I left the Australia Zoo and arrived in Noosa just after dark. I met a girl on the ferry from North Stradbroke who recommended Noosa National Park so I planned to spend a day or so hiking there. Noosa National Park is pretty small, only about 22 square kilometers, and it is a mix of rocky coastline and rainforest. I arrived around 8am and chose a route that took me through the rainforest and then back via the coastline.

I walked slowly, alternating between looking up at the tops of the trees for koalas and looking ahead at the path to make sure I didn't fall over anything. During one of my moments looking forward, I caught a glimpse of a huge snake on the side of the path! Scared the bejesus out of me! I could have so easily stepped right on it! I just stepped back a few feet (waiting for my stomach to descend from my throat) and it slithered across the path in front of me and down the hill on the other side. I didn't know what kind of snake it was, but I continued walking, looking only in front of me and on both sides of the path to make sure I didn't almost miss something else, and of course everything that rustled in the bush made my heart skip a beat, even if it was just a leaf falling from a tree. About 5 minutes later, there was another one with similar markings on the path. I did the same as before, just stepped back and waited for it to slither off, but this one didn't seem to want to go anywhere. After a few minutes, a guy came up from behind me, and I said "Hey, there's a snake here." He took one look at it and said "Oh, its just a python, its not venemous." And walked right up to it, grabbed its tail and dragged it off the path. He told me that he walks through the park everyday and it's very common to see pythons slithering around and that "In fact, just last week I saw one that was this big (made a circle with his hands that was about a foot in diameter) around!"

At that point, I could have cared less about koalas. I just wanted to get out of the forest. I got to the coastline and headed back toward the park gates - and voila! Koala! I wasn't even looking for them anymore after my snake scare, and just happened to catch a glimpse of the ball of fur while I was walking along the coast. It was really high in the tree, and I'm not sure how I saw it, but it was sleeping. It woke up for a few seconds just to turn its head and go back to sleep.

I found out there is a free shuttle that runs from Noosa to the Australia Zoo. I plan to go back and spend the day there tomorrow, where the animals are caged. I hear that the shows that they put on with all the animals are very educational. I figure it will be good also to learn a bit about all the venomous snakes and spiders in Australia, so that if I come across one that is poisonous, I'll know it. I'll even pay the admission fee this time... :)