If you read Part 2 of my series, you know I had an amazing experience with native animals in Cairns. Next, I was on the hunt to see them in the wild. I knew the last leg of the trip we’d be driving on the Grand Pacific Highway from Sydney to Melbourne. This was my chance to try and see all these wonderful animals out in their natural habitat!
I wondered how easy or hard it would be to see them. Being from Colorado I’m lucky as I can see lots of animals if you go to the right place, but you have to know where to go. Would they be easy to find like deer or more elusive and harder to spot like bear or mountain lions? It didn’t take long for me to find out!
As we started the drive, my excitement built for what we would find around each corner. It didn’t take long to see a road sign for Kangaroo Crossing. What – where are they – I wanted to see them! 😊 I started looking on both sides of the car in the fields around us. And then I spotted one – was that a kangaroo just hanging out in the field? At first, I wasn’t sure, but then we saw more of them. I couldn’t believe it! I was pointing, all excited and of course I had to get pictures. So, we pulled over to get a better look. I thought, “Wow, how lucky are we to have actually seen a 
kangaroo in he wild!” Little did I know that was just the start.
As we continued on our trip, we saw tons of kangaroo and wallabies. In the fields, on the side of the road (alive) and amongst the trees. They were all around. Even easier to find than deer here in the states. And of course, I kept wanting to stop and get pictures. I’m sure by about the 10th time -maybe sooner, I started driving Travis nuts – LOL. But I just couldn’t believe I was in Australia seeing these amazing animals. After seeing so many kangaroo and wallabies, I wondered if we would see a wombat as well. Seemed they might be a little harder to find, but we would find out if one would grace us with its presence. We still had 2 more days to go, so plenty of time.
As we continued the drive that day, we were headed to Pebble Beach. We had seen that they have kangaroos on the beach. Maybe even in the water doing a little Roo surfing. 😊 As we got closer, my anticipation grew, how many people get to see this, I was hoping they would be there. As we pulled into the parking lot I didn’t see any, my heart sank a little, almost like I was expecting them to greet us right when we drove in. But I tried to keep my hopes up. As we walked past the trees to the clearing of the beach – my hope was answered. There they were a whole slew of kangaroos. They were on the back side of the beach where eating grass. I couldn’t believe it! I was practically jumping up and down with excitement. You never know when you find places online if the animals will actually give a show or if they are taking a break from the people. Even better was there were only two other people on the beach, so the kangaroos weren’t feeling too cautious. We decided to see if we could get a little closer without scarring them to get even better shots. And we could! They let us get about 10 yards away from them, even the babies seemed to not mind us too much. Wow – it was an unbelievable experience! After getting a zillion pictures, we decided it was time to say goodbye to our new friends. I was just in awe of these beautiful animals! What a great start to our 3-day drive! I could only hope the next 2 days would be as good!
The next day we got back on our journey and we saw more kangaroo and wallabies! I really was surprised how many we saw – almost like bunnies or squirrels but a lot larger. And yes, I’m sure Travis was happy I stopped asking him to pull over so I could take pictures of them -LOL. But then as we rounded a corner I saw a Wombat crossing sign! Yes! I thought now we are in Wombat territory! Again, I started looking around to find one, but this time I didn’t see any. Maybe they were sleeping or hiding from the rain or took the day off. I could understand that. As the day went on, I started wondering if we would see the wombat. We made it to a beautiful area on the cliffs of the ocean with a beautiful lighthouse. It was raining but we didn’t care, it almost made it better as the waves crashed on the cliffs giving us a magnificent display of the spray on the rocks! We started walking over to the edge to get photos and there he was – our first Wombat sighting! He was by the fence of the lighthouse eating on the grass. How cool! I had to get around the fence to get closer. He was super tame and didn’t seem to mind us at all. After a great time by the lighthouse I thought, “How incredible this country was for us animal spotting lovers!” And I knew the next day would bring more as we would head to Philips Island!
