On the trail of Lone Pine

We've just been on holiday to Brisbane again and this year we took the kids to the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary. Established in 1927, Lone Pine was the world's first koala sanctuary and is the largest, housing 130 koalas of all ages as well as other Australian natives such as kangaroos, wombats and crocs.

The Sanctuary has only recently reopened after the floods in January. Its location - the Brisbane suburb of Fig Tree Pocket - was one of the worst affected areas. Luckily staff had enough time to move the animals to enclosures on higher ground and no losses were suffered. Staff camped out with the animals to make sure they were safe and Sea World at the Gold Coast sent its helicopter with food supplies.

The koalas are housed in a number of different areas, depending on age. Joeys hang onto their mums in the Mother and Baby enclosure, toddlers are in the Cubby House and there is a retirement enclosure for koalas in their twilight years.

The highlight for most visitors is the chance to cuddle a koala for the cameras. In the gift shop are rows of photos of celebrities, including Eric Clapton, Jackie Chan and Mikhail Gorbachev, getting up close and personal with the Sanctuary's gum-tree dwelling inhabitants. I wasn't keen - having been reliably informed that they are prone to pissing on you - but the girls had a go.

The Sanctuary also has a large kangaroo and wallaby enclosure where you can wander about and feed Skippy with specially prepared food for sale in the gift shop. If you're lucky, like we were, you may even spot a joey in its mother's pouch.

The Sanctuary also has wombats, Tasmanian Devils, a platypus house and a selection of the most venomous snakes in Oz.

However, the highlight for me was the Aussie sheep dog show. A Bushie farmer in an akubra hat and with an accent so strong I don't think the Japanese tour party watching with us would have understood a word of what he was saying, demonstrated the skills these dogs require on properties so large they dwarf Wales. Once the sheep have been rounded up, the yard dog - trained in handling the sheep in the yard - takes over. He runs up and down their backs to keep them in order.

Next, in a scene reminiscent of the Thorn Birds, a Bryan Brown lookalike demonstrated how the sheep are shorn - although Ian, who worked on a property once in his youth, assured me this was a very sanitised version and that in real life the shearing is done in much less time and with a lot more cuts and nicks inflicted on the sheep.

Round the afternoon off with tea and cake in the cafe by the river, and you have an excellent family day out.