Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary

I didn't have much time to do touristy things during my time in Australia, but I did get to visit the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary. As its name suggests, it was originally founded as a sanctuary for koalas specifically, but is now also home to a wide variety of Australian species.

One of the first animals one will see upon entering are these flying foxes.

Although I didn't get to see wild frogmouths in Australia, I did see several living individuals thanks to both the Koala Sanctuary and the Queensland Museum.

High on the list of the animals I wanted to see in Australia were platypuses, and the Koala Sanctuary gave me excellent views of them. They spent a lot of time swimming around actively while I was watching them, but this one was cooperative enough to lie still at the bottom of its tank for a short time.

Some Mary River turtles, an endangered turtle species that was only scientifically described in 1994.

Wildlife was abundant on the sanctuary grounds, and probably the most common were Australian water dragons and Australian brushturkeys. Here I managed to catch both in the same shot.

A wild maned duck.

A white-bellied sea eagle, one of several species flown in the Koala Sanctuary's raptor show. Others they showcased during my visit were barn owl, barking owl, and peregrine falcon.

Some lace monitors huddled in a hollow log.

A Mertens's water monitor not in the water.

A freshwater crocodile basking alongside a young wild water dragon. Presumably the crocodile isn't hungry, the young water dragon is very foolhardy, or both.

A wild bush stone-curlew shopping for postcards, or maybe for scraps of food dropped by visitors. Despite being shorebirds, these birds generally forage inland, usually at night.