Feb 20, 2013
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Next stop in Australia was Adelaide on the South coast of
Australia. We decided to take a bus out
to the Cleland Wildlife Park. We joined
the couple (Calista & Eddie) from the ship that does the Floral
arrangements as well as 1 other couple on a city bus headed to our destination. We made a transfer that was so seemless, the
other bus was just sitting there waiting for us. After about 50 minutes total, we arrived at the park. .jpg)
We purchased food to feed the animals roaming through the park. Our primary purpose though was to hold a koala. South Australia is one of only 2 states within Australia that allow you to actually hold them. When we got to the front of the line, the keeper informed us that “C” wasn’t tall enough to hold the koala.
The issue is the
keeper holds the koala and transfers him from her shoulder to the tourists.
When they transfer to a child, the koala associates it with going to a lower
(and thus weaker) branch. This is
something that is terrifying to them and they are not comfortable and want to
go back to the keeper. Once “C” got over
his disappointment he did realize he could touch the koala while I held
it. We did get a wonderful picture and I
fulfilled a lifelong dream to hold a koala.
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| a quiet moment with a joey while mom is nearby |
We also fed kangaroos and other local Australian animals- (potoroos and bandicoots).
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| a potoroo or bandicoot- hard to distinguish |
There were lots of cool birds including a Cape Barren Goose and the biggest pelicans I have ever seen. We also saw emus roaming about, are they ever huge close up.
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| emu close up |
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| cape barren goose |
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| a dingo |
The other cool animal we saw were the dingoes. They really look like a fox and a wolf. The story about eating my baby is a bit suspect according to the info here- they are likely to run from humans, not attack, but who knows.
As we were leaving the park and waiting for the bus to arrive, a real wild kangaroo hopped by in the brush. It was pretty cool to see even though we had just seen so many wandering around in the park.
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