Our last full day in Australia came and I just knew it wouldn’t disappoint! We were headed to Philips Island to see koalas and little blue penguin! As we reached Philips Island we headed to the Koala Conservatory Center, where they have boardwalks in the tree tops. Now don’t get the wrong idea, this is not at a zoo and the animals aren’t in enclosed areas. The koalas can come and go, but they tend to stay by the Eucalyptus trees. I was so excited at the chance to see these adorable creatures in their natural habitat. I wondered how close they would be and if they would be way up high and hard to see. Who knows, would we even see any? As we walked to the first set of boardwalks, we started looking up and all around. And we spotted our first Koala! There he was sitting on a branch higher up in the trees. We immediately started snapping pictures! Then we saw a few people at a corner of the boardwalk, down a little. Could there be another? We went over and right at eye level, was a Koala sitting on a branch eating on the leaves, just hanging out. We must have watched him for a good 10-15 minutes taking the best photos! The Koala Conservatory had no shortage of Koalas – we saw so many pretty close-up. What an afternoon!
After 2 weeks on this trip and all the animals we encountered so far in Australia, I wasn’t sure how our last stop would be. We were going to see the Penguin Parade! I had read a lot about this and people raved about it. These small little blue penguins looked so cute in the pictures, I just had to see them in person! I did learn you couldn’t take photos of these little guys to help protect and not scare them. Although a little disappointing I completely understood and just enjoyed just watching them. As a note these pictures I’m posting of these cuties are from the internet. 😊
As dusk came upon us, we were lucky enough to find a spot on the beach in front of the seating area where we could have an excellent view of these little guys. We learned that each night they wait till it starts getting dark, then they come back to shore in groups to help avoid the carnivorous birds that prey on them. They cautiously start waddling up the beach as quickly as they can to the safety of their homes.
We waited patiently looking around trying to find the first set of penguins make their evening run. We were told you can hear them before you see them, as they are communicating with each other. In my head I pictured them talking to one another – “Hey Sally are you going to run for it or wait a little bit till it’s darker.” We started to hear them, and the excitement grew with anticipation to see them. Then, there was the first pod of penguins. You could tell they were cautious, looking around to make sure the birds weren’t going to dive down after them. As they got farther from the water, they started to waddle even faster to get all the way up the beach. It was hard to believe these little guys go through this every evening – hoping they make it across the beach. It seemed so stressful – what if each day on our way home we not only had to deal with traffic but watch out for large animals that could come eat us! Phew traffic didn’t seem so bad anymore. The first pod all got safely to the dunes. You felt like cheering for them, but you couldn’t talk, as not to disturb the penguins. Then there was another and another pod emerging from the waves. It’s hard to explain how privileged I felt to witness these little guys in their own habitat.
There was one set that stands out in my memory. A fairly good size pod came out of the wave and headed for a little pool of water. They sat for a bit, just making sure the coast was clear. As they started waddling up the beach, one got separated from the rest. OH NO! Don’t get separated- they just told us how dangerous it was if they are by themselves. I didn’t want to see this penguin get swooped up and eaten! He seemed to get confused and disoriented as the rest of his pod made it to the dunes and he went back in the water. You could hear a gasp from the people watching – horrified that he may not make it! We watched him back in the pool of water hoping he would find some friends to try again. My heart was pounding for him! Right as I almost lost track of him, he decided to go for it alone! Brave little guy! We all silently cheered for him to make it! It seemed like the longest couple of minutes as we watched birds hovering and flying above him. But this guy had determination! He made it all the way to the tall grass of the sand dunes – he was safe! Wow it was incredible! I was amazed I could learn a lesson from a 6 inch blue penguin – if you put your mind to it you can do anything!
After that, we walked over to the boardwalks set amongst the area with the penguin homes. You could look over the side and see them walking around the little penguin trails! There were tons of them, waddling around, talking to one another and what I will call making sounds of celebration in some of the homes – LOL. What a unique and wonderful experience to be up close and personal with them.
As we walked to the car and drove to Melbourne, I couldn’t help but think how our last day was a highlight of the trip. A few years earlier, I had only dreamt of coming to Australia one day and seeing all the native animals that inhabit this wonderful country. I could only be thankful for the opportunity to go, thanks to Travis, who has become one of my closest friends and travel buddy.
Stay tuned for what comes next in my search for close encounters of the animal kind!