Today was an eventful day! Saw what Oz had to offer wildlife wise, which is quite a bit!

We woke up at the crack of dawn to go to Caverham Wildlife Park to beat the tourists in their hoards, with their cork hats and safari style clothing. Okay, yes i know i am techically a tourist but I like to think i don't have the 'tourist look', which for an English tourist is wearing the skin colour 'raw red' loud and proud! I am sad to say that i haven't even gone a shade of pink let alone red or brown! I have been here for 3 days so i am not expecting the Jersey Shore/Oompa Loompa style just yet but come on sun just a sprinkle of your rays, please??

Anyway back to the wildlife park! So there we were, my cousin, my Aunt and I driving down the dusty road to our desitination when all of a sudden the ol' tourist mini bus pulled up infront of us and to our dismay the whole world and their neighbour got out! But we stayed strong took a breather and made our way to the entrance.

Once inside we got out the map and schedule and planned our day! Obviously Kangaroos were first on the list because i had never seen one in real life before and they are one of the famous Austrailian icons! I'll tell you this now if i see another Kangaroo after today it will be too soon! haha they were lovely and all but there are hundreds of them and once you see one, especially an albino one, you have seen them all! As we entered the kangaroo enclosure they hovered around us like flys thinking we had food as we were the early birds to the park and they were yet to have their brekkie! I have to say i got some good shots on my trusty camera though, because the kangaroos thought it was a lovely snack so came right up close! Being the budding photographer i am i was ever so pleased even if i had no food to offer the poor souls! Alas we finally found the bin full of pellets so we grabbed a handful each and regretted it almost straightaway! I have had a similar experience with Geese but it was different this time because the thought of Kangaroos and being able to box popped into my head!

After the 'Attack of the Kangaroos' we made our way to Molly's Farm, which seemed to be the happening place. On the way we came across a bat who seemed to be having a really good time if you know what i mean 9don't worry we have a snap of him haha)!

Once we arrived at Molly's we made our way to see a Donkey, a very obese pig and a couple of cows before the farm show began. I feared the pig to be dead for a second but then discovered it was just too fat to move bless it's heart. 20 minutes before the show there we were waiting at the gate, the eager beavers we were not letting the tourists get in our way! Needless to say we were first in and got the prime, sought after seats! :)

We met Mike, who was going to be the Sheep Shearer and we were also introduced to Kylie, who just rode a horse the whole time! After the introductions came the show began with a little demonstration of sheep hearding by the dog Billy! The sheep was selected and let me tell you the shearing did look a little savage but, we were told that the sheep wasn't feeling any discomfort, thank goodness! After the once fluffy sheep was now de-fluffed the real fun started!

The sheep went back to its pals and then Mike got out his whip (no dirty minds please!) and 'cracked' it! Cracking a whip is basically swinging it high in the air in one direction and then changing direction quickly to make the CRACK sound you hear! Let's just say i had no ears by the time he was finished, the sound was so loud and terrifying! Anyway Mike then picked a person to see if they could crack a whip. Unfortunately our so called prime seats made me a prime target and i was picked to join Mike center stage! As i joined Mike i turned around to face the audience and saw the tourists certainly didn't let me down in my expectations as each one, even some children, were holding cameras, video cameras and phones. So all i'm saying is i suspect i am going to be on a random Chinese gentlemen's facebook shortly! I was then given a cowboy hat by Mike and he cracked a joke about how the hat was there to protect my head and then went on to laugh and say it was just there to look good in the photos. Thanks mike! The learning to crack a whip began and, as many of you know, i have no coordination skills what so ever so the whip basically hit me in the face when i was trying to change direction and to my dismay everyone found this hilarious! I had about four to five attempts and the best i got was a 'woooosh' so i called it a day, hung up my cowboy hat and went back to the comfort of my seat. After looking at the photos my aunt took of the whipping i was alarmed to see a photo that actually looked like Mike was giving me a whipping (up above)! I knew he had a dark side i just knew it! After the show we were able to Milk a cow and this i was much better at got it right first time! so maybe my whip cracking days are over but i can fill Kylie's boots and become a dairy farmer i think! :)

We left Molly's Farm a while later and carried on our way to try and catch a glimpse of some koala bears! Well let me tell you it was hard to catch a glimpse with all the tourists, this time American, stroking the cuddly creatures. This one woman kept on screeching "SAY KOALA BEAR SWEETIE , SAY IT!!!' while their child clung to their side and babbled something that was nothing remotely close to sounding like 'Koala Bear' towards 'daddy' who was snapping this memorable moment! Well my aunt and I wanted a piece of the Koala action and were having none of this so with cameras at the ready we launched our attack. We shuffled to the side slightly and gave the family a little nudge so we could crop a feel of the Koalas! It wasn't as fun stroking a Koala who was sleeping like a log wasn't even facing the camera so we set out to look for more lively ones. It didn't help to know that Koala bears apparently sleep 20 hours aday either! However suddenly a Koala seemed to stir and just our luck that we were right by the unsuspecting animal poor thing didn't know what had hit him! I posed by the koala as my aunt took the award winning shots because we all knew the american family to our right wouldn't want me in their family snaps! Anyway after we had about 50 shots of the same pose we backed away so the child could finally say "koala bear". As i was looking around my surroundings i spotted a girl eagerly parting the eucalyptus leaves so get a better shot. However just as she was gripping onto the plant we were informed that we under no circumstances could we touch the eucalyptus leaves because the Koala Bears can smell our human stench on the leaves and won't eat them!! Never have i seen a person sprint so far away from where they were standing as i did at that moment! I hope the Koalas don't starve tonight!

So after the Koalas it was on to the final event of the day; to meet Wally the Wombat and friends!! As we got there the queue was quite disheartening but, with luck on our side, we managed to be front of the line! No one realised that where we were gathered was the entrance to meet Wally! We met a blue tongue lizard, a baby roo and then the famous Wally! We were allowed to get a bit personal and stroke Wally's leg and have a photo! It wasn't until after the photo was taken that i realised i was actually wearing my 'Where's Wally?' T-Shirt! How embarrassing and ironic! haha

After that show we headed to the exit, because at this time it was really starting to heat up and the flys were getting on my nerves just a little bit! (trust me if you ever come to Oz you will know what i'm talking about! They don't call it the Australian salute for nothing!) As we approached the car we witnessed a young boy throw his boomerang into the sky, but let me tell you, this boomerang had other ideas of coming straight back! Needless to say it landed in the bush and the kid lost his 10 dollars worth of boomerang!

Well that was Caversham Wildlife park!!! had such a great time! The animals were so cute! Fell in love with Wally and as i said in my last blog Australian people are just the friendliest! :)