02-24-2020: Australian Reptile Park

Our last excursion is to the Australian Reptile Park. It’s close by in Somersby and we’ve talked about going for the last 6 weeks. Today is the day, because we only have 2 days left before we start our return to home on Feb. 26. Lou’s friend Margaret had said she wanted to join us when we last saw her, so we picked her up for the outing on our way to the park.

I didn’t quite know what to expect, and Christine was a little leery about being too close to reptiles, but it was a fun day seeing and learning about many native reptiles, birds and mammals. We arrived just in time for a little showing of several species. The narrator talked about various reptiles and then displayed them, some he took around for us to pet if we so chose.

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We bypassed the opportunity to have our photo taken with the python wrapped around us!

The koalas were adorable, of course. We saw the backsides of many that were perched in their enclosures, but a couple of them faced forwarded for us.

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The birds were amazing. Many were in cages, but a lot of birds in the wild were visiting the park. You never knew what interesting bird would swoop by or were in trees nearby as we looked at the caged birds.

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We stopped for a lunch break and ate outside. Of course, we had visitors who wanted to share our lunch.

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It was amazing when these lorikeets flew in. Their wing beats really were strong and you would feel the breeze as they flew by. When there were 30 or so of them right at the end of our picnic table it got a bit scary, especially when they decided to depart all at once and wings were flapping all over the place. But what beautiful birds!

After lunch we visited the Komodo dragons. I was a tad disappointed because they were lying on their bellies so we couldn’t tell how large they were. But there were two in separate enclosures.

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Emus and kangaroos were roaming about around the park and you could pet them.

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We saw the very cute endangered Tazmanian devils. They have a breeding program for these animals at the park.

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There were two Galapagos giant tortoises. One was very happy to pose for me.

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We saw some animals that I had no clue existed.

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If you recall from the post about our visit to the botanic gardens in Canberra, we saw a fake Cassowary in the rainforest. Well, we saw 2 real ones at the reptile park. They are colorful and very unusual birds, the only bird with an armor plate, which looked like a big golden crown on its head.

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The park is nicely laid out with lots of greenery around. A couple of streams and small waterfalls made it sound nice. There were some sculptures nestled in the greenery which were eye-catching.

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One of the creatures that was amazing to see was a platypus. You hear about what weird animals they are, duck beak, beaver tail, fur, suckle their young, lay eggs. And I think they are as every bit weird when you see one up close.

Here’s my favorite photo of the day.

We had a very nice day at the park and it was so nice to also have Lou’s friend Margaret be with us. She’s a very interesting person and Christine especially enjoys her.

Sadly, we’re approaching the end of our time in Australia. Initially, we thought 6-1/2 weeks was a very long time, but it has shot right by. We’ll have one last swim in the ocean Tuesday, and then we’ll pack and get ready to depart for the airport on the 26th. What a wonderful time we’ve had. Lou has been such a great host. We love him to pieces!