By the time I got to my rental car in Artarmon, the rain was starting to let up. Once I got settled into my Toyota Yaris with the steering wheel on the other side of the car, there were only a few sprinkles once in a while. It was definitely a unique experience driving a car on left side of the road. I had driven a Vespa-type scooter in countries that drive on the left, but driving a car is a larger challenge. Even the visuals are different. Where I would expect to see more dash and feel additional elbow room, I saw the edge of the windshield, and my elbow kept banging against the door! I was mostly on major thoroughfares, so I usually had someone to follow or a median to keep me from getting into the wrong lane. The worst thing was making my first right-hand turn in a major intersection. I was, unfortunately, the first car at the light in the turning lane. While watching the light, I kept reminding myself to swing wide. When the light changed, I would have been proud of how well I made that turn, except that I forgot to watch for oncoming traffic! Thankfully, they watched for me! Some horn honking and dirty looks, and traffic carried on after I got safely across the road.
About an hour after picking up the car, I pulled into the parking lot of the Walkabout Wildlife Park in Calga, just outside of Gosford, north of Sydney. I had made reservations for a special night session and the day in the park, so once I got checked in, I went into the park, sat at a picnic table, and started getting my cameras ready. I took my regular camera and, of course, my phone. While I was putting a fresh battery in the normal camera, I felt someone taking liberties with my pony tail! When I turned to see what was going on, I was confronted by an emu. After making it clear he wanted some scritchings, I felt obligated to oblige him!
The kangaroos, wallabies, wallaroo, emus, turkeys, and peacocks all walk about freely in the park. You are free to pet them so long as they approach you to get those lovings. And they DO come for lovings. The park does ask that you not feed them so they don't become aggressive. They also teach you the warning signs that a kangaroo or wallaby is feeling aggressive and warn you to get away if you see those signs and to not go around them if they're boxing. Finally, they have a collar on one of the kangaroos, identifying her as particularly unfriendly, so suggesting that you stay away from her. The free roaming area for these animals (I think I got them all) is the entire 180 acre park except for enclosures for certain, non-free-roaming animals.
The animals in the petting zoo are kept separate from the free roaming area. This makes them more easily identifiable as animals that you can not only interact with, but can also feed. The petting zoo includes goats, llamas, and a goose with epilepsy. I love these goats! They're an angora, cashmere, nubian mix (if I remember correctly), and they are so, so soft!!
They also have other animals in enclosures. Some of these are for the animals' protections and others for your protection. For instance, Tonka, the male wombat bites. So what does one do when standing beside a sign that warns you the animal inside bites?
There were snakes in glass enclosures that got to come out for interactions
a shy little quoll (the first time I had ever heard of this marsupial), who I had difficulty getting a picture of,
flying foxes, who apparently have opposable thumbs (who knew?),
some very intense kookaburras,
and loads of other animals, including a blind opossum, birds, dingos, and so many more. I spent the day roaming around petting animals that came to me asking for pets, taking pictures of them, and filming them.
I spent most of the day hanging out with the animals that I was and was not supposed to pet, getting loads of snapshots and videos of them.
As it came closer to evening, the Tasmanian Devil came out of his house.
Then, it was time for the evening program! As if the day hadn't been awesome already, this was the program I had scheduled that was only available that day during my trip and the reason I came out for an outdoor activity in the rain! It did not disappoint!
We started out meeting Tonka. There were children present, so I didn't pet him during the night program, but the guide opened the sliding door where the female wombat was sleeping and let us pet her. Her back was softer than Tonka's head. Then, our guide took out another of the snakes for petting and holding. I pet it, but I passed on holding it.
As we made our way around, we interacted with the echidna. These guys are awesome. They eat termites and are related to the anteater. And they're just so adorable!! They shed their spines, and one shed a spine while I was there. The spine is on a shelf waiting for me to put it in a shadow box with other small items I've picked up on my recent travels.
