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Well after about two months in Australia, I figured it was about time to see some real Aussie wildlife. The only animals and birds I had seen so far were small larakeets, while interesting and colorful, became very annoying. Cockatoos’, which were even louder than the parrots, flying fox, which are rather terrifying, and possums.
One of the guys I had been hanging out with, Martin, from Tasmania, suggested we venture out to Philip Island. The trip by car would take about an Hour and a half.
Philip Island was the place to go to see the famous penguin parade, the Koala reserve, and Kangaroo feeding. I couldn't wait. So we headed out for a day of adventure on the island.
When we got there, we headed to check out the koala reserve. We just walked through a gate into a huge open enclosure with a massive elevated board walk. At first I didn't see anything at all while we walked along the path. Then looking closer you could see almost all of the tree's had sleeping koala's in them. Unfortunately, none of them were awake. They weren't really even close enough to take a good picture of!
I hoped it got better than this. So on we went, until we literally stumbled into a koala sleeping right on the hand railing of the boardwalk! Now it was starting to get interesting. If only now I could see one move, just a little, an arm movement or an eye twitch, I could leave happy. So we kept moving nearing the end of the path, when we came across a koala walking down the handrail right towards us. Now I was excited. He wandered right up to us and just sat there sizing us up. I began to pull my camera out when some arrogant guy came running up with his super 300 inch telephoto lens, snapping pictures the whole way. He then started trying to pet the koala, which agitated him and he ran off into the tree's! I was not a happy camper. After this episode we left the reserve. None the less a great experience.
Next we headed out to a lookout spot called Pyramid rock, which was supposed to be a great spot to take photos of the Islands rugged coastline. Although a beautiful spot to take pictures, the wind was blowing about 100
kilometers an hour, so getting a good steady picture proved to be quite a challenge. This too was worth traveling off the beaten path to see.
After realizing I might have whiplash from the wind at pyramid rock, we went the Phillip Island zoo, were I would have my first contact with Australian wildlife. Kangaroos’ This was awesome. First you buy a bag of feed, and then you are allowed to wander around the zoo looking, feeding and petting some of the various wildlife. Tasmanian devils, wallabies's, flying fox's, and various birds. These animals were all in cages, except the kangaroos, which were in large pens which you were allowed to wander freely totally unsupervised. When we entered there was about 100 kangaroos all staring at us. It was clear they knew that we had food, and began storming towards us. This was very intimidating. I had no idea what to expect, and Martin was just laughing. Needless to say I was a bit nervous. Before long I realized they weren't going to hurt me, and soon I was petting and feeding them. This was excellent. I Had so much fun doing this.
The last stop on our
trip was to go see the famous Penguin parade. This event is pretty famous, as there isn't too many places you can go in the world to see penguins. But here at night, all the little penguins that have been out feeding all day come back to the sandy beach to find their nests and rest for the night. Although you are not allowed to take pictures of them, and most certainly not allowed to touch them, it was quite the experience. You sit in a roped off area just off the beach at sundown and wait. Before long hundreds of little penguins come jetting out of the surf and start waddling up onto the beach. Some are confused and go back into the ocean, but most pay little attention to the onlookers, and walk up the beach and disappear. After about an hour and a half of watching these little black spots run up the beach, and listening to Marty continually try to convince me that penguins do in fact eat jelly beans, we decided we had enough, and made our way to the car for our long journey back to St. Kilda.
All in all, Phillip Island
was a fantastic place. The highlight of my trip thus far, and I highly recommend it to all. Watch out for those Kangaroos though. I still don't trust them.
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