Carrie has lived in Australia for nearly four years, and this being Sue's third visit to her, they've already done many of the tourist-y things that I am eager to do this trip. They are very indulgent when I request that we take an outing to see some of the (captive) native animals of Australia and hopefully learn a bit more about the unique wildlife culture evident here down under.
Oh, and I also want to take a picture with a koala!!
Not far from the Hall home, here in the lush Sydney suburbs, is the Koala Park Sanctuary.
It is a smaller scale type zoo which specializes in displaying the native wildlife of Australia in
what one would hope would closely resemble their natural habitat. (although I don't
think that wombats sleep in an overturned barrel in the wild)
This morning after dropping the kids off at school we make the short drive over to
the Sanctuary to spend the morning walking the pathways among the enclosures
and meeting face to face some of the native inhabitants of the Hall's adopted country.
brochure for the park - we see roos and pose for a photo
with the koalas, but there was no sheep shearing going on during our visit
Eager to "absorb the sounds and aromas" of the park we hustle in
to see some of the exotic creatures which are to be found here
there are also dingoes, emus, fairy penguins, cassowaries, kookaburras
and lorikeets, among many other interesting things....
we try to see all of the native inhabitants, but are most eager to see
the ones for which Australia is famous for
The kangaroos are in a petting zoo type of enclosure, we could walk in and amongst them,
getting up close and personal. They were quite docile and were just lounging around taking
a leisurely mid-morning nap. Once they learned we hadn't purchased feed for them at the
front of the park they were far less interested in us, and for the most part ignored us.
front of the park they were far less interested in us, and for the most part ignored us.
This roo seemed to have at least a teenager stuck in her pouch.
We imagined that she was giving her youngster a "time-out", a sort of
"this punishment is harder on me than it is on you!" type of scenario.
They were cute and soft but they were all sort of scratching themselves repeatedly,
and I didn't really want to touch one of them.
Then we went to see the iconic Koalas - they were in their own showcase island
of trees - there were at least 7 or 8 of them lounging in the trees, all in various stages
of slumber and repose. It was interesting to see them so relaxed yet so firmly
planted in place in the narrow "v" of the tree.
Some were much harder to spot than others among the branches.
munching on a leaf
This Koala was awake and seemed to be quite the charmer.
He started out with his leg tucked up,
but soon stretched it out a bit
sleeping so sweetly
We watched them feed the koalas and listened to a brief introduction on
their behaviour and their place in Australia's wilderness,
then we were able to pet and pose for some pictures with this one.
His name was Sean (for Sean Connery) and he was so soft!
Next to the niece and nephews this is the cutest thing I've seen so far in Oz.
After the Koala Park and before we head over to pick up some kids from school we stop
for lunch and some shopping at the local mall. Mostly notable is how the grocery stores
are on different levels of the mall, and trolleys are free to be taken and roamed about with
through various locations, including the food court, as seen below.
a selection of Aussie sweets
As well as getting lunch and groceries, Carrie takes us to the Chinese dollar store in the mall
which sells some cheaper (in every sense of the word) Australian souvenirs (not that
we were complaining). Among other things Sue picks up this authentic bush hat commonly
worn by inhabitants of Australia's inner territories, aka the Outback. Why the attached
swinging corks strategically placed all around the facial and neck areas you ask? Well,
that question will be answered thousands of times over when we head off on our girl's
getaway to Ayer's Rock and the Outback tomorrow....
For now just enjoy the very sportly Bryson looking
like a fair dinkum aussie young man here modeling the hat wear:
holding Sue's souvenir peacock feather from the sanctuary
Bonus track: Here is some live action video from the Koala park!
Complete with commentary from the three American girls
making their way into the many facets of Australian society.
Notice how about half way through the video
Mr. Koala loses complete interest
in us and looks the other way, refusing to look back.
(apologies for the iPhone quality)
(apologies for the iPhone quality)
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