I started out with breakfast at the hotel and then made my way down to the riverfront. My hotel is right next to the Story Bridge, so I could walk to the central business district (CBD) along the Brisbane River. I made my way along a few city streets and essentially crossed through the city to the Victoria Bridge on the other side of the CBD. Here, I picked up a ferry to take me about 11 km up the Brisbane River to the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary. This ended up being an excellent decision.
The ferry itself operates to transport people to and from the sanctuary. Along the way, they had a running commentary that talked a lot about the history of Brisbane and landmarks along the river. During the roughly hour-long ride, I learned a lot about Brisbane and the history of the city. We passed the University of Queensland (I will visit UQ tomorrow) and I learned that the University was built just before World War II and that the Australian Army took control of the University before students ever started there. The army based out of UQ because Gen. Macarthur moved his headquarters to Brisbane after he left the Philippines with his 'I'll be back to save the day and take credit for this later - but for now you're on your own' pledge. It wasn't until after the war that students began to use the university. We also saw some fruit bats sleeping hanging upside down from trees along the river. They were pretty big. Apparently, fruit bats can see as well as, if not better than, humans (unlike other types of bats that actually are blind). We also saw several very expensive homes along the riverbank. There were several other interesting bits of information from the trip and I was glad that I opted to take the ferry compared to taking a public transit bus. Finally, we made it to the sanctuary. 
Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary holds a few records in the Guinness Book of World Records. For one, they have the largest collection of Koalas in the world (more than 130). Each koala is individually named and every staff member at the sanctuary is required to be able to identify every single koala by name. They also have quite a few kangaroos and wallabies in addition to other native Australian animals. Clearly though, the koalas steel the show. The other record that they hold is the record for longest documented koala life. They had a koala that lived to be 23 years old (the average in captivity is 12-14 years and the average in the wild is 8-10 years). So, this particular koala really outlived the averages! 
Apparently, it is generally illegal in Australia for visitors to hold koalas (they don't like to be cuddled or held and this tends to upset them). However, because of the large number of koalas at the sanctuary, they have been given an exemption to this law. So, I got to hold a koala!! Each koala can only be held for a total of 30 minutes every 2 weeks. In any case, I got to hold one of the female koalas (they are smaller and lighter than the males) and it was great. They are very docile and perfectly fine with cuddling up to anything they can get their hands on. Koalas sleep something like 20 hours a day and spend most of the other 4 eating an enormous amount of eucalyptus leaves. Because the leaves do not have much energy, the koalas are generally very sluggish and sleepy (this would be more or less like a human living only on lettuce).In any case, the koala was really soft and it was great to be able to hold her. At one point, she picked up her head and looked right at me such that we were essentially nose to nose! After taking a few photos, it was time to hand her back over to the handler and I moved on. I took plenty of photos of the other koalas throughout the facility. They had several young koalas in separate areas and the little ones were generally more active than the older koalas. I could probably continue to write for hours about all of the things I learned and experienced regarding the koalas, but I think this gives a good general flavor for the experience!
I also spent a bunch of time feeding kangaroos. There were a lot of kangaroos and they were all pretty friendly. The girl kangaroos were more social than the boys in terms of actually getting up and bouncing around. But, the boy kangaroos were much more aggressive in terms of trying to get food from people. One boy kangaroo jumped up on a lady to try to get into her bag where she was keeping her bag of kangaroo food. It wasn't really a big deal, but there was definitely a difference between the males and females.
After a busy morning of enjoying the koalas and kangaroos, I took the ferry back to the city. When I got back, I decided to work my way through the CBD. I first came across a sort of farmer's market that was setup along a street. I bought some lemonade and walked around to see what folks were selling. Afterward, I went to see city hall. Apparently, they were doing filming for some movie or documentary and there were a bunch of film crew trucks around the building. After this, I went to check out the Queen Street Mall (pictured in the photo). This was a very exciting environment and I walked up and down the mall several times to see all of the shops and take in the atmosphere. There were several street performers along the open-air mall and a lot of people were making their way through the area. At the one end, I saw the shopping center that used to be Gen. Macarthur's headquarters during World War II. I think it's kind of funny that it is a shopping center now. Anyhow, I found a coffee shop and had a coffee while watching folks walk around the mall area. Afterward, I checked out some other streets in the city and walked around for a bit making my way down to the City Botanic Gardens. I walked through the gardens for a while and then made my way back along the river front to the Story Bridge to get some photos from the bridge walkway. After all of this, I returned to the hotel to take a shower before heading out for dinner.
I had a great seafood dinner at a great restaurant! I had oysters and Spanish mackerel and it was absolutely excellent. The restaurant afforded a great view of the river and the Story Bridge (which was all lit up for the evening). After dinner, I walked back to the hotel and caught some great views of the city skyline lit up for the evening. After getting back to the room, I worked on my talk for the conference that I am presenting at in a few days. I heard from Anita and Matt when they arrived and plans are set for the trip to UQ tomorrow!
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