While my stay in Australia is urban, I wanted to take the opportunity to see some of the native fauna, and the word was that Australia Wildlife World is better for that than the local zoo. Also, I've been afraid to go to a zoo since I was in Africa -- seeing "zoo" animals roaming free, living their lives, reminded me of how constrained and sad is the life of an animal in the zoo.
Anyway, I was horrified to discover that even though AWW was open until 9 p.m., the kangaroo and koala exhibits were only open until 6. I learned this at 5:50 p.m., when I arrived. However, the postings at the admissions counter didn't reflect what was going on at the displays. I made a beeline for the kangaroos, which closed first ... but bumped into koalas first. I was thrilled to be a few feet away from koalas with no fence or glass or plastic between us.
Turns out koalas sleep a LOT.
To my great pleasure, I wasn't too late for the kangaroo exhibit either. The staff person I was speaking to called over the balcony and asked the kangaroo staff person to wait for me, which was awesome.
A Japanese woman behind me wasn't allowed in to see the kangaroos up close and personal, but there was a lot of plastic / glass wall to watch them. We enjoyed the rest of the exhibit together, more or less. She spoke some english.
It turns out that kangaroo balls are pretty darn big and dangly.
Wallabees are apparently a little smaller than koalas.
Butterflies, eh.
There were some other reptile / insects of interest ...
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