilization.
This is an effort that Irwin was instrumental in from an early age, and was celebrated on his television show, The Crocodile Hunter. The rescue unit also includes a rehabilitation facility for injured animals.
To calm down after the adrenaline charged croc show, we worked our way over to a more peaceful corner of the zoo where several of Australia’s indigenous species are kept.
First up, the koala, talk about peaceful; these little guys sleep about twenty hours a day. We were already familiar with koalas from our visit to the koala sanctuary in Brisbane, so we briefly said hello and continued on.
That brought us to a Cassowary, another animal we had never seen, or even heard of, before.
They are large, flightless birds, only slightly smaller than an ostrich or emu, that look like a small blue-headed dinosaur crossbred with a turkey.
They are also quite shy, so we were told that we were lucky to get as close as we did before they disappeared back into the forest.
Two more of Australia’s many marsupials were next on our list, wombats and the Tasmanian devil.
Like their more famous cousin the kangaroo, they both have pouches for their young, but wombats have a unique twist. Their pouches face downward — or backwards as the case may be — so that they don’t fill up with dirt when the wombats are digging their burrows.
The Tasmanian Devil and wombats are certainly not buddies. The devils are carnivorous, which is rare for marsupials, and will gladly attack and eat a wombat, or at the very least, steal his burrow.
As mean as they are, we did not witness one spin himself around faster and faster until he became a miniature tornado. Perhaps Bugs Bunny cartoons are not the best source of information about exotic wildlife in the far corners of the globe after all.
Africa in Australia
As strange and wonderful as all of these indigenous creatures were to our foreign eyes, like any good zoo, Australia Zoo features many non-native animals as well.
Several of these are featured in its African Safari exhibit.
We felt a bit like we were entering Jurassic Park as we passed through the giant stone gates and saw the rhinos, zebras, and giraffes roving across the recreation of the Serengeti.
A highlight of our day came when we got to feed the giraffes.
Standing up on a high platform, we held branches while the giraffes grabbed mouthfuls of leaves.
We had to hold on tight because these long-necked herbivores meant business when they got their teeth into a mouthful of foliage.
Even more surprising were their incredibly long, black tongues.
They seemed to come out of nowhere to lap up whatever food was available, especially carrots.
Getting Catty
Getting ready to pounce!
On our way out of Africa we got to get as close as we’d ever been to a big cat, the world’s fastest land animal, a cheetah.
A keeper was taking her out for a stroll, and both seemed perfectly calm, at least as long as no zebras came into view.
So with our big cat curiosity piqued, we headed over to the Tiger Temple.
Built to resemble the Angkor Wat temple in Cambodia, it serves as home to Sumatran and Bengal tigers, but the main attraction on our visit were the two tiger cubs romping in the main enclosure.
The (not so) little guys were born at the zoo in August of 2013, a pretty huge event since there are less than five hundred Sumatran tigers left in the wild.
Say uncle! Say it! Say it!Never!All tuckered out after the “hunt”
WATCH: See the tiger cubs and all the animals in action!
We’re in Kangaroo Heaven!
No trip to Australia, the zoo or otherwise, would be complete without holding court with some kangaroos, and Roo Heaven was the perfect place to do just that.
These guys seemed perfectly comfortable with a human presence in their habitat, so we shook hands and made our case for invading their space.
When the verdict came down, the jury of jumpers was just fine with us being there.
Helping Sick and Injured Wildlife Get Back Into the Wild
Our last stop of the day was a look into the most important work that is done at the Australia Zoo.
As part of the Irwin family’s longtime commitment to conservation, the Australia Zoo Wildlife Hospital was opened in 2004.
Dedicated to Steve’s mother Lyn Irwin, a pioneer in wildlife care and rehabilitation, the facility cares for several thousand animals every year.
A team of dedicated doctors and volunteers work tirelessly to heal the sick and injured, with the ultimate goal of returning them to the wild.
We toured the hospital with Michelle to get an up close look at the incredible care given to the wildlife.
WATCH: Get an inside tour of the hospital and they great work they do!
Koalas make up a big part of the patients, but almost any animal is welcomed and treated.
There are special units designed for reptiles and birds, and outdoor facilities, including a special area for turtles, to help acclimate the rehabilitated for their return to the wild.
During the process, the staff also performs valuable research into wildlife diseases and migration.
This extraordinary organization is dedicated to rescuing sick and injured wildlife, nursing them back to health, then releasing them back to their homes… CONTINUE READING or enlarge video>>
As part of the Irwin family’s longtime commitment to conservation, the Australia Zoo Wildlife Hospital was opened in 2004.
Dedicated to Steve’s mother Lyn Irwin, a pioneer in wildlife care and rehabilitation, the facility cares for several thousand animals every year.
A team of dedicated doctors and volunteers work tirelessly to heal the sick and injured, with the ultimate goal of returning them to the wild.
