Off to Healesville Sanctuary

We were off to the Healesville Sanctuary which was about an hour from Melbourne tucked in the foothills of the Yarra Valley.  The Sanctuary has approximately 70 acres (30 hectares) of Australian bushland and is home to about 200 different species of wildlife including koalas, dingos, kangaroos, wallabies, wombats and are also successfully breeding both the duck-billed platypus and the helmeted honeyeater and a great variety of other animals and birds.

Koala

We started to wander around the sanctuary and were soon to see probably the number one animal most visitors to Australia are dying to see...a real life koala and this time, unlike Tasmania, the koala was closeup in a tree and wide awake...no sitting on top of a green tarp!  I got some amazingly cute pictures of the koala...it definitely seemed as if he were posing for all of us!!  They are so damned cute you just want to hold them and hug them and squeeze them but that option was not available at the sanctuary though there are other places one could go to have that experience.

Yours truly with a Koala!

I did, however, get to go in the enclosure for a closeup encounter with this guy a while later and he was about as disinterested in our small group that had paid extra to do this as he pretty much slept through our experience.  But I think most of us were thrilled to be able to get up so close whether he was sleeping or not. 

I hadn't been paying too close attention to the brochure we each received when we went in to the sanctuary but after my koala experience Natalie guided us quickly to what was the Birds of Prey arena to see the Birds of Prey presentation put on by staff at the sanctuary.

I believe a wedge tailed eagle.

Not exactly sure what I was in for as we milled around waiting for the doors to open to the entrance I was soon going to be surprised by what I was soon to experience.  We would soon be thrilled to see such Australian raptors as the Black Breasted Buzzard, Peregrine Falcon and the Wedge tailed Eagle to name a few as they flew in and around all of us gathered in the arena. 

It was an outdoor classroom of sorts and there is nothing quite like feeling the wind from flapping wings as a raptor soars past you to a spot in the arena.  Of course Natalie and Helen both would have to explain what it was like to be slapped by the wings of an eagle...I was watching the eagle as they were watching the handler and tried to get Natalie's attention but it probably was a good thing that I didn't as the eagle swooped right over them slapping them with its wings.  If only I had had the video camera going...it was just an awesome sight and a show that was well worth it!!

As we were filing out after the Birds of Prey show there was one of those moments that probably only I could appreciate but it touched me deeply.  Natalie was once again leading the way through the mass of people with her mum Helen following and of course me bringing up the rear.  It was like a mass of salmon trying to swim upstream and squeeze through the double door entrance/exit.  Helen was just about to the middle of that squeeze area when she stopped, turned around, saw me and said "just looking for my family."  Can't begin to tell you how those few words touched my heart and I hope that memory remains with me always!! 

Vet working on a snake.

We continued wandering around the sanctuary going in and out and here and there looking at all we could see.  There is even a hospital there where you can go in and watch surgeries, etc. as they are being done as they treat sanctuary animals or working on one of the many orphaned, sick or injured animals that are brought there every year.  We got to watch a vet and his assistant take some type of snake out of a pillow case...who knows what was wrong but I'm guessing it was poisonous since Australia just so happens to have 10 of the most venomous snakes in the world  and 8 out of 10 of the top venomous snakes are found in Australia but it's just a guess!!

It was a great day at the sanctuary but we hadn't finished our sight seeing yet.  After a lunch and wandering around more in the sanctuary we would be off to several vineyards on the way back to Melbourne but I'll leave that for another blog.

Until next time...wherever you are...have a great day!!

If you would like to see more pictures from the Healesville Sanctuary here is a link to that photo album on Picasa:  Play slideshow