The Australian Reptile Park is located about an hour’s drive north of Sydney and in turn, approximately a thirty minute drive from where we are staying. Of course, it had to be part of our tourist itinerary for Jen and Andrew. Generally speaking, zoos and wildlife parks hold only moderate appeal for me. Animals in pens and cages are too far away for me to see.
Fortunately I haven’t always been visually impaired and I have a good recollection of what I used to be able to see. Thus, when Lyle tells me what he is seeing, I tend to visualize the same picture in my mind. I am glad of this
When we visited The Australian Reptile Park, I was prepared for a similar experience. I knew that I wouldn’t be close enough to the snakes, the spiders, the wombat or the dingoes. Indeed, this was the case. However, I wasn’t prepared for what I did see. And I was very pleasantly surprised.
The first good surprise was at the pen of the Tasmanian Devils. The two animals were very active and right away I could glimpse their movement. We also heard the loud screeching, barking sound they made. They are fascinating creatures. Unfortunately the species is heading towards extinction as its population is being decimated by a contagious face cancer.
Surprise number two was at the koala enclosure. Jen and Andrew paid a small fee to have their picture taken with a koala and Lyle and I were also allowed to be part of this experience. We were able to stroke the soft thick fur of both an adult koala and a ten month old baby. I’m glad that Jen and Andrew chose the koala for the picture taking experience because their other choice was a pose with a python.
The final surprise was just as we were about to leave the park. We walked by the pen containing the echidna. Well, it was supposed to contain the echidna, but as we approached the fence, we saw that the small animal had escaped and was wandering around on top of the low fence. While Jen ran off to find a wildlife keeper, I was able to get my first close up look at this small spiny animal. To this point, I had never seen a living echidna because they are so well camouflaged.
Today at The Australian Reptile Park was a great day!
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