a day at the zoo.

i went to the zoo today! yes, sounds random i know, but entertaining nonetheless. But yes, after a long morning of public transport, trains, trams, and more trams, katrina and i went to the zoo!

the zoo was good, it's always nice to go and see some unusual animals strutting about as if they're very ordinary sights, and indeed in some of the exhibits it seemed like the animals were the norm and the stupid, crazy people looking at them, goo-ing and gaga-ing ought to be the ones in the exhibit. i dont know why but i think its hillarious when grownups or little kids address the animals by honorifics.

and so, in keeping with what they've started i hereby present, the animals (or some of my favourites of the day, perhaps) of the zoo!!

number one is of course Mr. Koala.

that's right, by honourifics, i mean being addressed as a Mr. or a Mrs. what a bizarre title to apply to previously unaquainted animals! we caught Mr. Koala in one of his rare awake moments.

while we're in Australasia lets move onto the emu (ee-moo) as sydneyers(?) or someone pronounce it. Roy and HG do anyway. hahaha. love their Olympic dream shows. so classic. my favourite was a show of theirs where they were convincing Americans that your average australian family have the standard 3 emus for pets. what idiots! can u imagine if EVERY family had 3 of these giant things walking about the front or back lawn??

and god help you if you live in a flat or apartment! imagine if they slept on the bed with you, like a dog or cat?! i think i'd rather not wake up to a face like that in the morning! (my own is scary enough!)

I always manage to lose my way, but eventually find it the second time down the path (due to the damn confusing elephant trail misleading me) to the Butterfly house. i love it! the butterflies are so pretty!! and there are hundreds of them!


sooo pretty!! how gorgeous is the blue one, and it looks so perfect on the bright green of the leaves!!!!

whoever designed a garden full of butterflies for a feature at the zoo is now my second biggest hero, (next to Suzanne Scraggs of course! china trip people particularly lou will get this, that woman will always be my hero, with her larger than life resume and photo posted on a billboard in shenyang, and her 'C'MON KIDS!' bear hunt song teaching kiddies all about guns and grenades - who the hell uses handgrenades on bears i dont know, but that's suzanne for you! im so proud to have been teacher-trained by her personally! and of course that fleuro green tshirt lives on in my wardrobe!). this has gone completely off topic with one simple reference to a woman greater than god when it comes to english in china, however this paragraph is too long so it must come to an end. may her 3 person tandem bicycle, with her whole family wearing matching fleuro green Suzanne English tshirts peddling all around china, live on!

but, while we're on the topic of china let's move on to the next of the favourite animals at our zoo. that's right - the giraffe!

what's that? the giraffe's not chinese? true enough. however it is a favourite, of louise! i took this picture specially for her today.

while hanging out and sharing a dorm with Lou i discovered she has a fondness for giraffes. while she may have you believe it's got something to do with their beauty and gracefullness i'll have you know it's all rubbish and it's really all to do with their 'le-ing! (**pronounciation tip: completely close off the back of your throat and say 'ler' to rhyme with fur, while bobbing ur head forward on your neck!)

no doubt everyone is quite lost at this point, however i shall skip over a story about dirty nongcun women trying to abduct lou, and giraffes with good strong giraffey names like Gerald and Henry impersonating her and continue regardless.

another perhaps more secret reason for Lou's affection for giraffes stems from Frederick. who's he? wouldn't you like to know!!

let's just say late one night when we were trying to sleep in the dorm Frederick started talking to lou and they hit it off. (well, at least Frederick likes to believe that). still lost? haha. if you're lucky perhaps one day you'll get to meet Frederick too.

annoying he may seem at times, stupid, and a country bumpkin beyond belief at others, frederick was is and remains a very important part of late night sleep-deprived giraffe philosophy and medical/ psychological prescriptive diagnosis worthy dialogues. (and yes, perhaps i did need medical help myself on those occasions), but for now i present.... with another good strong giraffe appropriate name:

FREDERICK!

A close, unmatchable friendship was struck between Lou and Frederick and to this day i believe that this intimate bond is where her 'giraffe fondnes' really springs from. And with a last dedication to Aunt Lou, who is somehow my daughter, yet denies Leo is her father with 'if u were my father i'd kill myself!', and yet is Leo's grandma all at the same time...(oh, what drugs were we on in china??), and her short lived aquaintance with this little ridiculous ball of fluff aka Frederick or sometimes even BILLY!!!! he may look cute and innocent but be warned... do not let him start talking!!!!

speaking of which, someone stop me now.