Healesville Sanctuary

Monday - cool and rainy.  Traveled about 1.5 hours Northeast of Melbourne to visit Healesville Sanctuary.  It might seem strange to go to a Wildlife preserve to see the native animals of Australia but when was the last time you saw a deer, or a fox, or a red tail hawk?

Picture proves we were actually there or at least by a sign for it...

I am informed that this is a Koala NOT a Koala bear

At the animal hospital the vet describes a procedure to be performed

Then you can watch both through a window and on an overhead monitor.

This Fox Bat damaged its wing on a barbed wire fence

Here is a picture of a platypus. 

Come on it was a darkened exhibit since they are nocturnal. 

What do you want from me??

Where else would you keep your Platypus?

Lyrebird.  Best pic i could get - they're fast.

(Note to Ben - sorry I missed the Bower bird that hopped out in front of me.)

They are about the size of a pheasant

Dingoes were really cute

Soggy Roo.  Leigh Ann got to pet one

Pelicans are huge and had a definite sense of personal space, hence the warning

Wombat = overinflated forest pig ? ? ?

Tasmania Devils are fast!!

Luckily he liked to climb up on this rock . . . .  so I shot him

Throughout the park there was a repeated campaign to have everyone use toilet paper made from recycled paper.  The tag line "Wipe for Wildlife" was everywhere.

No trick photography here - it is exactly what it looks like

Whenever there is a desperate need, a new superhero will emerge

On the way back we passed through the Melba Tunnel. 

The outbound direction is the Mullum Mullum tunnel.

You just have to love the names in Australia.  More on that at a later date.

This trip was the first chance to see some of the countryside and I was very interested.  The name Australia makes me think of brutal killing desert and dry scrub brush country.  The Melbourne area is very different as much of the eastern seaboard is.  The countryside that I saw is green rolling hills with lots of trees.  The trees were not in heavy stands but in clumps, along road sides and fence rows and still there were a lot of them.  This is also wine country so there are a lot of vineyards.  The suburban areas had some garish signs and advertisements that made me think of parts of California.  I wish I had taken some photos along the way.

I think I am finally over the jet lag.  This was the first day that I felt like myself.  I think my real body finally arrived.  Don't know who the other one belonged to but he can have it back.  The older I get the more I appreciate some of the simpler things in life.