So, here I am writing about something a lot less stressful, some may even say it’s my favourite topic, naked women. I’ve loved the naked female body almost as long as I could remember, even to this day I wonder why so many of them cover it up. Must be because of all those prudes out there who can’t handle the site of naked flesh.

Sort of makes you wonder doesn’t, it when it’s really the most natural thing in the world. I even suggested how we should all take out clothes off for the greater good. There’s no way that’s going to happen though and so we must leave a lot to the imagination. At least these days our imaginations doesn’t exactly have to work overtime because a lot of those lovely ladies love to wear the bare minimum. But bare minimum isn’t exactly naked.

This is probably why throughout the ages man has depicted the naked woman form, whether it’s in paintings or in sculptures. I reckon that’s why I took a lot of photos of naked statues while over in Vegas. I never thought though that they would make great subjects for paintings. No, I’m not going to turn those photos into works of art, my days of painting are over. Nope, instead I’m going to use my trusty Apple MacBook Air 11.6-Inch Laptop (See all Laptop Computers) and the AutoPainter Express to do all the hard work for me.

Let’s have a look at what a naked woman would look like in the eyes of the great Van Gogh.

Not too shabby huh? OK, let’s see what sort of nude Benson can come up with.

Yeah, I’m kind of leaning a little towards the Benson nude myself, but we do have one more example. This one’s done in the Aquarrel style.

Each one is unique and people being what they are almost everyone would have an opinion as to which one they think is the best. Some may even prefer the original over the digitally enhanced version. Personally I like to enhanced version as I think it gives the photos a whole new look. What about you guys, which one do you like best and why.

Oh, talking about topless women, I’m conducting a poll on my sexual aids blog about What You Would Do If You Saw A Topless Woman Holding A Speed Limit Sign, it would be great if you read that post and took part in the poll.

Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2011

There was also the post titled Bloody Google Just Doesn’t Care, another post dedicated to Googles lack of sensitivity and their love of stripping sites of their PR because they felt those sites had broken some golden rule or something. That post even inspired me to write a poem where I compared Google to a woman, sorry ladies. I have to admit I kinda like that poem.

Enough of the past, let’s get stuck into the present. You all know about my latest blog, Buy Online Lotto Tickets, well that is one of two blogs where I actually try to rank highly in the search engines. This is because they were born for the sole purpose of earning me an online income That being the case I’ve been trying to do all the right things, using Market Samurai to research all the right keywords, posting what I believe to be good content and doing what I can to market them online.

At first everything was going really well. The keywords I was targeting was buy online lotto tickets, a logical choice as they were the same words that appeared in the domain name. In just under two weeks I went from not being listed at all to appearing on the second page of Google! I thought great, things are going swell and then all of a sudden those keywords disappeared off the radar, I stopped searching, with a fair bit of disgust, after page 30. WTF!

OK! So what the hell is going on. I don’t do black hat SEO. I haven’t broken any of their so called golden rules, so I have to tell you guys I’m feeling a little slighted at the moment. I’ve been hitting the forums and googling all over the place but I haven’t been able to find a logical reason for it. Someone suggested that perhaps I fell victim to the latest Google Panda update, but if that’s true why pick on that particular blog? All my other blogs seem unaffected.

I’m hoping that by posting this someone can point me in the right direction so that I can rectify the situation. Just so you know I am on page one of Bing and Yahoo for that keyword phrase so the only one that is being obstinate is Google, but then thats no real surprise is it?

Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2011

This leads me to the crux of this post. The other day I was approached by someone to design a website for them. Knowing I couldn’t design a professional looking website I convinced them to let me start up a blog for them. It wasn’t too hard to convince them once I explained how easy it was to update a blog as compared to a website.

As these guys belonged to a non profit organization I told them I would do the work for free, thinking that the money I would get from using products I was affiliated with would be enough compensation for my time. The first thing I did was email HostGator as they offered a great product at a great price. I explained the situation and asked if I would still get paid the commission if I licked on my own affiliate link? Their reply.

Hello,

Thank you for your email.

