Sarah, a couple of her flatmates, and I all went to Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary this morning! We caught the bus into town, switched buses, and eventually arrived, ready for a fun filled day!
After we first entered the sanctuary, there are a bunch of bird on display. Such as -
Lorikeets:
A pink cockatoo:
And Kookaburras:
There were also a bunch of bats, pretty big ones too, but they did not photograph so well.
Then we saw the red-legged pandemelons (which are a kind of wallaby):
And the dingoes!
At this point, we went to go see the Birds of Prey show, out on one of the fields. It was pretty neat, even though the 2 of the birds did not cooperate and do what they were supposed to (which made the show pretty funny)
A white-bellied sea eagle:
A barking owl:
A barn owl:
And a wedge tailed eagle (also known as the eaglehawk):
After the show, we stopped in the barn to pet some mini horses:
And the baby cow:
After that, we took a short break for lunch, and then headed back to the field for the sheep herding show. Jill, a border collie, was the star of the show:
Although she did get some help from this kelpie:
Afterwards, we continued on to the kangaroo preserve. Over 130 kangaroos, and most of them sleeping! =D
We missed the Kangaroo presentation at 1:45pm, but made it in time for the Koala Show at 2pm. And of course afterwards, we had to cuddle them:
This guy is Patches, and he was a bit heavier than I expected, but very soft. (And a little smelly!). Its true, their claws are sharp, because he was digging them into my shoulder trying to hold on to me, even though I was holding him.
I learned that it is not true that all koalas are mean - some have a nice temperament, and after training, they can get used to be held and cuddled. The sanctuary has over 130 koalas, and about 50 of them are used for cuddling. (They even have a schedule - they work for 30 minutes two days in a row, and on the third day, they get the day off. Since they spend 18-20 hours a day sleeping, this seems like a pretty nice life!)
After the koalas, we went and saw the wombat, who was eating:
And the lorikeet feeding, where they were hundreds of squawking birds:
Then we saw a crocodile:
And we passed by the dingoes again, eating this time (and not babies, just regular dog food it looked like)
And that was it!
There was supposed to be a Tasmanian Devil on display, that I was hoping to see, but he wasn't available, according to the sign. And there were supposed to be some echidnas, but I couldn't find them in the cage.
Overall, Lone Pine makes a very good koala (and even kangaroo) sanctuary. They take care of a lot of koalas, and are involved in research and habitat preservation. But as a zoo, I found the enclosures for the rest of the animals to be small, and pretty mundane.
I did have a great time though! And everyone is saying that Australia Zoo is about 100 times better, so I can't wait for that!
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