Tuesday, November 3, 2015

Day 108 - Caversham Wildlife Park

I tell you, this was the cutest day I've ever had. The journey to the Caversham Wildlife Park, however, is pretty tedious. Going to the right train station by bus, by train to Perth, changing the train and finding the right bus again. Fortunately we didn't have to stop the bus at the right station for the Wildlife Park, because a friendly tattooed guy did that for us. Might our new outback hats signaled to him that we are bloody tourists? Don't judge me but when he talked to his friend every third word was "fucking" or "shit" haha. From the bus stop, it took a final 1.5 km walk through bushland and along an old tram track to reach the wildlife park.
 
 
 
A childhood dream came true. Right after we had lunch at 11.15, and right before the koalas had the lunch break (rather the rangers), we went to the koala site where we could meet some and even pet one. We were told that each koala is only "working" for half an hour a day. The rest of the day they're sleeping (18 to 20 hours a day), eating and resting from eating. If they move at all, they move very slow because these special gum trees that they eat, do not provide much energy.
 

We also saw "Tassies", Tasmanian Devils. Their appearance really reminded me (a little) of the comic figure. Their teeth frightened me quite a lot. Today they were silent. But once they bark, you are even frightened more - that's why these little creatures earned their "devil" name.
 
While some birds were held in large walkable aviaries, others like cockatoos, parrots, kookaburras, owls, or fruitbats were caged. When we arrived at the cockatoo cages, we were greeted with three "HELLOU"s! After some time the fourth cockatoo showed up (cockatoo couple with chicks) and immediately yelled "hellou" when he saw us (or his partner). We also heard some "HOWDOYOUDOU"s from them. Quite strange when you see two birds talking English to each other. There were also a few smaller birds that fitted through the grid to steal the apples from the bigger birds.
 
 
Coming to the main attraction: the kangaroos! I swear, I have never seen lazier kangaroos (maybe because I have never seen kangaroos in real but anyway). Most of them were just hanging around, because it was a hot day, we learned from a ranger. Some of them were even lying on their back, looking as if they wouldn't care about anything, like dogs somehow. When we returned at the end of our visit once again to the roos, we discovered a little one ("joey") in the pouch of her mother. HOW SWEET.
 
 
Some other kangaroo species (Wallaby) looked less like kangaroos and more like dogs, due to their long forelegs and smaller ears. The "real" kangaroos looked like dogs concerning the head and face.
 
As another highlight of the day we could meet the wombat and his friends! Amazing animal that was lying like a baby on the rangers knees and stomach, half sitting, being jolted somehow, being touched by tourists and still sleeping!!! And how huge this thing was, over 20 kilos.
 
The other "touchable" animals were a snake (I love that feeling, gosh), a few madly dancing birds (poor ones, totally confused by the noises), some cuddly possums, quolls, and the animal that we saw in Scarborough beach. We were wrong assuming it had lost its tail. We learned that the tail was normal like this, so that it looks like his head, or his head like his tail in order to confuse predators.
 
The reptile house was more disturbing... I always looked where these animals have their natural habitats in Australia, and was shocked about some venomous snakes living in the areas where we will hike the next week........... Aaaaahhh!
 
 
 


Can you count the flies resting on my fathers hat?
And we are just out of town, not even close to the outback!


More kangaroo shots and vids:
 

 
 


 


Other videos, e.g. from "hellou"-cockatoos, coming soon!
 

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