Back To The Real Reptile Park

Alexander has been keen to visit the Reptile Park so when the big kids were at school he and I had a date to the Reptile Park. I didn't know how they would be organising it all with Covid being present but thought we go and give it a go. It would probably be quiet because it was a Wednesday during school term. As it turned out, it was an awesome day for us both!

When we arrived we went and saw the kangaroos.

Instead of having the shows they had a few of the animals with the keepers and you could go up, pat them, get a photo with them and ask questions. We listened to the snake keeper who spoke about the snakes he had out. Then Alexander got to pat an alligator.

Then we had my favourite moment where we got to meet Hope the Wombat. She is just so so cute! She was really sleepy in the morning so she was quite settled in her bed. Alexander liked patting her.

We then waited a little while to pat the koala because some ladies were talking with the keeper about koalas. While we waited I asked Alexander what he thought the name of the koala could be. He thought about it and called it Flynnie. When we got to pat the koala Alexander asked her want the name of the Koala was and she said Giddian (called Giddy), but she excitedly pointed to the closest enclosure and said that they really do have a koala named Flynn. So cool! We went over to have a look at Flynnie and sent a video to Flynnie letting him know. I couldn't believe that they had a koala called Flynn.

Flynn the koala

We then walked up to look for some of the alligators (which was a bit hard because most must be hibernating or hiding because of the cold. But we did find a couple.

We said hi to Hugo and gave him a pat while he was out for his walk.

And Alexander couldn't leave out Dippy.

We sat down and had some morning tea together.

While we were eating I saw that the keeper take Giddian back to the enclosure and come out with another koala. It was the same enclosure that Flynn was in so I got excited that Alexander might be able to meet Flynnie. Sure enough she spotted us and brought Flynn over to us. I explained that Alexander's best buddy is Flynnie so we were very excited that there was a koala called Flynn. She asked Alexander's name and told us that they unfortunately don't have a Flynn the koala, but maybe a new baby koala could be called that.

Alexander with Flynn the koala

Alexander liked using the map to find where we were and where we were to head to next. He doesn't normally get to use it because Daniel liked to take control with the map so was nice for him to be guiding us.

We went and had a look at Elvis, because Alexander loves to watch him. He was having a shower with the sprinkler on.

While we were there we saw Tim (the keeper who did a lot of the videos during lockdown). They came in to clean the water for Elvis. As we left I said thank you to him for all the live streaming that he did during lock down. He said thanks and whispered that they were going to do a live feeling of Elvis at 1pm if we wanted to stick around. As soon as Alexander heard that he wanted to stay for the feeding. That was fine but I hadn't brought lunch for us because I thought we'd be home to have lunch.

We headed down to look at the echidnas. They were even enjoying their lunch!

I decided that we could get some hot chips to share and Alexander decided that we could eat them while we watched Elvis. So that's what we did.

Cheeky boy licking the chicken salt off his fingers

With about half an hour left until Elvis got fed we headed down to see the kangaroos again.

Then we saw a massive python on the grass so went over to look at that and give it a pat.

We then headed up to watch Elvis being fed. It was worth waiting for.

I messaged James saying if he wanted to see us, he might spot us on the live stream. We are circled. James put it on and thought he saw us (he was up in Hervey Bay with his parents) but said it was hard to see. A bit of fun.

The day was great! Alexander was exhausted on the way home and fell asleep.

Yay for the real Reptile Park being openned again! We will be back again.