The first part of the Australian exhibit was an amazing walk through with the animals. The entire area was fenced off, and the entrance and exit had "airlock" like gates, call them "wallabylocks", if you like. We were required to stay on the path, but there was nothing between us and the animals. They were very relaxed and casual - quite used to people wandering by. The air was cold, but the sun warm, so most of the animals were stretched out in the sunshine.
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| Right by the door, a kangaroo stretches out in the morning sun. | An emu hacks away at a head of lettuce beside the rock. | |
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| A group of wallabies, just sort of hanging out. | A little marsupial conversation, perhaps? | |
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| At the end of the walkthrough, a strange crow-like bird landed nearby and eyed us. | And that classic of zoos, the peacock. |
Just outside the walkthrough was a rather gruesome displayed of stuffed Australian animals.
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| At the centre of the table is a bandicoot, to the left an echina and right is a flying fox. | Further down the table was a stuffed wombat. To the left a flying squirrel. |
After getting away from the stuffed animals, we saw an actual echina wandering around a large pen. He was hidden in the back among the brush, and then suddenly, it came moving quite quickly to the edge of the pen, right under the eye of a fast digital camera...
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| An echina hiding among the brush. | Suddenly it starts cruising from bush to bush... | |
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| And then its at the edge of the pen. Snuffling around and moving along the perimeter. | Rather porcupinish, isn't it? |
There were a variety of other Australian animals that weren't near as surprising...
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| The best of many attempts to do the impossible - photograph a platypus in low light through an aquarium wall. | Is a spider monkey an Australian animal? Beats me. | |
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| Look, an Australian fur sea lion! | Look! Another one! | |
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| This is a Tasmanian Devil. Nap time. | Looks like the crocodiles were napping too. | |
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| This dingo was awake. So was the one behind it. | A little scratch while lounging in the sunlight. | |
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| A kookaburra poses pretty for the camera. | This bird is much bigger than it appears. | |
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| More sleeping Australian critters - a koala bear sacked out in the crook of a tree. | A closer view of another sleeping koala. |
By the end of this part of our exploration of the zoo, Peter and Richard had come to the conclusion that the best way to identify an Australian animal is to check to see whether or not its sleeping.