On the wild side...

Hello Mates and Sheila’s, tis us again from down under. Today we have a few pics from the little wildlife tour we took on March 3rd.

It was a fabulous adventure that began about 90 minutes south of Sydney at a little parcel of private land where we were given the opportunity to view some of the wildlife up close and personal.

This pudgy little fella is a Wombat. Wombats are marsupial mammals. You're probably asking yourself what the heck is a marsupial mammal, right? I know I certainly was, but thanks to our tour guide Steve I am now in the know.   I was probably asleep at my desk when that topic was covered in school.

Anyway, for those that are like me, The females have a pouch called ' marsupium ' which contains the teats. The young babies are kept in these pouches. In this way, the mothers can carry the babies safely and easily. Apparently they are the size of a peanut when they're born, and the gestation period is 20 to 22 days.

Hey girlfriends, where did we go wrong????

 

Australia’s most iconic animal, the kangaroo.

There are several (understatement...apparently it’s more like 60 different species) of kangaroos, and their close relatives wallabies, and wallaroos.

This particular fellow is an eastern grey Kangaroo.

 

and a buddy…



 

Wee Shaemus made another little friend, and his name is dippy. Apparently it has something to do with the prehistoric version of the modern day wombat.

Note…this is one entrance to their burrows. Their burrows can be from 3 to 30 meters (10 to 100 feet) long and up to 3.5 meters (11.5 feet) deep. The burrow's diameter is about the same size as the wombat and can be up to 20 inches wide, large enough for a small person to crawl into. Although wombats just fit in their burrows, they are agile and can turn around in them.

 

Our tour started by daylight and ended at night so we had the opportunity to see some of the nocturnal inhabitants here as well.

We were waiting for platypus’ here, but this funny little fella was our only guest.

 

We didn’t manage to see any koalas either today, and trust me it wasn’t from lack of trying. I suspect it had something to do with Sandra, because it seems every time Sandra shows up to view animals in the wild, nobody cares to show up!

 

 

Here are a few extra shots of Sydney Harbour because the Sun decided to shine, and as we all know it makes photos so much better.

 

Sydney Opera House

 

Darling Harbour

 

Ok mates and Sheila's we are off to the pier to catch our ship now. We will post more photos as the internet will allow. Hope you're enjoying our journey albeit from afar.

Rick, Sandra and Shaemus xo xo