townsville - day 3

DAY 3 - 24 Aug

Woke up 8:30 today, had breakfast with P: eggs with bacon on toast. The bacon here is Emailed a bit. Showered and then off to the Billabong Sanctuary with P and Honor. What a great place! It's a bit like the American petting-zoo, but with much cooler animals! We saw everything and got to touch many... I volunteered to pull an Amethystine water python out of a canvas bag in front of the crowd. It was black with a yellow underside, not to be confused with the yellow-bellied python, because there is no such thing. haha I also got to hold a koala, Humphrey, and we got our pic taken with him. Koalas are SO SOFT!!!!!! I love them, there was another one we got to pet too and it was so gentle and sweet. Apparently they are quite dumb - with a walnut-sized brain, they only do three things in life: eat, sleep and sit in trees. There were multiple feedings for the crowd to see: for the Salties (saltwater crocodiles - the most dangerous), Freshies (freshwater crocs - harmless), Dingoes. You'll see the full list of creatures below...

After the sanctuary I visited Dr. Iosef for my dive medical exam. I passed, yahoo! The best part was when he made me stand with one foot in front of the other for a whole minute... thought I was going to fall over! But he did reprimand me for not seeing a doc for my post-nasal drip :)

I can't remember what we had for dinner or did for the rest of the night, but then again it was Friday. It's just an old routine - come home from work on Friday after a 40 hr work week and transform into a puddle of blob without a brain. It's the best way to relax, turning into blob....

Wildlife seen:
- Pythons (Black headed, Amethystine water python, Olive)
- Wide-finned fresh water eel
- Eastern grey kangaroo (I fed them with my hands and pet them all over, SO SOFT!)
- Emus (even one with a lopsided beak, haha)
- Magpies
- Koalas!!!! (an Aboriginal word meaning 'no water')
- Dingoes
- Crocodiles (saltwater and freshwater)
- Cockatoos (Sulfer crested, Pink, Galah)
- Red legged Pademelon
- Pigeons (white headed, Torresian)
- Yarraba (Southern Cassowary)
- Bush stone curlew
- Swans (black and mute)
- Pied (Magpie) Goose
- Plumed 'Whistling' ducks
- Wedge tailed eagles (gorgeous creatures!!!! and they just sit around on the ground with their wings spread open... not sure why?)
- Australian brush turkey
- Dusky Gallinule
- Masked owl
- Gliding squirrels

...there were many more, but I could have been there for a few days just writing all the names down, nevermind actually looking at them!