Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary

I had read about the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary in my Lonely Planet guidebook and friends had also suggested I visit...No need to twist my arm if it involves koalas!!

I'm not a big fan of "animal parks" and prefer to seek animals out in nature yet also appreciate and value the conservation efforts of parks like Lone Pine that are doing this to protect and serve the animals vs. being focused on making money at the animal's expense....

Here's a bit more about the history of how the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary got started from their website:

How we started…

Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary was opened in 1927 by Queenslander, Claude Reid. We initially opened with just two koalas, Jack and Jill, at a time when wild koalas were being culled for the fur trade. It was quickly recognised by Claude that something had to be done to help protect one of Australia’s most iconic species.

The sanctuary is named after the huge hoop pine that still stands today at our Ticket Entrance. It is said that the single pine tree used to be a location marker for guests visiting the sanctuary via the Brisbane River, mooring their boats at the ‘lone pine’. The tree was planted by Daniel Clarkson in 1867, when the property was a cotton farm.

You can read more about the park on their website here: https://lonepinekoalasanctuary.com/.

I arrived midday and wandered all over the park seeing all sorts of animals before "discovering" the koala area and then lingering in this area for well over an hour taking photos and just "communing" with the koalas who were mostly sleeping...I did pay extra to have a "meet & greet" with Alfred who is a male koala (you can tell by the spot on his chest which emits an oil with a distinctive smell) and got to pet him a bit and he was REALLY soft!! Reputable animal parks will no longer allow visitors to hold the koalas but do allow you to give them a pet. They also change the koalas frequently who are "meeting" humans to not overtax them...Alfred was happily chewing away at the freshest eucalyptus leaves that had just been brought in for him!

After hanging around with the koalas for much of the afternoon, I did take time to check out some of the other animals including seeing my first Tasmanian Devil and cassowary...I hope I see more devils when I reach Tasmania and never did find a cassowary in the wilderness as I was wandering through Queensland but will leave that on my list for my next visit to my adopted country Australia...