Kangaroos, Koalas, & Friends from Home!
Honestly, what more could you ask for?
Being in Australia, of course we had to find a way to connect with some of its most famous wildlife. And we couldn’t think of a more appropriate friend from home to enjoy all the mammals, marsupials, reptiles, and birds with than Cole and his mom Erin (our awesome neighbors, who also joined us for parts of Italy and will rejoin us in the Galapagos!).
Australia is a HUGE country. Seriously, it is 2/3rds the size of the United States (seriously, look at the overlay). Yet, at 21 million people, it has less than a 10th the population; more than half of which is concentrated in either Sydney or Melbourne.
So it’s big, but definitely not too crowded…with people. This leaves more room for all the animals. From Sydney to Kangaroo Island and then over to Phillip Island outside of Melbourne, we’ve seen some of Australia’s most iconic animals: Kangaroos, Koalas, Wallabies, Wombats, Dingoes, Echidnas, Kookaburras, Tawny Frogmouths, Penguins, even a couple Tasmanian Devils!
We thought we hit the jackpot when our guide took us to a wildlife center where we had special access to get up close and personal with a koala. I mean we were in the enclosure with him and able to pet him! All of us were on cloud nine.
We then moved to an open field where kangaroos and wallabies were lounging in the shade or grazing in the grass. These animals were so calm and comfortable with people that we could walk right up and pet them while they were eating or feed them seed right from our hands. Supposedly, kangaroos and wallabies are like deer in the U.S. I’m not so sure deer would be as fun to pet and interact with. These animals were so sweet and so cool to watch jump around.
After leaving the wildlife preserve, we took a short hike around Fitzroy Falls for a stunning view of the falls and an up close encounter with a male Lyrebird, which has beautiful long feathers and can mimic the natural and artificial sounds it hears in its environment.
Our friend had clearly been watching Star Wars because he sounded like he was shooting lasers from his mouth. I honestly couldn’t believe the sound was coming from him. I couldn’t get the video to upload, so hopefully, you can view it here.
Despite the name, we didn’t see very many Kangaroos on Kangaroo Island. In fact, the only wild ones we saw were dead on the side of the road or were on the mainland (just before leaving for or coming back from KI). It honestly became comical. To be fair, they had a horrible wildfire on the island in 2020 that burnt 90% of the area and killed many of the wild animals. Their koala population went from over 50,000 to under 10,000.
Kangaroo bones!
The highlight on KI though was the KI Wildlife Park where we got to HOLD a koala. Surprisingly, Paul and Sophia decided they’d prefer to hold a Python instead. To each their own.
In addition to the animals, we also enjoyed the beauty and nature around Sydney and its iconic harbor with sunset kayak trip. Despite all the amazing adventures and experiences we had, the kids were most happy being with their friend Cole. From playing a complicated game of zombie tag on the various playgrounds we passed to constructing intricate Minecraft worlds side by side on their computers, these kids were so thrilled to all be together.
Ben and I equally enjoyed having Erin there to catch up with. By far, the thing we’ve missed most while being on this trip are the rich conversations and easy laughs with our friends and family back home. We cannot wait for Erin and Cole to rejoin us and will continue to extend an open invitation to any of you reading this who want to join us in the future! We have some great destinations coming up….just saying. 😁
