Australian Wildlife Park Visit

Last weekend, I visited a local wildlife park to check out all the cute Australian animals. I hadn't been to this wildlife park for a very long time so I was interested to see how it had changed. The park had a great variety of Australian animals which you can get extremely close to and even touch some of them. The park is popular with tourists and the day I visited was the first warm day of the season so it was nice to finally get to experience some summer style weather for once. If you love cute animals and would like to know more about the amazing wildlife Australia has, please keep reading on to know how my adventure went.

First stop was to visit the Koalas of course. These cute guys are the star attraction of the park and there was a huge line to hold a koala. I've already done this experience at Featherdale Wildlife Park in New South Wales so I wasn't too interested in doing it again. Tourists just love koalas when they visit Australia, they go crazy for them! There was lots of enclosures for the koalas including this one which had quite a few chilling out. Koalas are extremely lazy animals and eat 1 to 2 kilograms of eucalyptus a day! You often see them asleep in the wild, the one near my place is always asleep.

After a quick stop for a hot drink, we headed off to one of the areas where you can hang out with the kangaroos. This was the area I remember the most from my last visit, it's on the side of the hill with kangaroos just lying about. There was a large number of roos in the area, most sitting in the shady spots near trees. You can go right up to the kangaroos and pat them as they are quite tame. At the entrance to the park, you can buy a bag of feed which you can give to animals around the park. I've heard quite a few stories of kangaroos kicking people for their food so I wasn't game enough to buy some because I'd rather not take on one haha. These roos weren't the biggest ones I've ever seen, you see much bigger ones in the outback or national parks.

Nearby was the wombat enclosure and there was a adorable little guy having a feed. Wombat feeding was earlier that morning so he was just finishing off his food. There were two other wombats but they were asleep in the burrows which you can see from a room that is lit up.

This wombat got a bit angry at his food bowl

Now these guys were so adorable! They are called Swamp Wallabies and have the cutest little arms. They're like t-rex arms! The Swamp Wallabies weren't as tame as the kangaroos and would hop off if you got too close. Managed to take a photo of one with a joey in its pouch and another adorable one that had just left its mum's pouch.

Joey Swamp Wallaby

Had to take a photo of the famous Magpie of course. This guy wasn't a exhibit, but a wild bird hanging around the park. You can find magpies in most areas of Australia and they are extremely common in suburban areas. They can kinda be jerks in the springtime as they love attacking people if they have a nest nearby. A lot of areas have signs that tell people to look out for swooping magpies. Cyclists even put spikes on their helmets to ward magpies off from attacking them. Magpies have a variety of calls and this guy was doing a bit of warbling when I took this photo.

Magpie having a warble.

After a long walk through a bushland area, we came to another open area with animals. This areas residents were emus and kangaroos. Emus are one of my personal favourite Australian animals and the little baby ones are so adorable when you see them. Emus are flightless birds but can run at fast speeds. I like to call them dinosaur birds because their large feet look quite prehistoric. The emus in this area were pretty chill but the grunting noises they make always freaks me out.

Also in this area was the kangaroo rest area which I thought was hilarious. It was a fenced off area which allowed kangaroos and emus to enter into and just chill out. There was heaps of kangaroos lounging around in the afternoon sun and enjoying the company. The area is located on the side of the hill which is part of a mountain range in the area. The kangaroos are lucky to have one of the best views of the city! 

What a life!

Upon exiting the emu area, you walk down a path surrounded by rocks. This area represents a regional area nearby and here you can find the Yellow-Footed Rock-Wallabies. From the name, you can guess why the area has all these rocks built up into hills. There was only one Rock-Wallaby that I could see and he was just sitting by himself by a rock. I hope he had some friends nearby :( We decided it was time to head back to the picnic area for lunch and spotted this cute mum with a little joey in her pouch. I couldn't work out from the park map to what mammal this was, but I'm guessing it's some sort of wallaby. It wasn't in a marked area for a certain animal and was just hanging out on a path near the koalas.

Yellow-Footed Rock-Wallaby

After a delicious lunch of sandwiches and the most amazing hot chips I've had in a long time, some of us headed off to the last part of the park we hadn't visited. It was quite a walk to the dingos and their enclosure was on the side of the ranges and was quite steep. There was lots of information about the dingo and how they came to Australia. I've seen a few dingos in the wild but they weren't as big as these guys. There was only two dingos which we could find and they were having an afternoon nap. The one sleeping upside down was quite amusing and rather cute. 

Dingos having a nap

The dingo area leads into the wetlands which features the usual wetland animals such as pelicans, ducks, swans and waterfowl. There was even some turtles hanging out on a tree branch! The wetlands area was well set out with a dock area for feeding times. The wetlands had plenty of Australian White Ibis which always freak me out. People often call them 'Bin Chickens' as you can usually find them hanging around bins and their main diet is garbage.

Wetland area

A short stroll around the wetlands leads you to aviary themed around swamp birds and other Australian birds. I quite liked this aviary mainly because it had Rainbow Lorikeets which are one of my favourite birds. We get a lot of these in the suburban areas and they love eating palm trees when they flower. This guy in the first photo was quite amusing, he sat there like a statue looking very uninterested. Not sure what kind of bird he was, I just loved his vacant stare.

This guy was so chill

A pair of Rainbow Lorikeets hanging out in the scrub

After completing a lap of the wetland area, we headed back to the picnic area for a quick break before leaving the park. There was a few other animals we didn't get a chance to see. There was no echidnas on display which was disappointing as you rarely see them and the Tasmanian Devils were hiding most of the day but I've seen them before when I visited Tasmania. I passed on the snakes as I'm not a fan and I spend enough time avoiding them in the wild. The Monitor was kinda viewable but was hiding quite well under a big log. Monitors kinda freak me out though, they're like giant lizards that look like they'll start walking on their feet. I'm fine with blue-tongue lizards as they are mini but once you get larger than that, it's a no from me. 

Overall I thought the wildlife park was great! It had new sealed paths linking all the enclosures and you can get up close and personal with a lot of the animals. I think the park could install more shaded areas as the weather can get quite harsh on the side of the hill and it's nice to sit down in a shaded area for a break. The car park was quite large which is good for tourist season and the cafe/restaurant used local produce which is always great to see business supporting local producers. I shall leave you with this adorable photo of a Bettong (or rat-kangaroo as they are also known). These little fellas can be found running around most areas of the park and will try to grab a bit of your food if you aren't watching. I saw one run off with an apple from one family! I hope you enjoyed all the photos of the wonderful wildlife we have here in Australia and if you ever get the chance to visit, make sure to visit a wildlife park as it's always a fun experience.