No, you will need to have them setup and pay for their account using their own details simply using your affiliate link in order to receive credit. Thanks again!

Please feel free to let us know if you have any further questions.

Honestly, if someone was paying me to set up a site for them they would expect me to set it all up from start to finish wouldn’t they?  So I wrote them back explaining how I was expected to set it all up for them and saying that I had no option other than to source another host to which they replied;

Hello Peter,

Thanks for the consideration, understandable. Unfortunately that policy is in place for numerous reasons and isn’t able to be lifted. We wish you the best of luck and if anything changes we hope you’ll bring them our way! ;)

Thanks again, have a good one!

Please feel free to let us know if you have any further questions.

Sorry people but that makes no sense to me. As far as I’m concerned I can’t see any reason why an affiliate can’t click on their own link. What’s the difference if someone else clicks on that link or I do? They make exactly the same amount of money don’t they? And what’s wrong with giving their affiliates a little discount for buying their product.

Another case in point; you all know about my Lottery site? Well, I wanted to write a post on how easy it was to Buy USA Mega Million Ticket Online and the best way to do that was to actually buy one. I figured why not ask the guys at MyLotto if I would still get my commission if I joined by clicking on my own affiliate link. They said not a problem, and true to their word I got 10% of the sale. You see that is what looking after your affiliate is all about. By letting them join, or buy a product, under their own affiliate link not only are they making money their affiliate get’s a discount. By not allowing them to do so only costs them a sale.

As it is I still needed a host and so I asked the guys at BlueHost if they were OK with it and they said they were which just goes to show there are people out there who know what good business is all about. As for the theme, naturally I’ll be using FlexSqueeze and yes Ryan has given me the approval to click my own link.

All I can say is that when I finally have products for sale online and I’m looking for affiliates I have no problem at all if they click on their own link when buying a product. What about you, are you willing to reward your affiliates buy letting them purchase under their own link?

Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2011

This is because a lot of the hotels in Las Vegas are built around a theme, ones that come to mind are Caesar Palace and The Venetian, both very remarkable hotels. Then again, it doesn’t matter which hotel you visit in Las Vegas, they all have something unique about them. That photo of the mythical sea horse was taken outside Caesar Palace. Caesar Palace has quite a bit to offer, more on that later, but one thing that I never forget is the meal we had on the first night there. It wasn’t anything flash just a clam chowder but the way it was presented in this hollowed out bread was to die for. I had others while in Vegas but the one is Caesar Palace was the best.

Something else we noticed in Vegas was there was a lot of people trying to make a few bucks off the tourists. In Hollywood they normally dressed up as movie stars or did performances on the sidewalk but in Vegas they were a different breed. Sure there were some who were showing their talent by playing a musical instrument or something, but in Vegas a lot of them just sat around holding signs. A sign might say something like; “Why lie, I need money for a Jack Daniels”. Another might say, “Why lie, I need money for a whore!”. I’m sure you get the idea. I couldn’t work out who would give money to these guys until someone sake me to take a photo of him and his girlfriend. I said, “NO worries mate, what do you want to use as a background?” Instead he lead me to one of this guys and posed next to him. I took the photo and the bloke them paid the one with the sign. Looks like there are money making opportunities everywhere, you just have to look for them. I’m sure we can apply this to blogging or just about any online venture.

You may remember that I mentioned the incredible size of these hotels, well it’s not too hard to believe when you take into consideration how competitive they have to be to fight for their share of business. They have to be more than just a hotel or casino, they also fight for the entertainment and shopping dollar. The more they can capture your attention they greater the possibility of removing some dollars from your wallet. Take this picture of the gondola singer, it looks like their outside doesn’t it? Nope, we’re actually inside The Venetian and those canals ran through it. Even though it seems we’re outside the ceilings were painted to look like the sky so rain or shine the customer is always protected. Not that I would imagine it raining that much in Nevada, Vegas being in the desert and all.

