Lions and Tigers and Wombats…oh my
Well, no lions..and no tigers either. But we do have quokkas.
I have lived in Australia for just over 25 years and I’ll be honest, I will never tire of experiencing Australian animals in the wild.
On our recent trip to Tasmania it got me thinking about other experiences and how lucky I am to live in this big, varied land. Here are three of my favs, in no particular order.
Wombats at Cradle Mountain, Tasmania
Fuzzy boi
Here is an admission. I didn’t know anything about wombats until I moved to Australia. Roos? Yes. Koalas? Of course. Emus? For sure. But wombats? They were a fuzzy little surprise for me. They are gentlest, cutest, and most curious marsupials you can ever see. In another post, I mentioned they are crepuscular, which meant that we needed to get out hiking at sunrise or sunset to catch a glimpse.
A number of years ago I remember seeing an interview with Italian motorcycle racer Valentino Rossi when he was here for the Australian GP. The press, as one would expect, asked what he thought of Australia. In his broken English he said, “I like very much the wombat’. It was such a genuine and enthusiastic response from a motorcycle racer, not a person one would typically associate with loving little furry animals. I can’t even count how many times I’ve quoted Rossi.
Wombat fact! Wombat poo is cube shaped, they are the only animal in the world with this kind of poo. Apparently the reason behind this is because they mark their territory with their poo and the cube shape keeps is from rolling away.
Kangaroos at Mudgee, NSW
Roos outside of our Air BnB
Kangaroos are the rock stars of Australian wildlife. When you close your eyes and think of those canons of Australia, kangaroos are at the top of the list. So ingrained in the fabric of Australian culture that the Aussie airline Qantas put them on all their merch - including the business class pajamas.
You can’t live in Australia very long without encountering kangaroos in the wild. Drive out to the Blue Mountains (about an hour west of Sydney) and if you get up early enough, you might catch a few hopping around. More likely, and unfortunately, you’ll see a few former roos on the side of the road having lost the battle with a car. The last time I went up to Mudgee, a wine region a couple hours from Sydney, we awoke each morning to a mob of roos just outside of our Air BnB.
Kangaroo fact! The Australian coat of arms has two animals on it; the kangaroo and the emu. They were chosen to symbolise a nation moving forward, based on the fact that neither animal can move backwards easily. Also, I believe Australia is the only country in the world where you can legally eat both animals on the coat of arms. The Australian Heritage Hotel even has a Coat Of Arms pizza on the menu which is half emu and half kangaroo. I don’t eat meat, so I can’t speak to the taste of that one.
Quokkas at Wadjemup (Rottnest Island), WA
Boop
A few of years ago in the ‘before times’ we travelled to Perth, Western Australia for a short Christmas break. There are lots of great reasons to visit Perth in the summer. The sunsets, the beaches, the bronze Bon Scott statue. But for us, quokkas were the big draw card. So of course had to take the short ferry ride from Fremantle (or Freo) to Rottnest Island to witness the ‘happiest animal in the world’.
As we started out, I secretly worried we were not going to see these seemingly elusive fellas. As I mentioned it was crazy hot and animals are a lot smarter than us humans: they tend to avoid the heat of the day. But my worries were quickly alleviated, because as we rode our rental bicycles away from the little village, I caught sight of something furry out of the corner of my eye. Yup, there was our first quokka, hanging out in the shade not giving one hoot about these two humans squealing with delight.
We popped off our bikes and tried to keep a respectful distance while getting a few excited shots with our phones. But this quokka (I’ll call him Kevin) had other ideas. He bounded right up to us, sniffed me, sniffed my bag, tried to see if my phone was edible, and was just all around adorable.
I got myself a couple of nice shots and had that, ‘ok, doesn’t matter if we see any more, this has been worth it’ feeling. But from there, we couldn’t get away from them. They were under every bush and around every curve and they were all just as curious about us as Kevin was. It was serious cuteness overload all day, well with the ferry ride and stiffing heat.
Quokka fact! When Dutch captain Willem de Vlamingh saw quokkas in 1696 he thought they were oversized rats and name their island home “‘Ratte nest’ and over time, the island’s name became known as ‘Rottnest’.”
by Amy the Expat
