Kangaroos, Koalas and Wombats, Oh My!

Terry is starting to feel better.

Braeden and his friend James. We met James when we lived here in 2004. He lived down the street from us and we enjoyed the time he used to spend at our house.

Caversham Wildlife Park is in Whiteman Park. This is where we met the kangaroos, koalas and wombats.

Kookaburra. This bird makes a laughing sound. We used to hear them in the early evening at our house in Floreat. I haven't seen any in the neighbourhood we live in now.

Grey-headed flying fox. A type of bat.

Pink Cockatoo

This kangaroo was chill'in in the sand on this very hot day.

Kangaroos do not sweat but lick their paws and lay in the shade on hot days to stay cool.

Red kangaroos relaxing in the shade.

Red kangaroo digging in the sand so he can lay down and cool off.

Joey having a drink from its mother. A joey is a baby kangaroo.

Derek feeding a red kangaroo.

Braeden feeding a little kangaroo.

Mrs. Abbott feeding a red kangaroo. The kangaroos were very gentle when they took the food from your hand.

A joey.

Derek and Braeden feeding a kangaroo.

Blaise petting a kangaroo.

Red kangaroo.

Derek has made a few friends.

Quick, take my picture!

White kangaroo and Blaise.

Linnea pets a red kangaroo.

Terry feeds a red kangaroo.

A white kangaroo.

A Gang Gang Cockatoo

A Barking Owl.

Red=tailed Black Cockatoo.

Blue-tongued Lizard. We were allowed to pet it on the tail. It felt hard and scaly.

A joey and Blaise.

Derek, Blaise, Big Bubs the Hairy-Nosed Wombat and Linnea. Bubs had coarse fur.
A wombat is a marsupial. It is a mammal with a pouch.

Koalas hugging a tree. Because koalas are nocturnal (they sleep during the day and are active at night) they were not awake when we visited. They only eat eucalyptus leaves which don't have a lot of protein so koalas don't have a lot of energy. They spend up to 20 hours a day sleeping and the rest of the time they spend eating. Koalas are not really bears. They are marsupials. They have a pouch that is differnt than a kangaroo's pouch. The koala's pouch appears to be downward facing just like the wombat's pouch. A kangaroo is also a marsupial. Kangaroos have a top opening pouch.

A baby koala. Baby koalas are called joeys just like baby kangaroos are called joeys.

Linnea petting Barney, the koala. Koalas have soft fur.

Koalas do not live in Western Australia. They live in the eastern part of Australia.

Linnea, Terry, Barney, the koala behind Blaise, then Braeden and Derek.

Echidna sleeping in a tree hollow.

Common brush-tail possum sleeping.

Red-tailed Black Cockatoo. This bird got very excited when we came by and starting flying towards us hitting against its cage.

A calmer Black Cockatoo.

A peacock.

I believe this is also a Blue-tongued Lizard.

Johnstone's crocodile.

Red Fox

Big black pig at Molly's Farm.

Turtle.

Camel. We saw camels in the wild when we were in up north in 2004 on the way to Karijini National Park. Camels are not native to Australia. They were brought here many years ago.

Tommy, the forty year old donkey was very friendly. I think he was hoping we would feed him.

Derek and Tommy.

Billy goat.

A Blue-tongued lizard was on our front step when we got home from the Caversham Wildlife Park. He looked just like the one we had touched at the park.

Another view of the lizard.

It has been a fun, hot week here in Perth, Western Australia. Terry is starting to feel better so we are able to get out and do more things together. On Sunday, November 14th we met our friend Jenny and her son James at Trigg Beach. Terry was able to come along and enjoy a sunny morning at the beach. It gets windy and hot in the afternoon so we met them at 8:30 in the morning. The beach was busy with lots of children taking surf lifesaving lessons.

On Monday, November 15, 2010 we took a 20 minute drive to Caversham Wildlife Park. Last time we were in Perth we went to this park twice because we liked it so much. We were excited to introduce Derek to this park because finally he would get to see and touch a kangaroo! Flat Mrs. Abbott was pretty excited as well to see kangaroos. Caversham Wildlife Park is within a state park called Whiteman Park. Whiteman Park has a train ride, a water park and a cafe as well as lots of bushland and trails to walk along. However, it was a hot day, about 34 degrees celsius and the water park was closed so we just took in the wildlife part of the park. The park is arranged so that animals that come from the same part of Australia are in cages or pens beside each other. There is also an area where we saw farm animals and nearby a few camels. Last time we were here the boys were able to ride the camels for an extra fee. They do not offer camel rides anymore. There was a show put on by the workers of the park where we met Big Bubs, the hairy-nosed wombat as well as a lizard with a blue tongue, a baby kangaroo as well as a number of birds. When we visited the park in 2004 we were able to hold a hairy-nosed wombat and a common wombat. The workers said that Big Bubs is too heavy for people to hold. She was pretty big, alright.

When we arrived at our home in Carine we were greeted by a blue-tongued lizard on our front step. I quickly snapped a picture before he scuttled away into the bushes in the front yard. It was the same type of lizard we had just touched at the wildlife park. Dave, brother of the owner of the house we are staying at, told us there was a lizard living in our yard and had asked if we had seen it before. This is the first and only time so far that we have seen the lizard.