The arcades within the hotels were filled with shops and I have to say most of them were geared at the women. I reckon the ladies in Vegas had a ball, especially considering that it’s always been my experience most of them live to shop. We work our butts of to make the money and they work theirs off spending it. As you can see in this next photo my wife is checking out some bags to add to her collection. I’m constantly amazed at the amount of bags and shoes women have to possess. It must have something to do with being brainwashed by Sarah Parker in Sex In The City. You may also notice from the photo it seems we’re outside, but again the ceiling has been painted to give that appearance and we’re actually inside.

Don’t get me wrong though, there are heaps of things to buy in Vegas, not just shoes and bags. There are heaps of designer shops selling all those expensive brands but we didn’t do much except window shopping, and near then end I waited outside as I soon tired of looking at crap that I had no intention to buy, not the wife though. Perhaps if Vegas wasn’t so stingy and let me win a few bucks instead of just taking it all.

Here in Australia we have something that’s called a toffee apple. It’s basically an apple on a stick and the apple is covered with toffee. I suppose the idea behind it is that you stuff your teeth up by eating the toffee and then it’s the apples job to clean them thereby keeping the dentist away. Well, over in Vegas they had something along the same idea but as usual for those Yanks, they’ve taken it one step further. I have to admit though, they looked pretty yummy and the names were obviously meant to entice you. They had Thunder Crunch Apple, Chocolate Pecan Apple and Chocolate Walnut, just to name a few.

While in Vegas and Hollywood we were never lucky enough to come across any celebrities but apparently they are well known to pop in, and I don’t just mean the ones working the shows. There was this one particular store that used to be a favourite of Michael Jackson. I remember seeing a show once where they filmed Michael walking through the store and as he walked through he was basically buying everything that caught his eye. I would have loved to take some photos of the inside of the store but unfortunately that wasn’t allowed so you have to settle for this one of the store window display. In case you’re wondering we didn’t actually buy anything in that store because as far as we were concerned the prices were outrageous. I’m not saying the merchandise was overpriced, just that we weren’t prepared to outlay that much money, after all, I’m just a poorly paid blogger, I’m sure as heck haven’t got Michael Jackson’s pocket book.

If you ever make it to Vegas just make sure you take a camera with you. I took my Canon EOS 550D SLR (See all Digital SLRs) but because I didn’t want to leave any of the lenses behind I brought my Lowepro SlingShot 202 AW (See all Camera Cases) along. The Lowepro made it easy to carry all my camera gear including my digital camcorder and batteries.

I will be doing a few extra posts covering my time in Vegas but for now I will leave you with this photo of a ceiling in the Venetian. If memory serves me well that store that Michael Jackson used to frequent can be found right under this ceiling, just remember to bring lots of cash.

Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2011

Before telling you about leaving Los Angeles via LAX, weird name for an airport and what’s the X stand for anyway , I should tell you of my experience upon our arrival there at the beginning of the holiday. I’ve been to several airports but LAX was the first one that digitally took my finger prints as well as doing a retina scan. Weird, but I reckon it’s all been brought about because of what happened on September 11. Leaving for Las Vegas was simpler, we just had to remove everything from our pockets, belts and even shoes. We were cool about it, the only ones complaining were the Yanks.

OK, so we left LAX and landed at the Las Vegas airport, and what was the first thing we saw upon entering the airport? A whole heap of slot machines, unlucky ones at that. Ah, who am I kidding I didn’t have any luck at Vegas but I sure did enjoy myself.

We stayed at the Bellagio and I have to tell you it was the most beautiful hotel I’ve ever seen. This is a shot of the Bellagio Fountain, and believe me when I tell you it was spectacular.

If you’re ever there the fountain appears regularly depending on a few factors. From Monday to Friday between 3pm and 8pm its every half hour and between 8pm and 12am its every 15 minutes. On weekends and holidays it starts at 12pm. What is really amazing is that the shows are different and each time the fountains appear they dance to whatever music is playing. Don’t forget to watch the video I took at the end of this post.

Upon entering the Bellagio we were presented with a stunning chandelier. These two photos were taken from the foyer.

Once we had checked in we went to our rooms to deposit the luggage and to do that you had to walk through the casino, a common factor in all the casinos we visited while there. Obviously they hope to suck a bit of cash from guests as they walk through.

