Lions, Tigers, and Bears

DAY 13, SAT AUG 21 – No not really lions, tigers and bears, but sounds exciting right?  Exploring and taking in the nightlife, culture, and city got old fast so today I thought it was time to really see what Australia has to offer…their magnificent wild life!  In the afternoon I headed for Lone Pine…The worlds first and largest Koala Sanctuary. I was excited to see these cute little creatures.  I read in the brochure that there were other wildlife to see like kangaroos (aka joeys), emus, wombats, birds, dingoes, and gators.  It was going to be an action packed day. 

The bus ride took about half an hour or so but after this visit it was well worth it.  I quickly made my way to the entrance to get a closer look at the koalas and hopefully get to hold them.  Sadly I missed the koala talk, BUT not the feeding time.  Rangers were placing fresh eucalyptus branches for the koalas to eat.  Boy, did they get excited.  They climbed and hopped around, quickly making their way to the nearest branch.  While I took photographs as they ate, some of them winked at me a few times.  SO cute!  If they could talk, I imagined they were saying…oh yea that’s the stuff.  And after eating said…that hit the spot.   And although they probably winked because they were finally relieved to eat, I’d still like to think they were winking at me and saying hello.  I walked over to see if I could hold one, but when I read a sign it cost $39 to hold one and take a picture, plus the cost of a photo package.  I later found out that it only cost $15 to hold one and take the picture.  So sad I missed this experience.  But no worries, I won’t leave this country until I get to hold one!  Also I find it interesting to know that eating the eucalyptus leaves places the koalas in a sedated state…equivalent to being high on marijuana I suppose.  Funny association, but that’s what someone told me.  The leaves are the only things the koalas can eat because their bodies require the nutrients available only from the eucalyptus plant.  Despite this fact, I thought that this is the life…eat, sleep, and be merry.  No stress, work, or drama.  Oh wait…that’s what I’m doing J I know it won’t last too much longer but I’m going to make the most of it for as long as I can. 

After taking a lot of pictures, I walked over to the kangaroo area.  I walked around observing them in their own element and soon found out that you can feed them.  Oh lord…now this is going to be a real treat!  Not only do I get to see them up close, I can actually come up to pet and feed them.  I was SOO stoked but nervous too.  I heard that joeys kick and that’s a little intimidating because they have really strong legs.  But as I slowly came up to them they were nice enough to let me pet them, but some also ran off.  Hahaha. BUT a few were hungry enough to eat straight from the palm of my hand.  They’re tongues were a bit slimy but didn’t leave too much of their slobber behind. Lol.  I couldn’t believe I was in Australia feeding these joeys! 

Besides all the roos there were Emus too.  But before I began to feed them, a small boy warned me that they would knock the bag from my hand so hold on tight or hide the bag.  I didn’t believe it, but they were aggressive and were not scared or shameful of coming up and pecking at my hand.  Although it was fun to feed them, their swift pecks began to hurt my hand.  I quickly ran away from them before they could eat all my feed or my hand for that matter.  I made my way to the other side of the park to feed the rest to the red joeys.  There were so many hopping up to me and were more willing to eat the feed because they hadn’t eaten yet.  SO fun!

Once all the feed was gone I walked over to the parakeet park.  There were certainly A LOT of them.  They were going nuts during the feeding time, chirping loudly and flying swiftly past me in the air.  Many guests were holding the feeding wands while the birds landed on their shoulders and on the wand.  It was a bit scary for me, as I’ve been attacked by a bird before.  But I braved my fear and came very close to the feeding area to take photos of their colorful feathers. I tried to get up the nerve to hold one of the wands but they made me too nervous, even though I knew they wouldn’t attack me.

Next, I visited the other areas of the park where more birds were located (thankfully in cages though ironically I don’t like animals in cages.  But like I mentioned I’m a bit scared of birds flying over my head), a gator, huge lizards, farm animals and the Tasmanian devil.  The Tasmanian devil definitely didn’t look like TAZ the cartoon character, but still great to see one in person.  Lastly, I was completely surprised when I saw a sign for a platypus tank.  I never thought I’d actually see this creature in person, much less all the other ones I did get to see.  It was really cool to see the platypus swim in the murky looking water.  I definitely felt blessed to be in the presence of such beautiful and unique wildlife.  It’ll be an experience I’ll always remember.