A VISIT TO LONE PINE.....

Today, we planned to having an outing with Pete and Maria and Theodore.  Initially we were looking at going to the Currumbin Bird Sanctuary,  as Theodore really loves birds at the moment, but it was pretty expensive for what it was...

In the end we decided to pack a picnic lunch and head to Lone Pine.  They had advertised that they have bird feeding of an afternoon there also, so it decided we would head there.  That way we would also get to see the animals as well.. We were taking Max with us for the day so that Sarah could get some of her study done...

By the time we got there it was after eleven am, and as there was a lovely picnic area just off the car park and along the banks of the Brisbane River, we decided that it would be easier to have an early lunch, and have our picnic before entering Lone Pine.

The Picnic area was lovely, with  lots of lovely cane swinging chairs located throughout the parkland.  There was also areas for children to find brightly coloured stones and Max spent quite a bit of time collecting some of these to take home to his Mum...

Max enjoying a bit of a swing in one of the swinging chairs located in the park area...

BBQ parklands with the Brisbane River in the background...

Theo enjoying his lunch

Looking for his coloured stones...

Bringing them back to us..

So proud of all his pretty coloured stones he had collected for his mum...

Time for our picnic lunch...

Enjoying a cuppa

Three generations...

Once we had finished lunch we were able to pack everything back into the car without having to take it with us... much better idea than going in for an hour or so and then having to come back out for lunch....

 Once we got in our first stop was to see all the caged birds.  Max was fascinated by the talking cockatoo as he didn't realize that birds could actually talk.....

  Walking along to the platypus house, we noticed some big lizards on the path... they were quite friendly and not at all concerned that people were walking close by them..

The playtpus were quite active whilst we were in there, and the children were able to get a good view of them.

At the entrance to the Platypus House

  From the platypus we wandered down to check out the Koalas.  There are lots and lots of koalas at Lone Pine, ranging in age from babies, to juvenile, to fully grown, and although you can't cuddle them, you were able to get pretty close to them, and then get a photo with them as well..

Giving Max a good view of the Koalas... He loves them...

Theodore was fascinated by them also...

 They didn't hold his interest quite as much as they held Max's interest... Theodore was more interested in interacting with his Mum...

Photos with the Koalas...

He was happy though to have his photo taken with one, and I am sure that if we let him, he would have been quite happy to grab hold of it...

After spending quite a bit of time with the Koalas, we went out to visit the Kangaroos and Emu's.  This park is great in that you have lots of opportunities to interact with all the animals...

 The emus were so friendly and would come right up to you and eat out of your hand... Max was a little nervous with them to start with but by the end he was hand feeding them...  I wasn't prepared to let them get that close....

  Theodore was fascinated by the kangaroos.....

 Max is quite different to Willow, she was always a little nervous around the Kangaroos.  She loved seeing them but wasn't too keen to get too close, Max on the other hand, was very happy to put his hand out with food and let them take it from his hand....

From the Kangaroos, it was off to check out the reptiles,

 At the end of the reptile walk, there was a building that housed all the snakes.  They had plenty of them, and quite a few were active.  Max was quite fascinated by these....

 We still had another hour to wait until the feeding of the birds, so we decided to go off on a walk to the other side of the park, and watch the cattle dogs at work.  They put on a show to highlight just how highly intelligent these dogs are, and we were able to watch them round up all the sheep.  Theodore loved the dogs..... Max was keen to get a little bit of the sheep wool to take home for Willow....

By the time we left the Sheep Station we only had about 10 minutes to wait until it was bird feeding time.  There were lots of people there for it, and the birds weren't very co-operative today, with very few flying down to feed.  Lots of people got a bit impatient and left, and once there were only a few of us left, we had plenty of birds coming down to feed.  The kids loved it...(as did us adults)

 Once the bulk of the crowd left,  there seemed to be a lot more birds feeding.....

Where are all the birds Moppy?????

 We really have had the BEST day.  It was after 5.30pm by the time we had finished feeding the birds, and the park was about to shut. It was going to be a late night home, as we still had to get out of the park, get belted into the car, and we had a good hour or mores drive to find our way home....

Definitely won't be leaving it another 40 years before we come again.  I am sure that Willow would love it here and we must bring her back.

Not long now before we take off on our family holiday to the Sunshine Coast....