Looking for a Place to Sleep/Wildlife Wonderland ~ Derek's Travels

As I left the Great Ocean Road, I thought I may be able to find a place to sleep before I got back to the main cities of Geelong or Melbourne, but my camera battery was running low, so I figured that I'd instead make it into one of the small towns along the way to either buy an adapter to charge the battery in the car or just stay in a hostel for the night and use the outlets and maybe even have a nice shower in the morning. As I went from town to town, I was disappointed and increasingly frustrated to find stores closed at very early hours or non-existent, barely missing out on a good dinner at the kebab place and barely missing out on the one electronics store that may have what I was looking for. I decided that I'd just head back through Melbourne and hope to find a quiet rest area or something on the other side of town, not really knowing where I'd end up, though hoping to find a place, as it was already pitch black and 8 pm, much later than I'd like to be on the road, especially considering the warnings of wildlife coming onto the roads at nights. With a plethora of signs and traffic, I made my way back into Melbourne, spotting the city lights from a grand bridge going over the Yarra River and arriving at the city just before going underground for a few kilometers to bypass the major roads of the city. As I came out of the tunnel, I went through two toll checkpoints that were completely unannounced and really, really angered me, as there were absolutely no signs or warnings of the upcoming tolls, and the only way to pay the toll is with a pre-paid card, from what I'd read in a book earlier. I was already mad that I couldn't find a place to stay, and knowing that I'd have a fine waiting for me when I turned in my rental car didn't help things. Place after place along the road looked promising only to be closed or full or something else. Eventually, I decided that I'd just drive all the way to Phillip Island, about 2 hours past Melbourne along the Southern coast, my next big attraction. As I pulled into the island, I found it to be much larger than expected, though equally disappointing in terms of finding a place to stay. After searching through a variety of motorcamps and alleged hostels, I gave up and headed for the beach. The signs clearly disallowed camping, but I was out of options, so I parked in the corner of the parking lot and hoped that no one would notice. I also set my alarm for early the next morning and was pleased to be awoken to the sound of that, rather than some random police office banging on the window.

I quickly washed up in the nearby bathrooms and hit the road, hopefully before anyone realized that I had spent the night in the illegal spot. The main draw of Phillip Island is the nightly Penguin Parade, but that doesn't occur until dusk, so I had to find something else to do for the day. On the way down, I had noticed a wildlife park that touted either Wombat World or Wombat Wonderland, so I knew that I'd have to check it out. While I waited on Phillip Island, I spoke with the visitor's information center clerk and actually talked her into letting me recharge my camera battery there while I got breakfast. After some food and walking around town, I grabbed my battery and headed to Wildlife Wonderland. I had thoroughly enjoyed the first park, and I thought this one had potential to be even better. At only about $8 or 9, I certainly couldn't pass up the chance to play with some more animals. The larger park touted a few of the world's largest earthworms and a large earthworm shaped display, but the wombats were what attracted me. This park particularly relies on visitors on tour buses on the way down to see the penguins, meaning that it's mostly busy in the late afternoon, so I had most of the park to myself. I soon found the first great attraction, the home of the wombats, and I couldn't wait to go in. The enclosure starts with a dark, winding tunnel into a small hut, simulating walking into one of the wombat's tunnels. Inside is a dark room that feels like the underground for the nocturnal marsupials that look a bit like a mix of a short, fat dog and a koala. The first one that I found apparently had only been caught a few days earlier and still wasn't too happy with humans, evidenced by hissing/purring noise that it made as I stuck my head in the enclosure. I moved to the next stone wall surrounding another cage and found a much more friendly wombat. I was soon greeted by Jason, one of the owners, who was holding one of the smaller wombats (about 20 pounds), and he asked if I'd like to get my picture with it. Of course, I sat down on the chair and cradled the small wombat, which had been raised from infancy, as its mother was killed by a passing car, so it was completely calm and used to human contact. The adorable animal seemed to really like its handlers, and I was so happy to be able to touch one, let alone hold it.

Next, I moved on to the kangaroo enclosure, which was open, giving me an opportunity to be surrounded by grey and a few red kangaroos. Being one of the only visitors that morning also meant that the kangaroos were anxious for the food bags that I was holding, and the 18 or 20 animals soon surrounded me, begging for food and fighting their way to the front. These were larger than the wallabies that I had seen before, a few of them about 3 or 4 feet tall while sitting down, even taller than me when fully standing and extending their back legs. As before, they grabbed my hands and bags with their hands (thought not so tiny this time), and a few of them even grabbed my thighs and pulled me in one direction or another, trying to get their share of the food. With my back to the wall, I was actually a bit cornered, so I made my way out of the scrum and around into the open space before resuming the feeding. A few of the kangaroos also had babies (joeys) with their small heads sticking out of the pouches of the mothers. The owner even pulled one of them out to show us, as he has to pull them out every week to weigh them and check their health, so the mother was used to it. The fur of these kangaroos was also fairly soft, showing that they were well taken care of. Absolutely loving the experience of being able to feed, touch and interact with these strange animals, I forced myself to move on, observing some of the beautiful and colorful birds of Australia, some emus and dingoes and a few alpaca before moving on to the final enclosure.

