In the Part 1 of this article I talk about my search for Howler Monkeys in Costa Rica. That was a fantastic experience. Well no surprise that when I went to Australia I was on a mission to see the fabulous animals there too. My list for Australia was a big one – they have so many native animals I can only see in a zoo in the US. Hugging A koala might have been the one thing Travis said to me that made me have to go on this trip! Just so you know and if you have read any of Travis’s articles, we do our research to make sure animals are all treated well and the facilities we go to have the animals best interest in mind.

But first things first – and I had to swim with turtles. I had tried to see them several other times snorkeling but without success. Someone from my past used to call me a turtle and ever since, I had dreamt of swimming with them. After a long adventurous week in New Zealand we arrived in Cairns, Australia. I knew the next couple of days would be the start of the wildlife viewing part of the trip. Day one was dive/snorkel day. I was so excited to be able to see the great barrier reef. Something I thought I would never be doing. But there I was, about to embark to the largest reef in the world. Now I must admit, I have a really bad fear of sharks! Before I left people kept telling me about all the sharks in Australia and I was a bit nervous I may run into one. Travis was diving so who would I jump on or push towards the shark to keep it away from me, I mean I couldn’t do that to a complete stranger – LOL. But I put that out of mind and enjoyed the boat ride out to our diving spot.

As the boat slowed, excitement grew as everyone got ready to dive or snorkel. The sun was shining bright and the water was warm and clear! Everything about snorkeling on the GBR was amazing. So many colorful fish big, small fish and every color of fish you could imagine. Half way through the first dive I could heard some yell they saw a turtle. I turn around and started swimming to them and 2 turtles were right there! I couldn’t believe it. One cam right up to me and another woman right next to me. It started swimming away and I followed at a distance enjoying every moment of this beautiful animal. I couldn’t wait to tell Travis!

On the second dive that day I saw another turtle – I just couldn’t believe it. But just as exciting is I had a surprise visitor. Although there were a bunch of snorkeler it was easy to swim around by yourself. As I was following this turtle for a bit I found a gorgeous area of coral. I start to swim around it and I spotted a new friend. I couldn’t believe it was a Leopard shark! Wow – I am swimming right above a shark! It was absolutely stunning! His leopard spots and coloring and the graceful way he swam through the water were undefinable. I was above him for a bit until he vanished deep in a cove of coral. Now I really couldn’t wait to tell Travis this one! I saw a shark – no one else was with me and I didn’t have a heart attack. Now I admit he wasn’t huge but still for me this was amazing.

The snorkeling trip had been a huge success! I was thrilled with the day! Although I got terrible sunburn on the backs of my calves – make sure to reapply sunscreen on the reek a lot!!! And I knew there was so much more to come!

I had been waiting for the next day! Hartley’s and Koala hugging! And so many other animal interactions. If you are like me I live for animal encounters and getting photos of them. I just can’t get enough of it. This Day delivered and then some!

On arrival we met our tour guide for the VIP portion of the day. After telling us about Hartley’s she brought us to see a wombat. Now I picture wombat as fairly small, but they were surprising; larger than I thought. This guy was super friendly and liked to be pet. He had coarse fur for more protection from the elements but still great to hold and pet! As we got to hold him I think he tried to kiss my nose – but if you ask Travis, he will tell you differently – LOL. This guy was amazing and we got to learn all about them.

Next up we went into a Kangaroo and Wallaby area. OMG they were right there with us. We went over to a couple of the wallabies. She (the trainer) had help raise one from a baby and we got to hold her. She was so friendly! She just sat in your arms and loved the attention. They were unbelievably soft. After playing with her for a bit another came over to us, she seemed to know I was an animal lover! She came right over to me, sat next to me and began to kiss my legs! I reached down to pet her and just like my dog, she lifted her head into my hand. I seriously was in love. Now I wouldn’t recommend going and petting one in the wild. But these guys loved people and attention.

Then was the really big moment Koalas! We got to hold and cuddle a koala. Talk about soft fur, just a amazing. These guys are so adorable, they would hold onto you with their paws and cuddle right up to you. Again, I would not do this in the wild, but the experience was amazing. There is only one area in Australia that you can actual hold koalas and we happened to be there. Most places you can feed them and pet them but not hold them. Well I wasn’t sure how the day could really get any better at this point. In fact, I was having so much fun, the horrible sunburn on my legs barely bothered me!

From there we held a native snake, fed large beautiful birds, had an owl sit on our arms and the big finale feed the giant crocodiles. Wow I could write a whole book on this one day. But one of my favorite things was just walking around the zoo we went large area where there were more Kangaroos and wallabies. You could go right up to them and pet them, just needed to leave the moms and joeys alone. They would put out food a couple of times a day and you could feed them. We stayed in this area for a long time, being around these incredible animals. For a while we just sat on a bench and watched them. What a day! I highly recommend Hartley’s if you are in that area.

Wow that’s all I can say! But one more encounter I want to mention from Cairns. We were back in town walking to go the market and get dinner. We were waiting at a street light and happened to notice something – or many some things – hanging in the tree across the street. As I tilted my head trying to see what it was, I first thought those are huge Seed pods! But then Travis said he thought they are bats. Bats! No way! Bats are small those are like a foot long! So of course, we must investigate 😊 As we are standing almost under the tree it is hard for me to admit but Travis was right! These were bats! We obviously start taking pictures right away. I mean when do you see giant bats. After making Travis go back to get our good cameras, we realize many of the trees have bats hanging in them. Come to find out it is Baby Bat season! As dusk came upon us the bats would fly up into the sky in almost tornado patterns – I really thought that was only in the movies! But nope, here I was watching these bats as if on queue in a movie. We saw them every day we were there! Although I decided I didn’t like walking under the trees which was almost impossible to avoid! And even funnier, every time a bird, bug, wind, flew even remotely near me I would squat my head down – LOL I mean I didn’t want a bat to land on my head! This was a surprise sighting, and their faces were furry and looked almost like little puppy dogs – truly amazing!

The time in Cairns was a highlight of the trip for sure! Now I wanted to see them all in the wild. And I was shocked with how many we would see! Stay tuned for Part 3 of My Encounters of an Animal Kind – Southern Australia, and hear all about our drive from Sydney to Melbourne and the furry friends we met along the way.