Let me tell you, the casinos in Vegas are huge and the Bellagio was no exception. I could flood this blog with the photos I took but I don’t want to bore you with the hundreds of photos I took. being spring and all a lot of the hotels had a spring them but I didn’t see one that matched the Bellagio.

This painting was actually made of flowers and again it was pretty big.

If you’re ever at Vegas you have to visit the Jean Philippe Patisserie. Why? Because their coffee and food is great and the cakes are to die for. You can even watch as they make the most delicious crepes with fillings of your choice. While there be sure to check out their chocolate fountain, it’s the biggest in the world.

You can head on over to my Flickr account if you want to see more photos, and I will be uploading more as I get time.

You may well have noticed that the photos of the Bellagio although identical are dramatically different. This is all thanks to an app I was introduced to by Carolyn in her post, Dynamic Light: Enhance Your View Of The World! That was a great find Carolyn and I appreciate you putting me on to it.

But now, what you have all been waiting for, The Fountains Of Bellagio!

If you like the video I would really appreciate you giving it a thumbs up on the YouTube site, and while you’re at it a tweet wouldn’t go astray.

Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2011

As we walked along Venice Boardwalk it was almost like being immersed into one of those Hollywood movies I love to watch on TV. It was full of colourful characters as well as many interesting stalls. Something that literally knocked my socks off was the Kush Doctors of which there were several on the boardwalk. You’re going to love this. Apparently if you go to one of these doctors complaining of a bad back or something they’re quite happy to prescribe some marijuana tom ease the pain. You see, as long as you have a prescription it’s quite legal to use dope.

Muscle Beach Gym was one of the sites I really wanted to see while there, probably because I used to work out in my younger days and some of the Muscle magazines I used to read wrote about some of the famous body builders that used to work out there, specifically Arnold Schwarzenegger and Lou Ferrigno. Unfortunately there was only one guy working out and he definitely was no Hulk.

I mentioned the interesting characters, well here is a photo of a couple of musicians that posed with my wife Anna. We bought a CD from each of them and I have to admit although they didn’t look like much the music on them was really quite good.

Probably one of the most interesting character, sorry no photo, was this bloke who was walking around holding this sign saying that for twenty bucks he was willing to let anyone take a swing at him. Perhaps he was looking for an excuse to see those Kush doctors

There was actually quite a lot to see as well as a lot of merchandise available for sale including didgeridoos. Now what’s with that, they can’t find enough American souvenirs they had to resort to selling Aussie stuff? My only regret was we didn’t stay there longer so that we could have really soaked up the atmosphere. If you’re ever in California I recommend you do more than just a casual visit to Venice Beach.

Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2011

First thing  first though, before I could upload the photos I needed to find a new site for them. I didn’t want to host them with my blog host because I didn’t want to use up all that band width. After doing a lot of research I decided that the best site to host my photos was Flickr! I have to admit the fact that Flickr was free did help to sway my choice but once I started using it I was happy that I chose them.

As you would expect having two photo blogs meant that it was only a matter of time before I used up the free portion of my account but once I did I didn’t hesitate to go for the 2 year Flickr Pro account for $2 a month! I haven’t looked back since. The thing is I was so busy uploading photos and displaying them on my blogs that I completely forgot to edit my profile. I did it late last night linking to my photo blogs and to this one as well. I will definitely have to go back and jazz it up a little, after all, why let all that potential link juice go to waste.

One of the things I like about flickr is you can choose how to classify your photos. You can make them open to the general public, to friends and family or you can make them completely private. The only ones I make private are those that have no photographic value like those where you’ve grabbed a screen to show people how something is done.

Anyway, enough about Flickr, I’m sure you all know how good it is, now to show off a few more photos from when I was in Los Angeles. People if you go to California you have to go down to Santa Monica beach, which is on the end of Route 66. We only spent a short while there as we were on a tour but you could easily spend so much more. I took these few shots while on the Santa Monica Pier. They say that everything in the States is big but I have to admit I was shocked to see an amusement park on the pier itself. It’s even got restaurants, an entertainment and other retail establishments.

