I'm Scared of Animals

I have an irrational fear of animals.

This fear can be evidenced by my unfortunate "bird encounter" in Venice. Whereas my friend seemed to be one with the pigeons, I made a scene when the "rats with wings" were in my hair.

But on Saturday, I bonded with the animals of Australia.

Here I am feeding a kangaroo. And it wasn't bad! I was SO scared of kangaroos! But they were nice.








Wow - this crocodile was so friendly, too.

It really is gorgeous here

My pleasant experience is all due to this man: Steve Irwin - the Crocodile Hunter. He has this cool zoo here and it was amazing! I got to feed an elephant! Walk amongst the kangaroos and koalas! And there were shows. It was really fantastic. Too bad everyone in Australia hates him! But they did keep on make us say "CRIKEY!" during the shows. That was weird - I've never even seen the Crocodile Hunter! And they sold all these t-shirts with pictures of him and his family. I didn't buy too many... I am happy to say I have finally embraced being a tourist! I guess with the accent, there's really no hiding that I'm not from around here.

I never have been afraid of koalas. I think it's because when I was a kid I saw a Teddy Ruxpin where Teddy talked about koalas and what they ate and where they lived; and I figured if Teddy Ruxpin could endorse them, they couldn't be bad.

Seen Harry Potter?

That is what I thought as soon as I saw this - this snake is HUGE. I think they said it weighs a couple hundred kilograms - which is a lot. And I was standing there, contemplating this huge snake, Harry Potter, and parseltongue, and a woman walked up and also looked at the snake and said "HarryPotter". I'm so glad J.K. Rowling can make the world a smaller place.