June 17: Train to Brisbane

            Today is my last day in Sydney! I Started my day by visiting the Sydney Tower Eye to view the city from a different perspective that’s over 1,000 feet high and gives a 360 view of the whole city. 

View from the Sydney Tower Eye

 After dragging my luggage across the street to the train station, I managed to find the correct platform and enter my train. The train ride was long 15 hours to Brisbane and I sat next to an older woman who was very interested in talking about the United States. She talked about everything from Trump to Tom Hanks. I told her about my research project and she talked about how Brisbane compared to other cities. Since Sydney is in New South Wales and Brisbane is in Queensland, she mentioned the different laws regarding koala bears. It's illegal to hold a koala bear in some states, but not others. In fact, the only three states that allow koala bear holding are Queensland, South Australia, and Western Australia. Since Brisbane is located in Queensland, I will be able to hold a koala bear at the sanctuary I am going to! Also in Brisbane, more than half of the cities wildlife is located on privately-owned land, so the city council started the Wildlife Conservation Partnership Program to aid with management and conservation of the native species. She kept explaining how the citizens work to conserve not only the native wildlife, but also water and other resources.