This beautifully maintained merry-go-round was housed in one of the buildings.

Naturally you’ll find this ride outside.

What was that I said, everything in the States was big? Well not when it came to buying a hotdog and fries. They were the smallest I’ve ever seen. I could have eaten all these myself but I thought I should share them with the wife.

Just one thing before I go, I feel pretty safe with Flickr because it’s all part of Yahoo and I can’t see them closing their doors anytime soon.

Edit: After reading the comments there seems to be a little confusion as to how the Pro account differs from the Free account and so I thought I would add this to the post.

• Unlimited photo uploads (20MB per photo)
• Unlimited video uploads (90 seconds max, 500MB per video)
• The ability to show HD Video
• Unlimited storage
• Unlimited bandwidth
• Archiving of high-resolution original images
• The ability to replace a photo
• Post any of your photos or videos in up to 60 group pools
• Ad-free browsing and sharing
• View count and referrer statistics

Compare that to what you get with a Free Account:

• 300 MB monthly photo upload limit (15MB per photo)
• 2 video uploads each month (90 seconds max, 150MB per video)
• Photostream views limited to the 200 most recent images
• Post any of your photos in up to 10 group pools
• Only smaller (resized) images accessible (though the originals are saved in case you upgrade later)

 

Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2011

It would be unreasonable to expect that no matter where you go in the States they would treat you like pure gold. There were a few places where the service was shocking. The first happened to be in the Bank Of America. As there were a few questionable people hanging around the ATM I decided to go into the bank to withdraw some cash. After walking through this weird system, obviously something to do with security, that involved two doors where only one person was allowed to enter at a time.

I approached a female bank teller about withdrawing some cash. Man, what a sour puss, I reckon she must have missed out on getting laid that morning. Anyway, she says she needed to see my passport to which I replied I only had my driver’s licence on me, which happened to be acceptable everywhere else we went whilst there, Nope that wasn’t acceptable but I was welcome to use the ATM outside. I’m sorry but that made no sense to me whatsoever, it’s not like the ATM could check my ID. What really cheesed me off was her condescending attitude.

Another occasion of bad service happened at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas. Let me set the scene by quoting what Caesars Palace says about the Spanish Steps.

The warmth of the sun and cool desert breezes. Imagine the ambiance of Spanish Steps, where you can enjoy a frozen fruit cocktail amid the outdoor market atmosphere of the Roman Plaza. The Spanish Steps in Rome were completed in 1725 and lead to the Trinita dei Monti. Like the original, the Las Vegas Spanish Steps serve as a vibrant, outdoor meeting place.

Yep, it was our last day in Vegas and Anna and I had some time to kill before catching our plane back to LA and then home. We had walked past the Spanish steps the night before and thought it would be great to relax there while sipping a frozen cocktail. We approached the bar where they had two empty containers representing the sizes available. I pointed to the smaller of the two and said, “I will have two that size, one watermelon and one lemon.” He came back with three and I said, ” Sorry mate I only asked for two one of each flavour.” “No,” he replies, “you asked for two watermelon and one lemon!” I argued the point which caused him to pick up the spare frozen cocktail, hold it in the air in front of me and then to drop it in a bin, making it plain that he wasn’t at all happy.

Sorry, that’s no way to treat a paying customer. Firstly you never argue with a customer, that’s why they have the old’ The customer is always right’ saying. Secondly, you never try to make a customer feel small by using actions meant to intimidate him. Needless to say he didn’t get a tip.

There were a few others but they were minor and not enough to spoil our holiday. I only mentioned them to prepare others for when it happens to them. It’s unreasonable to expect everyone in the service American service industry to be perfect, because no matter where you go in this wonderful world of ours you’re always bound to come across some bad apples.

Something else I noticed while over there is that so many place offer their customers an incentive to encourage them to return. It got me to wondering what we as bloggers could do to encourage our readers to do the same. Most of these have been covered in previous posts but I think, especially for the new readers, I will touch briefly on them again.

