Moonlit Sanctuary (Melbourne excursion)

The second part of our day started when our driver picked us up for our full day trip to Phillip Island with Kangaroo, Koala, and Penguin Parade with Viator.com. As we saw with our full-day trip to Rotorua, New Zealand, things are far from the main cities Down Under. We spent at least as much time traveling as we spent sightseeing, but other than renting our own car, there were not other options.

Our driver asked us if we could hear him, to which we replied "yes," thinking he was going to share some quick information. He went into a long, interesting narrative to help us pass the time. Unfortunately, we couldn't hear him that well.

My notes say:

• Melbourne founded in 1824 (subsequent research show it was in 1835)
• After World War II many Europeans immigrated to Melbourne
• After the Vietnam War, many Vietnamese moved to Melbourne
• In the 1970s, there were a lot of people from many different countries
• There are over 120 different languages spoken
• Fusion Asian Food
• Cricket stadium holds over 100,000 people
• The AFL finals are coming up soon
• They have a long history of tennis
• In the late 1800s there was a mass migration and Melbourne grew quickly
• There are lots of wildlife preserves in the area

So, not a lot of information over an hourlong bus ride.

Our first stop on the day was Moonlit Sanctuary, one of these wildlife conservation preserves. We were to be back on the bus in 90 minutes.

As we arrived we were faced with our first upgrade option. Seriously, after committing to the trip I am not a fan of being told for even more money I can have a more amazing experience, yet I did not want to leave Australia without petting a koala bear ($25AUS). Don didn't want to leave without feeding a kangaroo ($3AUS). While in line for the kangaroo, we befriended the couple from Florida. This was the first of many times on the day trip when we took pictures of each other. Technically, they only took pictures of us at this point because while she paid the pet the koala, he stood nearby and took pictures. Later Don wished we had that idea, too. It was less than $20US each to pet the koala, when will we get that opportunity again?

She poses nicely

Mallee was a complete sweetheart. She was also incredibly well-fed. Our only instructions were to stay away from the top of her head or her face. She was a lot softer than I expected, I thought she would be much more bristly. We kept asking questions in order to be allowed to keep petting her. There are only a couple of places in Australia where you can hug a koala, this was not one of them. I thought we would do so, but that did not happen. This was our only up close encounter with a koala.

So cute!

We looked at the other koalas on our way to trying to feed a kangaroo.

I'll admit, I didn't see the allure in paying $3NZ ($2US) to feed animals that are likely already being fed. I was even less appreciative of the opportunity as we saw clusters of families doing the same thing, and the ones not being fed were not interested in human interaction. I encouraged Don to walk further along the path to find one not being fed.

Rainbow Lorikeet

Along the way we saw some pretty birds, Kookaburras and Lorikeets, that we would soon see again in Andrew and Jo's backyard outside of Brisbane. There were other fancy birds, and even a Tasmanian Devil that caught my eye before retreating to his burrow. My college fraternity's mascot was Taz, so I snapped a picture with my phone to send to my fraternity.

Kookaburra

But still no hungry kangaroos or wallabies. I saw the sign, but I am still perplexed as to the differences. Googling it, they said the main difference is that wallabies are smaller than kangaroos. As it seemed to be the smaller ones clamoring for food, and they lived in the same open space, I hoped they could both eat the same food.

Then we noticed a mama joey in a corner with a zookeeper standing guard. She seemed interested in our offerings, so we spent a lot of time with her. The Florida couple was there, too, so we also spent time with them. 

The keeper explained she is about 10 months pregnant, gestation lasts about 11 months. As you can see in the pictures, she has an extra set of legs -- the joey's legs are sticking out of her! Someone said they saw its head, but I didn't. 

Please?

Don did most of the feeding. I had flashbacks to feeding the fish in Oahu in the late 1990s. The fish bit me and left a little mark that took a long time to disappear. Suffice it to say, I am not comfortable handfeeding wildlife. When I handfeed our bearded dragon, I use a spoon and not my fingers. I happily took pictures of Don in his glory.

Don coaxed me to give it a try. I was surprised just how gently she took the food from my hand. It was the softest of touches.

Meanwhile, the ducks were surrounding us hoping we would drop some food in their direction. They were a bit aggressive for kept ducks.

We learned Kanga (to adopt Winnie the Pooh's name) is about three years old. She can have three baby joeys at the same time in three different stages of growth: a fetus, a joey popping in and out like this one, and another one inside her pouch.

See the legs sticking out

We also learned that around the nine month mark, the joey pops in and out as if he is testing the water. I turned to Florida mom and asked her if she has any children. She said yes. I then said, can you imagine?

That's more like it

Kind of creepy with the extra set of legs

We still had a little time left before the bus was to leave so we checked in on the koalas and other favorites. The sanctuary is also home to dingoes, which makes a howling sound that would be quite disturbing to hear in the wild.

We were all back on the bus early, which is a good sign for the day.