India Awaits: Lone Pine Sanctuary

I know many people may have been to Lone Pine Sanctuary or have seen my photos already from other sources but I just had to do a blog on such a great place to visit in 'little old Brisbane'. I know there are lots of theme parks up this way near the Gold and Sunshine Coasts, and they definitely have their place in the world but to visit such a genuine place like Lone Pine was great. It is only small, and is privately owned but I think they do a great job at keeping it real and at a very reasonable cost. We had the loveliest day with a picnic lunch under the gum trees, and then some one-on-one time with the wildlife.

The staff were all very courteous, happy to help and answer questions and the 'specialists' who spoke were brilliant. As my Mum put it ' they did everything you want in a speech - 'informative, entertaining and short'. The boys were desperate to hold a koala and feed the kangaroos but I think they got a lot more out of the day with discussions on snakes, amphibians, koala diseases, dingo and tasmanian devil lifestyles etc. To share this experience with my Mum, Dad and a very close family friend made for a very memorable day.

I remember going to Lone Pine when I was about 2 years old, and enjoying all the animals - photo below. Feeding the kangaroos was a huge hit at the time. Lone Pine is primarily a Koala Sanctuary and has over 130 koala's living there, but also has 100 other native Australian animals. It opened in 1927 with only 2 Koalas - Jack and Jill, but has grown hugely since then. It has had it's ups and downs financially but has managed to stay in business all those years, even with the business changing hands multiple times. Given it is located right on the banks of the Brisbane River, it has been devastated by the huge floods in 1974 and 2011. We are all very grateful that the park has been able to rebuild after all the damage that was caused.

The park has been visited by many many famous people including the Queen Mother, Queen Elizabeth II, Prince Phillip, Pope John Paul II, Margaret Thatcher and many more. The exposure provided by these visitors always helps with keeping the park as a 'place to visit' in Brisbane.

In 1988, the eucalyptus plantation was planted to help with the feeding of the growing number of koalas - they now have over 50,000 trees. We spoke with one of the keepers and she said that the Lone Pine koalas have become quite fussy and only want to eat the 'top notch' leaves from the best eucalyptus trees. So, having a source at the back gate makes life much easier for everyone.

Lets hope Lone Pine is there for our boys to visit with their children - it's fabulous !!