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It was another beautiful day on this lovely little island! I wanted to get straight onto the beach but Chris wanted to get some food for lunch and dinner first. So we had breakfast and got ready, then headed down the road to the supermarket.
We were surprised at how much food was on special offer, we wanted to buy it all! We decided on some fresh prawns and fish and put that with a salad for our lunch. We bought a sweet chilli sauce too, it was so yum! Afterwards we got some information on the koala sanctuary and decided to go there in the afternoon so we could squeeze in a couple of hours of sunbathing.
At 1:50pm we caught the bus to the sanctuary. When we arrived we bought our tickets and waited for our tour guide to arrive, he happened to turn up when I went to the bloody toilet! I was standing in the mirror when I heard a man shout out "come on you look lovely!" I turned around and saw a group of people standing in a line waiting for me and Chris grinning at the back. I hurried out and joined him and we started our tour around the sanctuary.
First we were taken to a crocodile enclosure, we thought there were only koalas here but there were many other animals! Our guide asked us to stand around the caged barriers as he stepped into the enclosure. He started looking through the water then picked up a small eight year old female salt water crocodile! She didn't seem to mind being carried out by him as she just flopped in his arms. He told us a few facts about the creature then started to hand her round to each of us to hold for a photo. She had a thin strap of metal wrapped around her jaws to keep them shut so she couldn't snap at anyone, if she didn't have that on then maybe she wouldn't have been so calm. Her skin felt soft and scaly like a snake and she was really heavy! When we handed her back to the guide he unwrapped the metal strap and the crocodile immediately opened her jaws to show off her very sharp pointy teeth. She started to wriggle around so the guide put her down on the floor where we were standing and told us to keep still. She didn't care about us, all she wanted to do was get back in her enclosure and that's what she did. She walked past us all, through her gate and straight back into the water.
Next we were taken to see and hold a big red tailed black macaw. The guide gave us a couple of sunflower seeds to hold between our lips so we could get a photo of the bird taking it from our mouths, so it looked like a kiss. Chris jumped at the chance to go first! The bird was very gentle and very sweet. There was another white macaw there but we couldn't hold that one. Neither of us wanted to anyway because it looked crazy! It kept fanning it's feathers out to show off then did some crazy dance moves. It repeated itself over and over again.
In an enclosure next to the crazy bird was a huge log and inside it was a massive wombat! Finally we got to see one, Chris has been dying to see one the whole time we have been in Australia! His name was Harry, he was fat and was sleeping inside his hollow tree trunk. He wouldn't wake up and come out of his log so the guide let us reach inside to stroke him on his head. His fur was really soft! Our guide told us that his back end wasn't so soft. Apparently they have a hard plate in their backside to prevent dingos and other predators from reaching into their den and biting them. I would have thought the stinky smell of him would have been enough to put a predator off!
Finally we were taken to an area where we got to hold a koala. A lady was holding her and told us a few facts first, like all koalas have chlamydia, they smell like eucalyptus because that's all they eat and they sleep up to eighteen hours a day, oh yeah and it sounds like some one is being raped when they mate with each other!
We all lined up and took it in turns to hold the koala. She was a young female only eighteen months old, she was small but quite heavy! We had to stand like a tree with our arms stiff and resist our selves from cuddling her. Otherwise she might have freaked out and scratched us. She was really soft and seemed to cuddle us, I think everyone had a sneaky stroke of her back when the lady wasn't looking. We got some photos taken before we handed her to the next person. As we waited for everyone to finish, a little rock wallaby came bouncing over. He didn't seem nervous at all and let us pet him. He wouldn't stop licking Chris's hand, he was there for a few minutes, he must have been licking the salt off. When he decided he was finished he bit Chris!! He said it didn't hurt though, it was just a playful nip.
I got him to jump on my lap, I asked the guide if he minds being picked up and the guide said it was fine! I put my hands underneath him then he started to bite me at my belly! I managed to dodge his teeth so he just caught my clothing, then he started to bite at my hand! Chris was right, it didn't hurt, I found it really funny and started giggling!! He left teeth marks all over me but none of them broke the skin!! He stuck around for a bit licking our legs and biting other people before bouncing away again. He was a really cheeky wallaby.
Once everyone had finished holding the koala we walked over to another area with reptiles in. We got to hold a large python, then three different species of lizards which were a blue tongue, a bearded dragon, a shingle back and then afterwards a turtle. Chris really liked the bearded dragon and the bloody turtle peed on me!! We saw a big tarantula next but we wern't allowed to hold it as it was venomous. Chris really wanted Harry to be out of his log but he was still sleeping.
On our way out of the sanctuary we got to feed the Lorikeets. It was good fun, there must have been at least a hundred of them there waiting up in the trees! As soon as they saw the bread in our hands they were landing all over us! They were quite spiteful to each other as they fought over the food, their nails were sharp and left scratches all over Chris's shoulders! The best moment was when one of them s*** on Chris's arm!
Afterwards we washed our hands and Chris washed the poo off his arm. We collected our koala photos from reception and sat down and had an ice cream while we waited for the bus taking us back to our hostel. We got back at 5:30pm as the sun was setting. It turned a bit chilly so we got changed into some warmer clothes then went for dinner just after 6pm. We sat on a table next to the sea on the decking and had a cup of tea to warm up. A few groups of people were already drinking in the bar, some were standing up playing drinking games on a bench. I asked Chris if he fancied a drink but he said no, I couldn't be bothered either, it was just nice to chill out.
We heard that there was going to be an eclipse tonight so we watched a planet (Venus, I think) come across the moon. It looked pretty cool but never really fully eclipsed the moon. As we were sitting there a possum suddenly appeared and ran over to us and sat under our table! We quickly lifted up our legs so it wouldn't scratch us! It didn't seem scared at all, it scurried about then jumped in a bin near us looking for food.
We sat on the decking for a little bit longer until the bar mans voice got too annoying to listen to anymore. He kept shouting out in a deep long voice, reminding everyone how cheep it was to buy a jug of beer and jager bombs! We had enough so went off to bed.
Charlotte & Chris
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