Thanks to a friend we got the tip that yesterday at Australia Zoo kids would get in free because it was Bindi Irwin’s 11th birthday. That saved us a few bucks and also meant that there was a heap more to do. It was a great day and well worth a visit.

After attending the main ‘birthday event’ in the mid morning we heard that there was a lecture on after lunch and that there would be a quiz following that lecture, where the winners would get to meet Bindi. Ellie’s ears pricked up and she shifted into ‘determined little girl’ mode, as she sometimes does when she wants something bad enough!

So we went along with a couple of thousand other people to this lecture on environmentalism and conservation. All very nice and then the questions came. I was off in lala land as I was quite bored until I heard that the little girl in the pink shirt with the white hat had been chosen. Ellie the introvert had jumped up and down and managed to grab sufficient attention to get chosen.

So we all meandered down the front where we took the stage and Ellie gave her answer. She was then given a monstrous wombat (need a spare suitcase to get it home) and several other very cool things.

Needless to say she was a very happy little girl!