Cinnamon the slut

When I was planning the trip to Sydney, I knew I really, really wanted to go to the Taronga Zoo.  The zoo is close to the Circular Quay and over looks the Opera House, Harbor Bridge, etc.  You get there by ferry and the view is supposed to be amazing.  A few days before going, I checked out the website to plan my route -- we only had a half day to spend at the zoo and I wanted to make sure I saw everything.  Moreover, I wanted to ensure that I got to take a pic with a koala bear.  Well first off, I was disappointed they don't have panda or polar bears.  They do have "red pandas," which look more like a raccoon.  I guess it's understandable, I read on national geographic that hosting a panda costs zoos over $2.6 million a year, yikes!  Seriously, wtf are they doing to these pandas??  And I already saw pandas at San Diego Zoo, but still I was bummed.

Anyway, while doing my koala photo research, I saw that in other states, like Queensland, you can actually "cuddle a koala," meaning you are holding the koala in the pic!  OMG!  However, they have outlawed it in New South Wales, so no cuddling at the Sydney Zoo.  Apparently all the "cuddling" can be stressful for the little guys.  I think having your picture taken with weirdos all day would be just as stressful.  In the end, we ended up skipping the zoo altogether.  It was New Years when we were in Sydney, the crowds were out of control, and there were signs on the highway that the zoo was a madhouse and you couldn't even park there.  I will def attempt the zoo again, when it's not school vacation.

I did get a chance to see koalas at Dreamworld on the Gold Coast though and I met Shelby and Cinnamon.  Poor little Shelby had to get touched by like 20 kids in the koala show.  After reading about the stressed out koalas, I was apprehensive about the cuddling.  I expressed my concerns to the caretakers, and they insisted the bears weren't stressed (of course they did...)  In the end I couldn't resist, I wanted to hold one so bad!  I paid $25 and got to hold one-year old Cinnamon.

Here we are with Cinnamon.  She is less happy than I am.  

And the pic is ghetto, I don't have a scanner, so it's a pic of a pic.  

Shelby at the koala show.

I still feel a little guilty about harassing poor little Cinnamon.  Poor girl is whoring herself out for $25 a cuddle. I mean her name is Cinnamon, could you get a sluttier name than that? They said it was because she was "so sweet."  I can't help but think of world famous\polar bear Knut of the Berlin Zoo circa 2006. I was obsessed with Knut - you might remember - and was so sad to hear all the personality disorders he developed.  Knut passed in 2011 after drowning from a seizure.  RIP Knut :(

Baby "Knut the Cute" being harassed by tourists.

In Darwin news, ants are not back, but there was a GIANT COCKROACH yesterday.  I almost had 5 heart attacks!  I took a pic, but have already been advised it's too gross to post.  Ughhhhh.