The Australia Zoo

A sculpture of Steve Irwin's family greets you as you enter the main gate. 

There are plenty of photo opportunities with animals here, but by far the most popular one is to take a photo with a koala bear.

A zoo worker takes a wombat out for a daily walk. 

The Crocoseum is a large stadium showcasing crocodiles in freshwater ponds.  Shows there also exhibit other animals, especially birds. 

Steve Irwin's image in ubiquitous at the zoo.

You can walk around in an open environment and touch koalas at the Koala Walkthrough. 

There are plenty of lizards to touch.

Of course, the focus of the Australia Zoo is crocodiles. 

The zoo grounds are immaculate and gorgeous. 

You can hold an alligator if you're up for it!

One of the most iconic Australians of the past twenty years in American TV culture has been the crocodile hunter, Steve Irwin, of Australia.  People know him for capturing crocodiles, handling very poisonous snakes, doing crazy dangerous stunts, and his untimely death by a stingray barb off the coast of Australia.  What people didn’t know about him was that his life was directed at expanding and preserving a wildlife park an hour north of Brisbane called the Australia Zoo. 

The Australia Zoo was opened in 1970 by Steve Irwin’s parents and initially called the Beerwah Reptile Park.  Upon opening, the site was only about the size of an acre.  As time progressed the park would expand and gain funding due to Steve Irwin’s profits from The Crocodile Hunter television series.  Today the zoo is over 100 acres and there are potential plans to expand the area to over 1,000 acres.  The zoo is now a major tourist destination and a premier park for conservation thanks to Steve Irwin’s desire to turn the zoo into an information/preservation/interaction area. 

Some of the highlights of the zoo include a 5,000 seat “Crocoseum” where shows are conducted highlighting birds, snakes, reptiles, and (of course) crocodiles, a $5 million wildlife hospital was built a few years ago making it one of the best animal hospitals in the world, and extensive exhibits including walkthroughs where you can pet kangaroos and koalas.  Tourists can even pay to interact and take pictures with almost any animal in the park.  The grounds are spotless and the zoo is one of the most impressive parks you’ll visit, but the highlight is seeing the preservation work and the belief in Steve Irwin’s vision.   

Indonesia's Hindu temples and history

A view of Prambanan, the largest Hindu temple in Java.

Some of the high relief religious sculptures at Prambanan. 

The terraces leading up to the top of the massive Borobudur temple.

Stupas line the top of the Borobudur temple and are the iconic image of Buddhism here.  While there may be Hindu influence and built under the reign of a Hindu kingdom, Borobudur is ultimately a buddhist temple. 

Borobudur sits outside the city of Yogyakarta and amidst a fantastic valley surrounded by tropical mountains.  The stupas outline is easily seen even at daybreak. 

Hindu temples are abundant in Bali.  This temple is outside the cultural city of Ubud in central Bali. 

Part of the highlight in visiting an Indonesian Hindu temple are the great relief sculptures everywhere. 

Arguably the most visited Hindu temple is the Pura Tanah Lot in southwest Bali.  Located on the water, the temple can have amazing photo opportunities at sunset and is relatively close to the main population centers of southern Bali.   

Indonesia is known as the largest Muslim nation on earth.  The country is the fourth most populous with 240 million people, and 87% of those citizens officially identifying themselves as Muslim (Indonesians are legally required to register with one of the six state sponsored religions).  However, at only 2% the Hindu religion is still a force and great reminder of the history and culture in Indonesia. 

Hinduism came to the archipelago islands nearly 2,000 years ago via the traders of India.  As the conventional wisdom of power and trade for Indonesia was that he who controls the Melaka strip (the section of sea between the island of Sumatra and peninsular Malaysia) controls the archipelago.  Traders came from India and brought the influence of Hinduism that would last from the time of Christ up until the 1500s.  This era brought about great temples such as Borobudur and Prambanan (both built in the 9^th century) and created one of the most powerful empires in Southeast Asia’s history.  The last great Hindu empire in Indonesia, the Majapahit, slowly lost control of Sumatra and the Melaka straight to a growing influence of Islam from India.  The Majapahit fled to the island of Bali where their influence is easily seen today.  While Hinduism and their great empire fell to Islam and other outside influences, they still hold a political power and context in modern Indonesia.

The tourism island of Bali practices Hinduism in a different context from the rest of the world.  Their temples have a much larger open space that is protected by concentric gates rather than a main door to an enclosed building.  Nearly every community has a temple and regardless of religious practice, every Balian belongs to a particular temple.  Furthermore, Balians focus on more spirits and “animists” beliefs than traditional Islam, and have a particular affinity for the atheistic aspects of their religion via sculptures and paintings.  This last point is probably a large contributing factor in why tourists come to Bali for cultural reasons (the beaches, surf, and parties are already well known there).  Traveling around several islands gives a much larger cultural understanding of the different practices of religion on this very populous country.