CB in Australia

Hello All from Down Under!



Since I am not always the very best about sending out emails I figured I would keep a blog while I am down here. Matt and I have only been here since Monday and already things have been fantastic. I have a few new roommates and we have been getting to know each other quite well. Three frogs, three turtles and lots of fish. So far everyone is still alive. Unfortunately one of the fish has mysteriously lost an eye. I will assume lost into the unmerciful snapper of one of the turtles.

The first froggy feeding was an experience. Since I happen to be one of the few people in the world who actually likes bugs feeding the frogs live crickets wasn't exactly high on my list of fun but for a free place to stay in Australia sacrifices must be made. After apologizing to the squirmy and I must say smelly cricket I waved him in front of the nose of the biggest frog in the tank. I expected a little frog tongue or maybe a small forward movement from the frog however did not expect a full on attack on my arm. Neither did I expect to scream like a three year old girl (or, Phyllis you will appreciate this...higher pitched than Jack can). After recovering from my scare I gave over almost all the other crickets to Matt ( I did feed one of the little frogs). That was Monday and HAPPY DAYS the other feeding day is Thursday aka today.



Tuesday, We had an all together different animal adventure when we
visited Ballarat Wildlife Park. This place was by far the coolest animal sanctuary I have ever been to! As soon as you walk into the sanctuary all you see is kangaroos laying around the grounds. We bought bags of food then proceeded to feed and pet and hugs LOTS OF ROOS!!! I was in animal heaven. They were so calm and gentle. The roos would put their hands in your hand to eat. There were quite a few mom's with joeys in their pouches. The kangaroos were free to roam all over the sanctuary. If they got tired of people there were areas they could wonder off to that human visitors were not allowed. If I was ever sad or upset about anything this place would be high on my list to go. I can't help but be happy when petting a kangaroo!


After the Roos we visited the Koalas. In Victoria it is against the law to let tourists hold koalas since it tends to stress them out and make them sick. However, the park did allow a supervised visit with a koala where you can feed them and have a picture taken. They only seem to allow a few of these a day in order to keep the koalas calm and healthy. Our koala friend was named Elliott. He was such a cuddly guy. He snuggled right up to me while I got to feed him eucalyptus. He was nice enough to hang out for a while and take some pictures. Then he got bored of us, climbed back in his tree and looked like he was getting ready for a sleep. Evidently they sleep over 14 hours a day. While we were hanging out with Elliott a few emus just strolled on by. The openness of the park and freedom for the animals was definitely the best aspect of the park. Even the enclosed animals had huge spaces at least compared to other zoos or animal parks I have seen.



Matthew was very popular with these little guys called Quokkas. At first there was only one fellow hanging out on the edge of their enclosure. Matt put some feed on the ground and
QUOKKA STAMPEDE!

We went to see the wombats and the girl, Coco, kept sneaking away from her keeper to say hello to the crowd. She obviously loved all the attention. One lady called her the Paris Hilton of wombats. She was rescued when a concerned driver pulled over to the side of the road and found a wombat had been hit by a car. The wombat died but the baby in her pouch was hand raised at the park and grew up to become the friendly albeit camera hog Coco. She has since had her own baby named Bean. Evidently, wombat breeding is not the easiest process especially in captivity so Bean is very special.


So....this is the first of my Australian adventures. I will post more soon. Miss all you guys!!! XOXOX CB