We toured the hospital with Michelle to get an up close look at the incredible care given to the wildlife.
Koalas make up a big part of the patients, but almost any animal is welcomed and treated.
There are special units designed for reptiles and birds, and outdoor facilities, including a special area for turtles, to help acclimate the rehabilitated for their return to the wild.
During the process, the staff also performs valuable research into wildlife diseases and migration.
Just outside of Quito, Ecuador lies the exact midway point between the North and South poles and, being of reasonably sound minds, we had to see it.
Seriously, when do you get the chance to stand on Latitude 00° 00′ 00”?
We did some wacky things there, but only one of us got a certificate for the wackiest thing of all… CONTINUE READING >>
Just outside of Quito, Ecuador lies the exact midway point between the North and South poles and, being of reasonably sound minds, we had to see it.
Humans figured out around 500 BC that the Earth was a sphere and therefore must have a center line dividing the halves. In South America the ancient Quechua people named that equatorial line Inti (sun) Nan (path) centuries ago. Then in 1735, the French Geodesic Mission set out for Quito to pinpoint the location.
The expedition lasted nine years, was responsible for giving Ecuador its name, and succeeded in a fairly accurate measurement.
Although it turns out they probably should have just asked the natives, since modern GPS has proved that by simply observing the sun their line was more accurate than the French scientists.
Slight discrepancies notwithstanding, we knew we were within a few feet, if not inches, of that big blue stripe we’d seen on globes since grade school.
So bypassing the Mitad del Mundo complex and the old French monument, we chose The Intiñan Solar Museum and the “real” line.
But before we could get to the main attraction, we were sidetracked by a lesson on making shrunken heads… yes, they are real.
The Shuar people from high in The Andes of Ecuador performed this ritual, and now we know their secret… remove the skull, sew the eyes and mouth shut, then cook the skin for an hour or so and fill it with hot rocks.
All joking aside, this was serious business for the warriors, and obviously the victims too. Shuar feel that the muisak, or soul of the victim, is contained in the shrunken head (tsantsa).
Our guide, Alexandra, explained that because of this, head shrinking became all the rage with the nobility as well.
Okay, on to the line around the center of the world which, unlike on our classroom spheres, is red here.
Several sundial type instruments and markers are setup along the stripe to show how the sun passes perfectly overhead on the equinox, and always has an equal 12 hours of day and night year ’round.
Perfectly viable, accurate scientific stuff. Ah, but then came the “experiments.”
In order to demonstrate the Coriolis Effect, and our guide was very careful to specify that this was just a demonstration, a tub of water was sitting directly on the equator.
Now the Coriolis Effect is without a doubt perfectly real, it has to do with the earth’s rotation and the inertia effect it has on objects. It is what causes ocean currents, wind patterns, and hurricanes to rotate one direction in the northern hemisphere and the other in the south, but this “demonstration” had exactly nothing to do with it.
When the drain plug was pulled on the tub, the water ran straight out with no spin or vortex.
Perfect, there is no Coriolis Effect on the equator.
Then the tub was moved about six feet north of the line and water poured in, drain plug pulled, and viola, a vortex! Six feet south of the line, the vortex spins the opposite way.
Wow! We saw it with our own eyes!
But what really happened was just a “demonstration,” and our guide was quite subtle and sneaky with her technique.
The first tub was allowed to sit perfectly still long enough that the water was motionless and no vortex would form, while the others had just enough momentum left from the pouring motion to spin first one way, then the other.
Say cheeeeeese! LOVED this guy hangin’ out!
The truth is, yes there is such a thing as the Coriolis Effect, but its effect is so miniscule this close to the equator that it could never be measured, much less move a tub of water. By the way, same thing holds true with toilets.
They spin whichever direction the flow of water pushes them, no matter which side of the equator you’re flushing on. Still, we appreciated the show.
We were then challenged to walk directly along the line with our eyes closed.
No explanation was offered as to why this should be more difficult directly on the equator than anywhere else, but we did have a hard time keeping our balance.
Personally I think that I’m just a klutz and can’t walk well with my eyes closed… but that’s just me.
Next came the balancing a raw egg on a nail trick, which is also supposed to demonstrate the lack of Coriolis Effect on the yolk directly on the equator.
This is also another thing that I can’t do, here or any place else on the planet I suppose.
If egg balancing is any easier at the equator than anywhere else in the world, the difference is so slight as to be nonexistent.
Bottom line, balancing an egg is difficult where ever you happen to be. Even our guide couldn’t pull it off… that said, Veronica did it!
It was so impressive that she was issued a certificate to commemorate the event. Our guide, Alexandra, made things official.
Veronica felt ever so proud of her accomplishment, especially when Alexandra stamped the back of her certificate with the much coveted “LATITUD 00, 00, 00” stamp.
The time had come for the goofy standing-in-both-hemispheres-at-once photos.
Has anyone ever come to this place and not done that?
We made this year’s list of the 
