Caversham Wildlife Park

On our first full day in Perth (Western Australia) we set out to do the one thing we both really, really wanted to do. If we didn't do anything else on this one month Australian adventure, we wanted to hold a koala or at least touch one.

Well, we didn't get to hold one (we're still looking for a place to do that), but we did get to pet one--AND we got to feed kangaroos and hold a wombat. I don't know which part we liked best, but we had a blast. We were like 2 kids at Christmas, running from one animal to the next, standing in line long before the animals were available to hold or pet. By far, this has been our favorite day in Australia!

Here are the highlights:

Brian petting the koala. In the 'koala encounter' there was 1 male koala named Rocky, his 5 wives and 1 joey. This is one of his 5 wives. We didn't know what to expect, but they were very soft to the touch. At the time, this koala and Rocky were the only 2 awake. Later on, more woke up for a few minutes, but for the most part, slept!



Here's Rocky. Notice his head tipped back and his mouth open. He's squealling and grunting like a pig--this is his call to anyone who can hear that he is the dominant male and these 5 koalas are his. We were told it was a warning for us and the female koalas. From what we understand, a male koala will mate with several females but then have nothing to do with them or the joeys afterward. In fact, they have to protect the joeys from the father as they grow and get older.



One of the females eating. It takes them forever to eat one eucalyptus leaf!

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The joey sleeping. Babies of any species are cute to watch sleep!



Both of us holding a wombat! By the way, I'm looking at her that way because she just pooped on me! She was still cute though! We're holding her under her front paws with both arms because she wiggled a lot, but we were able to pet her on either side as we held her. Like the koalas, she was very soft. And yes, she's a little tubby--but don't tell her that!






This was one of the more interesting animals: A spectacled flying fox. They were of course, asleep as it was day time and they are nocturnal. They look much like bats, only their wings are huge! One of them opened up and stretched while sleeping and we were shocked at how big they are. While sleeping, they tuck themselves inside their wings and cover their eyes.



A tasmanian devil! He was really entertaining to watch and reminded us of the cats: he ran the exact same pattern in his habitat about 8 times in a row at top speed before crashing for a quick nap. Occasionally, he would veer off of his path a litle, but as soon as he realized it, he'd backtrack and get back on!



Feeding the kangaroos! These were just some of our favorite shots. Lots more photos of our time at the park are on the website (as well as our other adventures) Feel free to wander over and check them out.

Brian kept the food in his pocket and he had a 'friend' following him. When he took the food out of his pocket, his friend was waiting patiently for him to hand it over!



This kangaroo needed some dental work! As far as we could tell, this was the only tooth he had, so it took him extra long to chew, but he certainly was cute and very photogenic!



Kangaroo yoga! Actually, he was scratching, but it was hilarious to watch!






More photos to come! I promise!