One of the bonuses of travelling is to see another country's indigenous animals in the wild. When I see deer and hares on my walks with Tilly, I feel privileged to have watched them, at ease, in their own territory. So to see wild animals, which we can only see in a zoo at home, is a real thrill. On this trip we have clocked up a few new sightings.
These two possums were doing a spot of tightrope sitting in our son's front garden! They had just had a little spat with a local cat, and then they sat there, on the wire, staring through the sitting room window, for quite some time.
New Year's Eve and a sighting of four pelicans near where we were staying. Enormous, fabulous birds, with such genial faces/
Contented sigh - not just from the koala after a good meal, but from me too! Very happy.
These two possums were doing a spot of tightrope sitting in our son's front garden! They had just had a little spat with a local cat, and then they sat there, on the wire, staring through the sitting room window, for quite some time.
Anoplognathus pallidicollis, a member of the scarab family of beetles, better known in Australia as the Christmas beetle - because it is really only seen around Christmas time in country areas. And we did see a few. This one was the most colourful. The green can vary from a dull ochre colour through to this wanna-be Egyptian scarab!
Last week we saw two wild emu (thank you to Mrs E for the pic - I managed to leave my camera behind on this jaunt) to the Briar Homestead, on the Mornington Peninsula.
And, saving the best till last, because this is one from my bucket list - koalas in the wild! This one was munching its way through a gum tree at one of our pit stops along The Great Ocean Road (more of that in another post). What an adorable furry little creature!
Wow, such lucky spots! I didn't see a koala in the wild when I visited Australia but we did meet a very tame possum and her baby who let us feed it. I didn't realise Emus still roamed Australia so this is a great picture. I hope you don't get too close to any of the more infamous critters....Antonia x
ReplyDeleteNo, it was all good! Very well behaved locals! Home now, and time to get back into the old routines! x
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