Thursday 10th April - Day 67

Today I'm visiting Australia zoo. Then I'm going to catch a flight from Brisbane airport to Cairns. I had thought of taking a bus or train from from Brisbane to Cairns, but forty-eight hours by train or 2 hours by plane ? The plane idea won.

I'm still not use to the time difference and struggle to sleep and get up early. I rush to the train station with my rucksacks - carrying one and wheeling the other. It should be about an one hour journey by train and a fifteen minute bus ride to Australia zoo. I should get off the train at Beerwah station. Instead, I get off two stops early on a station with a similar sounding name. The next train will pass by in an hour's time. There's an old man sitting on the one bench they have at the station with his two pet dogs. I thought he was waiting for a train, but he had just wondered out from his house which is less than a minute walk from the station. We chat briefly and he tells me that there's no taxi around. He then heads back home.

A couple of minutes later another chap appears on the station platform and starts chatting to me. "Come on," he says. "I'll give you a lift." He's the son of the first gentleman I spoke to. For a moment I wonder if it's a good idea to follow a complete stranger, but I do it anyway.

On the car journey, he learns I haven't any knowledge of the area and offers to take me on a slight detour to see the 'Glass House Mountains.' I can't say no, so agree to go along with the idea. It turns out he (Vince is his name) was genuinely doing me a favour. He takes me up to a mountain viewpoint. The panoramic view of the mountains is spectacular. My initial mistake in getting off at the the wrong stop is a blessing in disguise.

Vince then drops me outside the Australia zoo entrance. I thank him for is generosity. His son happens to be visiting England and I give Vince my details in case I can help him when I get back to England.

At Australia zoo it's a shame I can't see Steve Irwin do his Crocodile feeding. It's his best mate and Steve Irwin's widow who do the routine in a stadium filled mainly with young children and families. We also get to see a display of flying birds around the stadium and other shows aimed at kids. The rest of the zoo is quite like other zoos, but including animals only found in this part of the world like Koala bears, Wombats, Dingos and kangaroos that just wonder around one part of the zoo and are allowed to be fed by the public.

I make it back in time to Brisbane by bus and train and then the airport to catch the plane to Cairns.