After hanging with the Echidnae, we met Gumnut. This was the highlight of my trip. This right here. With echnidae running around under our feet, we entered the enclosure of the male koala, Gumnut. Gumnut loves to be snuggled and he gives kisses. I had taken shots of Gumnut and Kambala (the female on the other side of the park), and had actually been able to pet him earlier in the day, but getting to actually interact with Gumnut was just IT for me! I wasn't able to hold him, but he gave kisses and was much more interested in us than with the regular keeper talk. Gumnut and Kambala have to be kept separated because they're part of a breeding program to try to restore the Southern Koala, which was endangered at the time I was there, in October 2019. Now, December 2019, with the bush fires going on, they are believed to be extinct in the wild. While Gumnut loves to be snuggled, it is against the law in New South Wales for people who are not trained to pick up and hold koalas to do that. This is for two reasons. One, koalas sleep A LOT, and if the general public is not allowed to pick them up, they will be less likely to be disturbed from sleep. Second, and probably most importantly, if you pick them up or hold them wrong, you can injure them, potentially breaking a rib. Their ribs are not nearly as strong as their butts. These guys spend 20+ hours sitting on a hard tree branch sleeping. Imagine how sore your butt would get that long on a hard surface. These guys have a huge bony plate across their bums. You can knock on it like a piece of wood, and it sounds like knocking on a door! Here are shots and videos of Gumnut that were taken during this encounter as well as throughout the day, as I wandered by his enclosure! I'll start with me scratching his back and him asking to be picked up. (I don't have his "mommy" in this picture, but he was holding his arms out for her!)
I couldn't kiss and selfie, so this is just before I got a kiss from him!
And a kiss goodnight.
After leaving Gumnut, we saw the flying foxes again, danced with some of the birds and took a short walk through the aboriginal sites, where we saw rock caves and aboriginal rock drawings.
We spotlighted a little owl in a tree, fed the dingos, and then...
We ended the evening's animal activities by playing tug of war with the Tasmanian Devil!! We ultimately let him win. He enjoyed his prize of kangaroo meat, too!
How cool is that!!??
I posted this one earlier, during the wildfires. Since that time, the animals have been returned to the park and were settling back into their normal homes when storms and floods hit. This didn't require evacuation, but there was damage that needed to be repaired. Just as they were recovering from that and getting back to a normal routine, the pandemic happened and they had to close. They have been keeping the animals healthy and are preparing to reopen (asking visitors to maintain at least 1 emu length apart), but could definitely still use some financial assistance, so I'm going to leave all of that information here.
At the time I'm writing this, it's been about 2 months since I visited. New South Wales, Australia, is suffering from massive bush fires. These fires have come dangerously close to the Walkabout Wildlife Park. They have evacuated most of the animals to third-party care facilities, such as Featherdale Wildlife Park, the Sydney Zoo, and other safe locations. One of the emus (I think the one that played with my pony tail, as they said Happy Feet was the most likely culprit!) has had to have fluids to keep him healthy because he's so stressed. The blind opossum went into glycemic shock from the stress and had to be returned to his normal surroundings. If the park is further threatened, they will have to chance it again, but he is easily gathered up if he needs to be re-evacuated. Park volunteers and fire rescue teams are rescuing wild animals and putting out spot fires in the park. The owner of the park gives daily updates on their Facebook page. The park is closed to visitors and is not taking in any income. They are still responsible for paying the cost of upkeep of their animals. Gumnut and all the others still need to be fed and have vet care while in their safe locations. There is also the cost of transportation, both to safety and back to the park when the danger is over. This all costs money, which the park does not have. They have started a GoFundMe page to help cover these costs. If anyone is willing to donate, this would definitely be a good cause. They have multiple programs and partnerships with other organizations (such as the San Diego Zoo) to work with restoration of threatened and endangered animal populations, such as the Southern Koala, certain species of wallabies, and the Tasmanian Devil. Animals, such as Tonka, were rescued from unsafe environments and cannot survive in the wild. This is not an ordinary zoo or wildlife park, and as a sanctuary, they do not receive grant funding. This place is amazing in their animal husbandry and their efforts to preserve aboriginal heritage and animals that are indigenous to the area. I don't make it a habit to do fundraising, but this place touched me so deeply, and they are in dire need of help.
Here is a link to their website: http://www.walkaboutpark.com.au/home-page/home-page-3
Here is a link to their Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/walkaboutwildlife/?__tn__=%2Cd%2CP-R&eid=ARC8iOrxJ3-yaC-C4zTW9zFtc91CpzMWqiREh_QKk6j9Wsgwgn6mCKSL1XepmBMnNgRusW_cTqnMYF2i
And here is a link to their GoFundMe page: https://www.gofundme.com/f/Save-Walkabout-Sanctuary?utm_medium=copy_link&utm_source=customer&utm_campaign=p_lico+share-sheet
