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Healesville Sanctuary
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This weekend, I went to see Adam at his parents house in Woori Yalek, a place close to the Healesville sanctuary. We ate out, then chilled out watching Dawn of the Dead, then another film along similar lines. Zombies, and ass-busting heroines. Adam had a smile across his face as he watched. Heaven!
In the morning, we watched some children's tv while drinking coffee. On the show, there were three little girls, of about five years old, with blindfolds on. 'Ok girls, now try and guess the name of the fruit to win a barbie!' the presenter smiled winningly. The first little girl reached her hand to the table and picked up a whole strawberry. Biting a little, she said, 'this is a strawberry.' 'Well done, Jessica! You've won a malibu barbie,' the hostess cheered. 'Ok, now its Samantha's turn.' Little Samantha picked up a raspberry and put it in her mouth. 'Is it a raspberry?' 'Yes, Samantha well done! You've won yourself a brand new malibu barbie as well!'. It was the third little girl's turn. She picked up a cherry, rolling it around her fingers. She took a bite. 'Is it an apple?'
'Hey! Shit-for-brains! You don't deserve that barbie!' yelled Adam. The hostess started to laugh, held it in and whispered in the little girl's ear. 'Its a cherry!' she said loudly. 'Well done Jane, you've got a barbie,' smiled the hostess serenely. The next day, we went to the Healesville sanctuary and watched kangeroos, koalas and a bird show. The best bit, however was when we went to the duck-billed platypus area and Ian, a friend of Adams, showed us the back of the enclosure. He called 'Melton!' over the aquarium and over came one of his favourite platypus'. Platypus are only about a foot long, and are equisitely soft... Ian held Melton and Adam and I stroked him, and little Melton wriggled and squirmed, loving the attention. Platypus are the most expensive animals to keep in the whole sanctuary, as they require a diet of yabbies (small lobsters), millworms and fly larvae. They eat huge amounts of this expensive food, about 40 tonnes a year. There are only 4 platypus in the sanctuary and they are hoping to mate them and get more.
After the platypus, we went to see the bird show, which was fascinating. The birds were acting slightly edgy, and it was because a wedge-tailed eagle was flying high up in the sky above their area. With their sharp eyes, they had spotted this and didn't feel like getting into a fight - eagles are very terratorial. The owl was so spooked it just flew off and didn't come back, no matter how much cajoling the keepers tried. Same with the osprey, it flew off for 20 minutes and Adam made me sit through a boomarang display until it came back and got the fish in the pond. We also saw koalas, which sometimes mistake people for trees and try to climb them. This is a problem as they have huge claws that they dig in to stay on the tree - its been messy. Dingoes slept in the shade and we saw wallabys and kangeroos.
Soon it was time to go and now I have a taste to see more wildlife here - its time to start finalising my itinerary. More thumbnails ...
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