• Go DoFollow: Don’t worry about all those bloggers who tell you it’s wrong to go dofollow because it will increase your spam and it will ruin your PR. There are plugins to deal with spam and I’ve been dofollow since day one and I’ve still managed a PR4.
• Install Commentluv: A great way to reward customers is to install the commentluv plugin. Once they learn that commenting will give them a titled link for their last blog post, and if they’re a member they can choose from their last 10 posts, they will continue to return for more.
• KeywordLuv: Another great plugin to reward those who comment on your blog. This plugin allows them to leave their name and a keyword and you all know how important keywords are to SEO.
• Keep It Simple: By this I mean don’t make it difficult for people to comment. Most people are busy and they do not want to jump through hoops just to leave a comment so forget those stupid captchas and comment systems that require people to be logged in, such as Disqus and Intense Debate, to leave a comment. Rather than those captchas use GASP instead as it’s the simplest way of defeating those damn spam bots.
• Return The favour: What better way to reward your commentators than to visit their blog and leave a quality comment in return. I’ve found this to be the best way to build long term relationships.
• Subscribe To Comment Plugin: This is one that many bloggers forget and yet it can bring a lot of return traffic. There are a lot around but make sure you select one that only sends out an email when someone replies to a comment directly and not one that sends and email every time someone leaves a comment.

Naturally you also want to provide the best content possible because if they don’t like what you’re putting out there isn’t much incentive to return. I thought about offering a free eBook but then that may be good for getting them to sign up for a list but it’s only a one time offer so it won’t necessarily get them to return on a regular basis and that’s what we really want now isn’t it?

Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2011

As one would expect when walking down any beach-side resort the one thing you will see plenty of is pretty women and the Gold Coast was no exception. Naturally you all know how I feel about pretty women but it’s pretty damn hard getting a photo next to one when you’re dragging your wife behind you. Sure I could have sneaked one when she and Nadia were off gallivanting in any of the multitude of stores, but I didn’t feel right about doing that.  What to do, what to do?

It was while Frank and I were walking down Surfers Paradise that we spotted this simply gorgeous Meter Maid. Her name was Pernilla, she was a beautiful blond and how could Anna deny me this fine memento of Surfers Paradise? Obviously she couldn’t, especially when I brought Frank into the picture. So, while Frank and I posed next to this beautiful piece of womanhood, Nadia snapped several photos.

As you can see from the photo, there is no way you could wipe the grin from my face. Strangely, even though I’ve seen this photo more than once it’s the first time I noticed Frank had his arm around her. Way to go Frank.

In case you were wondering, there was a time in the 60′s when the local council decided to introduce parking meters along the Gold Coast. Naturally there were those who thought this would drive tourists away and so some bright spark thought of Meter Maids. These were pretty women who would put coins into expired parking meters so that people wouldn’t get a ticket.  As you would imagine it was a great hit and Meter Maids are, lucky for Frank and I, patrolling the streets of Surfer’s Paradise.

These gals even have their own website, Surfers Paradise Metermaids, complete with photos and a short history. It seems though, because of the advent of the new ticket dispensing machines, that these beautiful women can no longer fulfill their purpose. Luckily for us the fact that they’re such a tourist attraction guarantees their survival.

Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2010

Anyway, while there we decided we would visit Australia Zoo but first we had to make a stop in Brisbane because Nadia, my daughter, wanted to buy some jewelery at Tiffany. She ended up buying a Tiffany & Co. Ring to match her bracelet and a necklace. She also managed to score Tiffany earrings for a Christmas present.

Meanwhile Frank, my son, and I whiled away the time by doing more manly things like walking down the mall perving on all the sheilas of which there was a plentiful supply.

Once the shopping was out the way we drove to Australia Zoo in Beerwah Queensland. While originally a reptile park started by Rob his father, Steve turned it into the wildlife park it is today. Ever since his death in September of 2006 I’ve always wanted to see what he managed to create and I was ecstatic to finally walk through the gates.

