Report: Tara McIntyre (Soccer team, 6th year 2005)

Australia Zoo was the first major outing we had and for me it was extra special as it was my 18th birthday. The zoo was brilliant and everyone was looking forward to seeing koalas, kangaroos and maybe meeting the famous Steve Irwin whom we had heard so much about. Unfortunately, this was not to be (meeting Steve Irwin), but we still went along to the 'crocoseum' to see the infamous crocodile show which included plenty of clips of Steve Irwin shouting 'CRIKEY'. The show was amazing and included snakes, tigers and birds and of course the crocodiles. For the most of us the birds were probably the scariest part as they were let free to fly about in the audience and at one point a huge parrot landed right in front of me. But the funniest part was definitely when one of the birds decided to poo and just missed Lesley. Then those who were brave enough went to have our photos taken with a huge python. Having this big snake wrapped around me definitely helped cure my fear of them.

I also got my photo taken with a koala which was just like a cute little teddy bear but very smelly. We also fed elephants and kangaroos. One of the elephants bit Lisa Donnelly (I think they just didn't like the look of her!). I was surprised to see that the kangaroos were free to roam in a park and that we could walk amongst them. One of the highlights of this day for me was when some of us got the train that went around the park and the girls got our driver, Alan to say happy birthday to me and then everyone sang happy birthday to me.

After getting back to the hotel, we had an hour or so to rest and then we spent the evening shopping in Queen Street Mall. This was the perfect ending to our day, and by the time we got to our rooms that night we went straight to sleep - well most of us anyway!

It was probably this day, as it was great to have my 18th in Australia, even though I didn't get to celebrate it properly, but Mr. C has promised us we can celebrate when we return home.

And a close second was winning the Soccer Final.

Crikey! It's a croc!

Me trying to video
the soccer team

Roisin and I go surfing