SwinMates, a student organization that plans trips for students, planned a trip to the Healsville Sanctuary for Friday March 1st. The spots had filled up quickly and I hadn't been able to sign up for the trip in time. The sanctuary boasts a great variety of wildlife, including dingos, Wallabys, Red Kangaroos and more. The worst part is that for a few extra dollars the sanctuary lets you hold a Koala! I was jealous that I couldn't make the trip, and public transport didn't reach the sanctuary.
So I started doing a little research and looked into alternative zoos. It turns out that Zoos Victoria owns two other properties - the Melbourne Zoo and Werribee Open Range Zoo. Both were very cool - the Werribee Zoo allows you to see the animals in enormous, open areas while the Melbourne Zoo hosts an even wider range than the sanctuary and - even better - allows for one-on-one encounters with Kangaroos! I checked and it was accessible by Melbourne's train system so it was decided: I was going to the Melbourne Zoo.
So at 2 am on Thursday I posted on Facebook stating that I would be going to the Zoo, leaving at 10:30 am. I left my phone number in the post and went to bed.
When I woke up two other exchange students I had already become friends with - Lyda from Northeastern University in Boston and Wilfrido from Mexico City replied to my post, stating they were coming with me. We met on campus and started navigating the train system we had already become very familiar with.
It took about forty minutes to go through the inner city loop, switch to the Upfield line and get off at at the Royal Park stop. We headed up to the zoo entry gates.
There was no line, so we walked right up and (with our student card) got admission for only $22. There were no spots left to do one-on-ones with the giant tortoises or the meerkats, but there were for the kangaroos luckily! Of course we signed up and were told to head to the main gate to get tickets. We grabbed a map and were on our way.
We walked south to the main drive and, eventually, to the main gate. On our way we planned our route: we'd go through the gorilla rainforest first, then the trail of the elephants and third the Australian bush. If we hurried, we could do it all and end up right at the Kangaroo & Emu exhibit just in time for the one-on-one at 1:30 pm. Once we reached the main gate we got our one-on-one tickets and headed towards the gorillas exhibit right next door.
We continued through the gorilla rainforest, seeing various treetop monkeys and apes and even a hippopotamus. Some of the treetop monkey species were the most active.
Time was flying by faster than we expected, and we realized we were going to have to skip some animals and come back to them so that we could go to the Kangaroo one-on-one. We started picking up the pace, moving past the otters and tigers.
We had just enough time to finish up the trail of the elephants before heading to the Kangaroos, so we stopped by the elephant exhibit. The zookeeper was actually presenting on the elephants, so we stayed and listened for a few minutes (as well as grabbed some photos).
The zoo had actually publicized having an infant elephant that was born only in November. You can see it in the background of the above picture, bathing next to its mom.
And last, with only a few minutes to spare we made a quick stop at the Orangutan exhibit. The orangutans were actually really active, either playing in the jungle gym or making obscene, funny gestures right up against the glass.
Finally it was time to head down to the Kangaroo & Emu exhibit. We found our way down the paths using our map, walked in through a gate and found the exhibit. We immediately checked in at the kangaroo area.
We were told there were a couple of other groups ahead of us, so we started looking around the rest of the exhibit. This was my favorite exhibit, and not just because it had two of the most iconic Australian animals. The area was open with Emu's walking around, in and out of the crowd without barriers! The emus were generally shy; most of the time if you walked up to one it would walk in the other direction, keeping a one or two meter distance.
But every now and again they'd walk up to you or along side you.
In fact I was able to easily reach my hand out and pet one of them on the back. But within a few minutes we were called over to the Kangaroo exhibit and let in. We were able to interact with the kangaroos to 10 or 15 minutes while the zookeeper talked to us and gave us information about them and answered questions.
The ones we pet were only the smaller, female kangaroos. The larger ones can be pet and are playful, but have more powerful arms and legs and can do some damage even if they don't mean to. This specific species is the Red Kangaroo.
This photo gets me every time. Miss kangaroo is not amused.
In case you were wondering, the kangaroo fur was actually very soft (unlike the matted feathers of the emu) and were very friendly. They would often turn around and stare at you or, the most daring ones, would sniff you. But before we knew it the one-on-one was finished. We grabbed our bags and headed back out to see the rest of the exhibits.
We could then finish the rest of the Australian bush section of the zoo, which housed all of the animals unique to the continent. Next, we went to see the wombats. The wombats were asleep at the time and the only way to see them was through the glass underground - wombats like to hide and sleep in extensive burrow systems they dig.
And unfortunately the tasmanian devils must have all been sleeping because none were visible from what we could see of their area outside. Unlike the wombat, there was no way to look through any tunnel system they had underneath their exhibit.
The last stap in the Australian bush area was the koala bear exhibit. This is the cutest of all of Australian outback animals but, as we were told, if taken off the trees the koalas can use their extremely long claws to inflict terrible damage onto your body and face. If you ever find yourself in a situation where you have to decide to take a koala off its tree or not, don't do it.
Throughout the rest of the day we explored just about every bit of the zoo, seeing animals ranging from large cats and bears to Lemurs, meerkats, bongos, baboons peccaries and more.
Peccaries are extremely strange looking animals in my opinion, by the way. My photo of it isn't good enough quality to make it out, but here's a google image of one.
Finally, the last area we went to was the wild sea area. We saw the typical seals, exotic fish, sea horses and more. But most excitingly we made it at the perfect time to see the zookeepers feed the little penguins. Little penguins are actually native to Melbourne; SwinMates planned a trip to nearby Phillip island where, at dusk every day, you can see little penguins march on the beach from the water onto land. My friends have even witnessed it at a nearby tourist beach where locals think nothing of the event!
It is strange to think that I am living in an area that is actually native to the smallest penguin species in the world. More likely than not I will see some walking the beaches during my stay here, I was told.
After the little penguins we were finished, we had seen just about everything.
We trekked up to the rail gate, waited for the next train and headed back home.
We got back just in time for another bout of free cider, beer and pizza on campus! The event was the same as it had been Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. For the rest of the afternoon Lyda, Wilfrido and I drank cider together, met with the rest of the exchange students and bragged how we were able to pet kangaroos!
The rest of the night went as typical Australian nights seem to go - after having our fill of free cider and beer, we headed to an apartment overlooking the Melbourne skyline before heading out to the bar until we were too tired to go on.
Youre a wombat.
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