Koala trip

Driving down the roads you can see "koala-warning" signs in various places. Unfortunately it's really hard, if not almost impossible, to spot a koala in the wildness. The big fires that destroyed huge areas just a few years back also got most of the koalas population in the area. Sad but true. I've always been dreaming of hugging a koala. They just look so sweet, innocent and fluffy. Cute as they can be.

There is a place that has two live koalas on display not to far away from Horsham and there we went ...

what a wonder ... they are not asleep

I read somewhere that koalas are asleep up to 20 hours a day. They wake up to feed some eucalyptus leaves and go back to sleep.

time for a snack

"I'm cute!"

There were not to many people visiting the place at that time and we started a chat with the owner. He told us a lot about the koalas, especially these particular ones. They are very active and sleep only 10 hours a day. 

The problem was that they were behind a fence and I wanted to pet them so badly. The owner was pretty smart, figured that out and invited us to go with him behind the fence. I couldn't believe my luck.

unbelievable soft

dreams do come true

There were also some more animals on display. A 35 years old cockatoo named Cocky was one of them. He yelled at us when we walked near by and said: "Hello Cocky". We stopped and started talking to him. He was repeating everything and it was clearly understandable. Then Ziggy started whistling and ... Cocky started dancing and singing. I've never seen something like this before. The best part though was when I laughed out loud and the bloody bird laughed back exactly repeating the sound. Unbelievable!

Hello Cocky

The owners warned us that Cocky will call us back as soon as we'll try to leave him. And so it was: "Come back!" - he said. He went nuts when he saw us back at the parking lot boarding the car. He's not that nice to everyone and also showing the rude finger if he doesn't like somebody. We haven't experienced that though.

We have to go back one day to visit Cocky and the Koalas.