Saturday, April 16, 2005
Day out: Pine Rivers Shire
Saturday afternoon we visited Brisbane’s Alma Park Zoo, some 30km northbound on the Bruce Highway. I say ‘Brisbane’s’ Alma Park Zoo to distinguish it from its nearby younger, louder and more tacky sibling, Steve-Crikey-Irwin’s Big New Australia Zoo, another few kilometres northwards.

Reflecting its usurpation as SEQ’s premier animal exhibit, Alma Park Zoo is a little more low-key, fewer animals, fewer people and set amongst shady, mature, pseudo-rainforest, meaning that you are never exposed to the intense heat that you are at Australia Zoo with its rows and rows of saplings.

But Alma Park has a somewhat eclectic collection. Adjacent to the classic koala, wombat, wallaby Australiana combo is a Malaysian Sun Bear, some mountain goats from Himalaya, Baboons and broiler chicks in a ‘friendly farmyard’.

Still, it was a pleasant, and we were even treated to a very rare sight – a moving koala. Normally, these creatures spend the daylight hours sleeping in the sun in the canopy of gum trees, starting to move only at night to travel, mate and feed. But this fella (it was definitely a male) clearly had his body-clock on London time and was as lively as anything; he knew exactly when to try and make a break for it when one of the zoo-keepers (what a wonderful sounding job) opened his exhibit door to come in to administer some medicine.

This koala’s hormones were calling; he knew the consequences of escape…. One day, he’ll do it. He’ll hide, the keeper will come in and then he will be away…..

Later we travelled through some of Pine Rivers Shire bushland, stopping at a couple of parks and Lake Samsonvale Dam, where you are affording some great views over the southern end of the D’Aguilar Range and Mounts Glorious and Nebu.

Worryingly, the level of the Dam is low. This is the time of year that it really ought to be at its peak, right at the end of the wet season. But this summer has been dry; even the late flurry of unsettled weather in the last couple of weeks I doubt has made much difference.

Lake Samsonvale does not provide Brisbane’s water, which is stored in a huge dam further afield, and is quite a large dam. But I don’t know how many drought-like summers Samsonvale can take before the residents of Pine Rivers Shire begin to start worrying. Or when, for that matter, when the politicians begin to appreciate that such massive population growth in a fragile environment is destabilising in the short term and unsustainable in the long run.

Matthew is still absolutely covered in spots from his chicken pox. He is like his own little super-volcano – just keeps on erupting!

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