One of the first things we saw was this lifelike statue of Steve, Terri, Bindi and his son Bob. The sight of it actually got Anna, the wife, a little teary eyed as she thought of how his family must have felt losing their husband and father. I have to admit that I felt a little sad at the thought myself, a feeling that presented itself on more than one occasion as we walked around this remarkable Zoo.

We walked past a ‘photo wall’ which was filled with hundreds of photos of Steve Irwin and his many accomplishments. I managed to take this shot of one of those photos which was pretty difficult because of the reflections on the plastic that was covering them. It’s of his wife Terri who Steve met while performing at the park in 1991. Apparently it was love at first sight and they married in 1992. It was obvious that the two were very close as Terri was involved in many of Steve’s adventures. She obviously knows more about the man than anyone else and her book Steve & Me may well please many Crocodile Hunter fans.

Talking about crocodiles, we just had to take be a part of the show at the The Crocoseum and while it was thrilling to be a part of the show it was a little sad to know that Steve would never thrill the crowds again.

The show involved more than just showing the crowds how the crocs attack, it was also about educating them as to how they live in the wild. We were also treated to charming staff that walked amongst the crowd whilst holding snakes as well as a cool display of colorful birds as they flew around the stadium.

As we walked around we were amazed at the quality of the Australian Zoo. All the staff were so friendly and the grounds were spotless. Our next stop was to visit the elephants as Nadia has always had a thing for elephant trinkets. We managed to get there during their feeding time where these gracious Asian Elephants, Siam, Sabu and Bimbo were fed by the enthralled crowd. That’s Nadia feeding one and Frank waiting patiently in line behind her for his turn. It must have been quite an experience as they lined up for another go.

Naturally if you’re in Australia you can’t leave without checking out the koalas. I snapped this shot of mother and daughter as the baby koala was reaching around her mother in her efforts to snatch a nice tasty eucalyptus leaf or two.

The koala walk itself was very entertaining as there were heaps of them and you could get very close to them. There was even one that you are allowed to pet, and who wouldn’t want a photo of themselves petting a cute Koala?

While I was loving the walk amongst the Koalas I was kind of thankful that there was a glass wall separating my family and this stunning Tiger. I’ve always loved cats but I just can’t see myself petting this regal specimen. Still he didn’t seem to bother his two handlers that were quite happy to do more than just stroke his fur.

All in all it was a great day and the only drawback was that we didn’t get there earlier because there was so much more to see. I got to admit though that one of the highlights of our time at Australia Zoo was while walking past the wombat enclosure. While I was trying to get a good shot of these slow moving marsupials Nadia’s startled scream got my attention, and I was wondering what could have frightened her. I knew we had left the tiger behind, the emus, she hates those, were nowhere near. So what could it be? It was just this small lizard. Sorry Nadia if Frank and I teased you a little over that.

I reckon if we ever go back we will make a day of it so we definitely won’t be stopping along the way to do any shopping at Tiffany, that’s for sure.

I would like to finish off the post with a little poem to honor Steve Irwin, Crocodile Hunter.

Memories of the Wildlife Warrior!

Steve Irwin, Known near and far
Steve Irwin, conservation star
He was an Aussie like no other
He was a real crocodile lover

Steve Irwin, Wildlife Warrior
Steve Irwin, Aussie Ambassador
He was an Aussie, real true blue
Loved his country like me and you

Steve Irwin, Crocodile Hunter
Steve Irwin, the loving father
Bindi and Bob, the kids he adored
Terri his wife, he loved all the more

Steve Irwin, animals his passion
Steve Irwin, always ready for action
He was a real Aussie type bloke
Would use a snake as a practical joke

Steve Irwin, would jump a wild croc
Steve Irwin really loved to shock
People loved to watch him perform
His action sometimes raising a storm

Steve Irwin, his father’s best mate
Steve Irwin, he never knew his fate
He died doing what he loved
The world has lost their beloved

Steve Irwin, forever in our hearts
Steve Irwin, your memory shall never depart
CRIKEY, your shout to all who were near
A good Aussie bloke, a man with no fear.

This is a photo I took of a mural of the great man that I found at the park.

Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2010