Kangaroos and Koalas! Finally!!

When we first go to Australia we were expecting to see Kangaroos everywhere.  We had been in Australia for almost 30 days and had only seen a couple Kangaroos and Koalas in the zoo!   Ashley was most excited to see a Koala and we found the perfect tour.  The tour would pick us up close to the apartment and take us to an outdoor zoo that would let us get up close to both Kangaroos and Koalas.   We booked the tour for our 2nd day as we had very limited time in Melbourne and wanted to make sure we didn’t miss out.

The weather turned out to be perfect and we made our way to the pick up spot.  We had about 12 other people on the tour with us and we all piled into a van and made our way to the animal park.  Our first stop as the Koala exhibit.  You couldn’t hold a Koala as it was legally prohibited in this part of Australia, but you could get close to it and put your hand on it’s back.   They had a professional photographer there to take your photo but oddly they would take your camera and take your photo with it too so we didn’t have to pay any extra for the photos.

We then made our way outside and into the Kangaroo area.  They had Kangaroo food you could purchase for a couple bucks.  The roo’s were all just sitting in the shade while people would come up and feed them.   There were a few things that stood out as we were hanging out with them.

1. Kangaroos tails are a lot bigger than I expected!  They were very strong and they would balance themselves on their tail which sat perfectly flat to the found.  It was like they had a chair to sit on all the time.
2. They were fast!  Once those guys started moving they could move along quickly without making a ton of effort.
3. The babies in the mom’s pouch were sitting in upside down.   It seemed like they’d be suffocating going head first but they laid there like that the whole time.

We were there mostly for the Kangaroos and Koala’s but the tour included a number of other stops along the way.  After the animal park we went out to Phillip Island.   On the island we had a few stops including a ranch, a lookout point over the ocean, and then a chocolate factory.    The other big draw for the tour was the penguin walk.   At the end of the day we made our way to where to the Penguin walk and got set up for them to start appearing.   These particular penguins are the smallest in the world.   They go out in the water each day and then once it starts getting dark they make their way up the beach to their homes among some small hills/plants.

When we got there the place was jam packed with tourists.  We ate a quick meal and then made our way down to the stands.  The staff there was very serious about no one taking photos and they were very quick to get onto people taking photos once it was time for the penguins to show up.   As we sat there waiting it was getting close to being dark and sure enough the penguins start making their way onto the beach in packs.   There were about 10 to 20 in little groups that would start making their way out of the water.  As they did they were very timid and when the first one leading the pack got scared and turned around they would all quickly scramble back into the water.  It took them 5 or 6 attempts before they got confident enough to make their way onto the shore.    After we saw a few groups come buy we started back towards the van and were able to snap a couple quick photos of the penguins setting in along the way.   This was an all day tour and we didn’t make it home until pretty late that night but it was a great time getting to see the Kangaroos, Koalas, and Penguins.