IN THE WORDS OF STEVE IRWIN...

A short 1 hour drive from our house sits the Australia Zoo. Home of The Crocodile Hunter. With James being on a week's vacation, or holiday as they call it here, we decided to start the week off with a trip to the home of Steve Irwin. Thanks to our trusty alarm clock (Ashtyn) the house was moving at full speed at 6:20 on a Sunday morning, and by 9:00 we were on our way. Upon pulling into the Zoo, we were met with the above sign. By a little after 10:00 we were in the zoo on a whirlwind trip trying to take it all in in one day.
The handsome guy above is Agro, named because he is very aggressive. Evidently he likes only Cookie, who is his mate (for life). We also found out that he HATES lawnmowers. So much, that he has attacked the mowers and there are now 4 mowing machines at the bottom of his pond. I was surprised at how still and quiet he could be just sitting there. He kept his mouth open the whole time and never once closed his eyes.
Our first show of the day was at the Crocoseum. This is where Steve used to perform his shows as well. Crocodiles are actually very slow land movers, however, they can swim almost as fast as a dolphin. It is amazing to think that these animals have been around since the days of dinosaurs.
Kenyon and Ashtyn both got to feed the elephants. This elephant's name is Bimbo. Poor girl...wonder what she did to get that name. Evidently she is Bindy's (Steve's daughter) favorite.
Ashtyn had more fun feeding the sheep. I am beginning to see 4H in my daughter's future. However...how to explain that we can see plenty of sheep back home in Texas?
Sister bonding moments on a giant turtle. They actually had tortoise's on display. The only pictures we got of them were of their backsides. The tortoise's were over 135 years old, and were the largest in the world.
I think our favorite part of the day was seeing the tigers. The tiger above was having his 3rd birthday the day we were there. They had frozen "treats" in ice blocks for the tigers. These are Sumatran Tigers, found only in Sumatra. As of now there are only 300 left in the wilderness. Tigers are hunted and killed for their skins, and parts of the Tiger are used to make ancient medicines. We learned there are 9 different kinds of tigers, and as of now only 5 are still found in the wilderness.

Brother and Sister Sumatran Tigers.

The Tiger show. This was the male. He did not enjoy playing in the water, and could not be talked into doing something he did not want to do.

However, his sister put on a great show! We were told most tigers love to swim. The handlers played with her and got in the tank with her. The handlers are around the tigers from the day they are born. For the first 3 months of their lives, they are under 24 hour care. The handlers will eat and sleep with them. The tigers have a 2 bedroom house on the premises were they lived as cubs.
We have been traveling with Ashtyn for over 2 years now. We are well aware that she is not necessarily the easiest traveling companion. So, with that in mind, I made over night reservations at a hotel...I mean motel...I mean side of the road, in front of the train tracks, sort of reminded you of Psycho no tell motel! Not to worry though...The Saenz family left our mark. We can trash out any hotel room. After our day at the zoo, we checked into the sleaze bag inn and then went out to get pizza. Nothing like a picnic on the floor...
Kenyon and Ashtyn were most excited about having bunk beds! A little argument about who was sleeping on top (Kenyon won), but at the end of the night it did not matter. Ashtyn fell asleep in our bed and was transferred to her bunk. At 4:53 AM, James and I got a wake up call to find Ashtyn trying to make the climb up into sissy's bed. That was fixed by putting her in bed with us, where she slept till 7:00.
No bathtub at The Bates Motel. Ashtyn made due with a shower and loved every minute of it.
We ended our excursion with a Monday morning stop at a Farmers Market...attached to a gas station. However, we found some great fruit and veggies.
Monday afternoon, safe at home from our trip to see the animals. A little tired, a lot of bedhead, and memories to last a lifetime!