Blogaroo Times Two

After seeing some awesome Aussie avians, we continued through the Australian Reptile Park and saw quolls, wombats and wallabies, oh my! The wombat was having a snooze in his log.

The wallabies were dozing in the sun too. How cute is this yellow-footed rock-wallaby?

He doesn’t look at all like my childhood vision of wallabies, courtesy of Rocko’s Modern Life.

And check out these lazy bustards.

For real – they’re called bustards. Australia is just begging to have its creatures mocked, what with bustards, stingarees, potoroos and platypusaries. Poor bustards.

Playing off another Aussie trope, dingos were up next. No babies in sight, thankfully.

Momma dingo was napping, but her puppies put on a great show.

I want a dingo to join my Vallhund and tawny frogmouth pack.

On the opposite end of the spectrum from the furry, cute dingos, there was Elvis.

Elvis has been a very bad croc, so he has to live out his days in this manmade pond. From the Australian Reptile Park’s website:

Elvis the crocodile arrived at the park in September 2007, and has been dubbed Australia’s crankiest crocodile. Elvis was originally from Darwin in the Northern Territory; he was removed from the wild as he was attacking fishing boats in Darwin Harbour. In December 2011, Elvis lost two teeth during an attack on park staff and their lawnmowers. He is always wowing visitors to the Park at feeding time… when he shows off his aggression towards the keepers and his food.

Naughty Elvis! Croc Versus Lawnmower (or Elvis Versus Lawnmower, to keep the viewer guessing) sounds like it could be a made-for-TV sci-fi movie, up there with Sharknado or Mega Shark Versus Giant Octopus.

I prefer my close encounters with crocs to consist of plastic crocs only:

We headed indoors to check out the reptiles and arachnids. Too bad they had to take a dig at my family, though:

We’re not ALL pesky! Especially since it says “Flys” and not “flies,” they must be talking trash about my people. Knowing how many venomous creatures Australia has in its arsenal, I decided it best not to push the issue.

While checking out some cool lizards, I heard a familiar song playing. It took me a few moments, but I soon recognized it as the Jurassic Park theme. Fitting!

We got a great view of the area where they extract venom from spiders.

I was happy to be on the other side of the glass! Spiders are pretty awesome, but I’ll stick to admiring them from a distance.

We decided it was high time we grab some roo feed and head out to the lawn to make friends. The large groups of school kids had moved on, so there were plenty of marsupials to go around.

A rare behind the scenes look at a roo selfie in the making:

And here’s how it turned out. 🙂

These kangaroos definitely know what they want.

Some must’ve already filled up earlier and just wanted to lounge.

Others, though, like this big male, were a little TOO keen.

Kelsey’s smile successfully masks her internal pleas for help to get this big dude to back off. We had to take a break and check out the Komodo dragon that showed up on a leash. How many chances could you possibly have in one lifetime to pet a dragon?

You can call me the Mother of Dragons now, thanks. My name sounds enough like Khaleesi, so it shouldn’t be a stretch.

We still had plenty of food left for the roos, so we made some new, less aggressive friends.

I love how they just grab on to you. “Food, please. I’m not here to play games, humans!”

Andy amassed quite the following.

But the best was yet to come. Look closely!

A little joey came out to explore from his mom’s pouch.

This next photo is probably my favorite from the day. Sooo cute!

Both mom & baby got a chance for some food before we used it up.

I think it’s safe to say we got our money’s worth a the Australian Reptile Park!

I hope you had at least a fraction of the fun following along as we did while meeting these awesome creatures firsthand.

Next up, Port Stephens – whale watching, sandboarding, beer drinking and more!