Life in the slow lane: Springbrook National Park to Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary

18th November 2010

Woke up to hear laughing Kookaburra's and the whip-it bird, will miss the amazing sounds of the sub-tropical rainforest and even the ever deafening cicadas, it's quite magical and I feel blessed to have experienced this magnificent beauty.

We packed ready for the journey back to the Gold Coast and had breakfast by the BBQ area and then made our way down the long and winding steep road towards Mudgeeraba. Next surprise was that we would be going to the Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary on a night tour, even better no cooking on a camp stove tonight, as a buffet dinner is included with the tour, which would make a welcome change, for more information see: http://www.cws.org.au/getcloser/tickets_and_bookings/wildnight_adventure/information/

As we weren't going till night time we drove to Burleigh Heads first and sat on the sands, also we did some shopping for our onward journey. We also decided to treat ourselves to some hot chips - we had to laugh as the phrase "hot chips' was the most used reply by others when asked, "What would you like to eat?"

We had a quick wash n' tidy up before heading towards Currumbin. We pulled over by the beach and watched the surfers catch some waves and feel the thrust of the low flying planes as they came into land. We then drove to the Sanctuary and parked in the car park opposite where Surf World and Honey World are located. 

We decided to venture into Honey World as we we're a little early. Now Honey World not only sells honey products but also has an educational centre which shows you the entire production of honey making. http://www.superbeetourism.com.au/ , as we had arrived quite late they were at the point of closing but we couldn't resist buying honey coated popcorn. Surf World is a museum dedicated to the history of surfing  for more information go to: http://surfworldgoldcoast.com/ we didn't venture in as it was getting close to our Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary Night Tour start time.

 Buffet dinner started at 6pm and the tour is limited to a small groups of 20 and it's certainly worth doing the tour at night for that up close and personal feeling.After a sumptuous buffet meal, we headed out into the Sanctuary to be very close and personal with some of the Sanctuary's animals, namely a crocodile and a carpet python. How close? well we held the crocodile and had a photograph with it , as we also did with the carpet python!

Okay so it wasn't a full grown crocodile nor a full grown carpet python but hey this was a taster for the big ones later on - no we didn't get to hold them. Our tour would take us next to the Koalas. Now as this was night time and Koala's are sensitive to light, taking a decent photograph wasn't easy.

To ensure the welfare of the animals are kept at the forefront of all Currumbin do, each Koala is tagged and microchipped and they are only allowed to be out with the public for 20 mins and strictly rotated and all recorded in the log book. I have to say this Koala looked exceptionally heavy.

 Next we travelled through the green cauldron and to see a Barking Owl

The Owl was on constant watch and it's head would constantly turn, however it didn't want to make its barking noise. from the green cauldron we took a train ride through Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary to the Aboriginal Corroboree. now as there we had been having some intermittent rain the Corroboree was held indoors. I would have liked to have seen it with the fire though.

The Aboriginal Dancers and musician displayed some songs and dances from the Northern Territory and Torres Island Straits. We were given permission to take photographs of the dancers. Here's a short video of one such dance, the video is very dark as it was shot on my camera, however if you watch it in large view the images of the dancers are clearer.

We were then asked to join in a clapping song game called Sasaar, it was a round of movements and it got faster and faster as time went on. It certainly got everyone laughing. At the end we had a photo opportunity with the Dancers.

In the same area we also got to meet a Dingo - note that due to my camera battery dying at this point the rest of the photographs are taken with a Nokia N95 phone camera.

It was hard to get the dingo to pose and look my way. From the Corroboree we travelled on to see the bigger version of the crocodile we held earlier - this one was nicknamed 'Holy Kaw' and when you see him you realise why. 'Holy' is 5.3 metres long or 17.3 feet in old money, due to the darkness and 'Holy" wanting to hide somewhat, I couldn't get a picture of him. Just lets say I wouldn't want to feed him never mind hold him.

Something that is plaguing Queensland and the Northern Territory are the Cane toads and a few decided to freeload their way into the Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary and they are not the prettiest looking of creatures even in the dark. We met a few on our way to 'Holy' and the Kangaroos.

It was great to feed the kangaroos but a little disconcerting that they were as tall as me and they were the small ones. I stand 4ft 11inches or 1.47m yup both the crocodile and the kangaroos were beating me on height.

Just after the infamous Tazzie devils came one of the Australian creatures i fell in love with thanks to a TV programme called "Country Practice". It was a wombat named 'Fatso' that I fell in love with and so a big smile came over my face when I met the wombats.

Once we had seen the wombats it was time to head back on the train to the Wildlife Sanctuary's restaurant for some Damper and tea or whatever beverage took our fancy - now I had never had damper before but I have to say I might become very partial to a bit of damper, here's taste recipe for making damper  http://www.taste.com.au/recipes/12308/damper we had this traditional style with a tin mug of Hot Chocolate.

Once the excitement of the night had gone and the last drop of Hot Chocolate had been consumed we headed to find a campsite for the night and then to sleep.