So we left off after an eventful day of enrollment on Wednesday. Thursday provided possibly the most fun yet that I have had here as all the study abroad students at the University could go on a trip to Caversham Wildlife Park. However the day started early for me because I woke up and walked through King's Park up to what is aptly named the DNA Tower, as it is a lookout tower with two winding staircases up to the top platform. From there I got some clutch pictures of the sunrise over the city, which is what I came for besides some of the morning exercise that I am so fond of. After breakfast we all headed over to pick up the buses on the campus and were greeted with three large buses that were painted and eye-wrenching lime green and yellow. The insides were really ragged besides the four large surround speakers and two subwoofers in the back that were very underutilized on the hour drive over. I could barely hear the music. After a drive through the Swan Valley wine country we arrived at Caversham. This park was basically a zoo in which we walked through, while actually being able to interact/pet some of the animals. The first "cliche" Australian animal that we got to take a photo with and pet was the wombat. This creature is much bigger than most of us thought (not me of course since I know how big wombats are) but what surprised me the most was when our guide said they could run up to 40 km/hr. This was one of my goals of my trip, to pet a wombat, so I was very happy when we got to. We then walked past many other Australian animals including loud squawking birds, sleeping echidnas, and some dingos.
After all those we arrived at the kangaroo pen where we were instructed to grab a handful of food, not to pet them on the head, and find your favorite kangaroo. And so all of us eagerly wandered around the pen to find the kangaroo that we wanted to feed. Alan was the first to find one after approaching it tentatively and offering it an offering of food. I soon found a little joey that looked like it wanted to have a nibble, and it did exactly that. After just a tiny bit of food it hopped off but I soon found my kangaroo friend that finished the rest of the pile in my hand while letting me pet it and take its picture. They were so nonchalant about being around humans before, it made it so much more entertaining for us because we could walk right up to most of them. After our allotted time was up we reluctantly left, but then got shown the koala pen where we had remarkably good luck in interacting with the koalas considering they sleep for 20-22 hours a day since they get so little energy for the eucalyptus they eat. One guy was very active during his photo shoot and one even had a little joey (their babies are called joeys too) peeping in and out of his pouch and crawling around.
We then headed to a show they put on for us in which they demonstrated sheep-shearing, an essential trade in Australia's past and present, and things that go along with ranching such as milking a cow and cracking a whip. I refrained from milking the cow. Been there done that. When we got back to college however we had a most ironic dinner. The rector and vice-rector put together an authentic Australian dinner for us which included kangaroo, emu, and water buffalo meat in separate sausages for us to eat as well as these Vegemite pastries. The same animals that we saw and fed that morning fed us. Oh and by the way Vegemite is this "concentrated yeast extract" that Australians love and is generally hated by all the international students. The pastries were very good, but usually it is just eaten with cheese or toast and really not that good. It has a very sharp and salty taste (best description I can give at the moment). The dinner was topped off with some delicious Australian dessert which was like a large meringue with whipped cream on the top. Amazing. Today just went into the city to pick up a few things after more orientation activities with the university, and now I am off since it is Friday night. Til next time.
So we left off after an eventful day of enrollment on Wednesday. Thursday provided possibly the most fun yet that I have had here as all the study abroad students at the University could go on a trip to Caversham Wildlife Park. However the day started early for me because I woke up and walked through King's Park up to what is aptly named the DNA Tower, as it is a lookout tower with two winding staircases up to the top platform. From there I got some clutch pictures of the sunrise over the city, which is what I came for besides some of the morning exercise that I am so fond of. After breakfast we all headed over to pick up the buses on the campus and were greeted with three large buses that were painted and eye-wrenching lime green and yellow. The insides were really ragged besides the four large surround speakers and two subwoofers in the back that were very underutilized on the hour drive over. I could barely hear the music. After a drive through the Swan Valley wine country we arrived at Caversham. This park was basically a zoo in which we walked through, while actually being able to interact/pet some of the animals. The first "cliche" Australian animal that we got to take a photo with and pet was the wombat. This creature is much bigger than most of us thought (not me of course since I know how big wombats are) but what surprised me the most was when our guide said they could run up to 40 km/hr. This was one of my goals of my trip, to pet a wombat, so I was very happy when we got to. We then walked past many other Australian animals including loud squawking birds, sleeping echidnas, and some dingos.
After all those we arrived at the kangaroo pen where we were instructed to grab a handful of food, not to pet them on the head, and find your favorite kangaroo. And so all of us eagerly wandered around the pen to find the kangaroo that we wanted to feed. Alan was the first to find one after approaching it tentatively and offering it an offering of food. I soon found a little joey that looked like it wanted to have a nibble, and it did exactly that. After just a tiny bit of food it hopped off but I soon found my kangaroo friend that finished the rest of the pile in my hand while letting me pet it and take its picture. They were so nonchalant about being around humans before, it made it so much more entertaining for us because we could walk right up to most of them. After our allotted time was up we reluctantly left, but then got shown the koala pen where we had remarkably good luck in interacting with the koalas considering they sleep for 20-22 hours a day since they get so little energy for the eucalyptus they eat. One guy was very active during his photo shoot and one even had a little joey (their babies are called joeys too) peeping in and out of his pouch and crawling around. 
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