The final enclosure had a few small wallabies and the resident koalas. One of the wallabies, FJ, seemed extremely friendly, and I found out later that he actually lives in the house with the owners and has been raised by them, hence the predilection for people. Just as I was asking how quickly these little guys could hop around, FJ put on a display, speeding around the large enclosure in lightning-quick bursts, as the other owner told me that they can get up to about 35 mph. Next, the owners took the koalas down from their trees and I was able to pet them and get a few pictures. The soft, grey fur is very thick, and the docile animal seemed fine with me petting it and examining its long claws and cartilage plate on the backside that allows it to comfortably sit in the forks of trees for nearly its whole life. Getting all of its water and nutrients from the eucalyptus trees, they rarely come down to the forest below, so that's quite an important feature for them. I spoke more with the owner, Jason and Darren, and they were actually nice enough to invite me to come back to the park later and have dinner with them, if I wanted to meet up after the penguins. Excited about the prospect, I headed back to Phillip Island for the other shows of the day. I first stopped at the koala conservation center, which featured some wild koalas with some raised boardwalks which was a pretty cool experience, though not as unique as it would have been without my previous few days of koala adventures.

Next, I went to the end of Phillip Island for the super-touristy Penguin Parade. Every night of the year, hundreds of Little Penguins (that's the actual species, I think also known as Blue or Fairy Penguins) come in to the same beach from the water and make their way up to the grass and shrubs, exhausted from the day's hunt. Along the beach are some stadium lights and bleachers, packed with tourists watching the spectacle unfold. I got to the area early before the large tourist buses, paid my money and got a front row seat, about an hour before dusk and the onslaught of penguins. After being crunched by an Indian family that apparently lacked the same values of personal space, I saw the first few penguins out in the water, waiting to come ashore a few minutes after the sky grew dark. Being only about a foot tall, the penguins congregate in the water until they have a large group, hoping that the protection of the large group will help them make it safely back to their nests. The first group of about 8 birds emerged from the water, took a few cautious steps forward and then made a run for it. They quickly waddled past us and into the brush before slowly down and making their way individually back to their own nests. Then, the next group was massive. Around 60 birds huddled together, ducked down and sprinted up the beach. The chirping, whistling and squawking was all around us as they made their way around the bleachers. The tiny little penguins swam around, came ashore, got frightened and jumped back in the water, and this cycle continued for about 45 minutes as somewhere between 200 and 300 penguins came ashore. The best part was upon leaving, the people follow a raised boardwalk along which the penguins walk, so we got right next to them, and a few of the faster ones even walked right beside me as I made my way up the hill. Unfortunately, photos are banned from the whole event, as they might scare the penguins, so I only was able to take pictures of their pictures that they were selling.

Happy about the penguins, but more excited about the wildlife park, I headed back and met Jason and Darren for dinner. We grabbed some Chinese food and headed back to their house, a large ranch style house just across from the wildlife park. Their house was a little boy's dream: arcade games, pinball machines, air hockey, snake skins hanging out to dry, four or five large snake enclosures featuring pythons and a venomous brown snake, and FJ, the small wallaby just hanging out on the couch. We had some drinks and played with the animals before heading back to the park at around 9:30. They had told me that the park was a different place at night, so I was excited to see the animals again, behind the scenes. We entered the park and headed straight for the wombats. The small wombats, Lolly and Gracie, were clearly happy to see us, and we soon jumped into their pen and played with them as they ran under and between our legs. Then Darren pulled them out of the pen, and they gleefully chased him around the room, moving surprisingly fast with their short, stubby legs and bodies. Just like a happy dog, they followed their owners around and around, looking as though they could play all night long. I couldn't believe that I was able to be playing with these wombats, and I was amazed at how friendly they were. After that, Jason and Darren also had an extra bedroom, so they even gave me a place to stay for the night, so I was really thankful for that, to have a night in from the van and a nice shower in the morning. These guys were so incredibly nice to me, and it was such a great treat for me to be able to play with all of these animals for so long. When we got home, FJ eventually made his way into the bedroom and got under the comforter, ready to go to bed. Just like a pet, he roamed the house, hopping around and jumping onto the sofa and chairs, watching his owners move from room to room.

The next day, Jason, Darren and I headed back to the wildlife park, and I got another quick tour of the place. Of course, I played with the wombats again and fed the kangaroos before having to say goodbye to my great hosts and the excellent park. It was just by chance that I had met these guys, and they made my trip there so memorable. I didn't want to leave, but I knew that I had to get going to my next stop: Wilson's Promontory.

(The first wombat, playing around in his hay, though not too happy to see me. He wasn't used to humans and was growling at me. It probably didn't help that I growled back.)

(Me holding Lolly, the young wombat that was quite fond of humans and oh so cute.)

(The barrage of kangaroos following me and my food bag as I tried to escape. You can see how they lean forward onto their front paws and then drag their back legs forward to move short distances instead of hopping.)