KANGAROO & KOALA PETTING!!!

Even though I posted first on the blue mountains, the zoo was actually our first stop on Friday before the Blue mountains and then the Opera House. I was the last person to get off the bus still groggy and tired, when we were met at the entrance by a zoo keeper holding a baby wallaby that we all had the chance to pet and hold. 

After that, it was off to races as everyone stormed into the zoo with tickets already in hand. Since we had quite a bit to do today, we were only allotted an hour at the zoo which was quite small. 

The next little critter we got to see was the wombat in the picture to the left. He was kind of preoccupied with munching on his carrots, but he does look like a miniature tank. I was told that wombats can actually total cars like deer in Michigan. I was told by some of the field hockey guys we play with that the reason this happens if because when wombats have a light shined on them in the dark, they freeze mid-movement. They talked about turning a flashlight on and watching the little guy stop moving and then turn it off and he goes about his night. 

I caught up to a few of the girls and Kelsey and I decided to take pictures with the lizzards.

We also got to put our hand out and have this creepy owl looking bird jump onto us, but the name of the bird was just too complicated to remember. A picture of this bird and myself are to the left.

Up next we got to hang out with some little guys who I met earlier in the trip at the WIldlife World in Sydney...KOALAS! I took a video because normally these guys never move and are just bundled up in a little ball, but not this hyper little guy so here it is..

The main attraction was obviously the Kangaroos. We entered a gated area where little baby "joey" kangaroos were hopping around, fuzzy grey ones were munching on the ground in front of a few visitors and the big guys stuck to feeding on lettuce out of their tin bowls.

This zoo is different then most zoos because the main focus of the zoo is personal interaction with the animals from petting to holding, feeding and even one friend of mine, got in a little boxing match with a roo.

Amanda and I spent time feeding the smaller kangaroos over the railing and I think they stayed in there because they weren't big enough to hop over it yet like the others. You can buy little cups of grass and grains for a dollar before you come in to hand feed them.

 These guys never showed even a hint of being scared of humans of all sizes even when little kids came storming after them. They simply just wanted to grab jewelry and hold onto your hand as they stuffed their little nose in your palm to eat.

The bigger kangaroos (who still were relatively small compared to older ones in zoos that won't let you pet them) didn't like the grains and grass but were given their own bowl of veggies to snack on as we probably annoyed them like crazy while they were eating.

One of those most hilarious moments though was when we were watching the kangaroos hanging out inside their little pin area. One Kangaroo decided he was done hanging out with the baby joeys and jumped over the railing(normal to do), but he jumped right into a 10 year old boy who didn't see the kangaroo and started to walk. The kangaroo knocked him almost on his butt and I couldn't help but laugh and then the boy looked at me and I felt really bad, but he smiled and looked excited he just got jumped on by one and probably went and told his friends.

There were other animals such as cute dingos, but we opted to hang out with the Kangaroos and Koalas the whole time..and don't worry, I'm not actually sitting on the Kangaroo and I'll post more photos when Amanda uploads the ones of us petting the koalas.

Hope you enjoyed the post...more to come on the Opera House, Paddington/Patty's Market, Harry Potter on the biggest IMAX screen in the world and our first professional rugby game...and how could I forget, my class and I getting our own shot at rugby and cricket in the park! Probably not the beset idea with a bunch of competitive college athletes :)

CHEERS

LOVE,

ME