(close up kangaroo photo)
“How you doin’?”
Master J (and Hero Dad) returned yesterday from an overnight school camp to a wildlife sanctuary. They weren’t too far away, but it was J’s first school overnighter and we weren’t too sure how he’d go, so we put our hand up (okay, I put TH’s hand up, LOL) to be a parent volunteer.
Apart from some minor issues, TH tells me J did quite well. He was rather unimpressed with the amount of walking they were required to do but loved holding and patting the native animals.
(kangaroo up tree)
“Well, if you really must insist on pointing that infernal contraption at me sir, you shall have to deal with the rear end view!”
Talented Hubby tells me this koala was a bit of a daredevil, crawling out on the skinniest branches to get to the leaves. On a side note - have you ever heard a koala’s mating call? I grew up on a small hobby farm in country Victoria and we would often hear this loud, bellowing trumpet sound coming from somewhere amongst the tree clusters. Scared me senseless, not helped by older brothers who whispered horror stories to me about pigs with tusks the size of my leg, just waiting to gore me to death (my brothers were delightful creatures, weren’t they? :P) It was years before I realised the sounds were NOT wild boar getting ready to barrel out of the bush and eat me alive, but were the sounds of a male koala gettin’ ready to find himself a lady koala and have a bit of a roll around in the hay eucalyptus leaves. Not altogether different from the mating calls of modern day construction workers when a pretty lady walks past, really.
(emu chewing on finger)
“Mmmm - finger food! My favourite!”
I’ve never understood emus. I know my duty as an Aussie is to love them and everything but there’s something about their beady little Evil Eyes and funny “I’ve got a hairball in my throat” glug-glug sound that makes me want to run for the hills. And they move fast. I don’t like animals who can move in unpredictable ways.
Except for cats. Cats are hilarious. Spend an hour on YouTube and you’ll see what I mean, LOL.
(albino kangaroo)
“So that’s when I saw it. The ghost of St Bernard! Next thing I knew, I looked like Steve Martin!”
I don’t think I’ve ever seen an albino kangaroo before. TH said they even had their own little posse. Think they get much ribbin’ from the other ’roos?
(J with snake)
“I wonder what will strike more fear into Mum’s heart? This freaky snake or
THE FACT THAT HER FIRSTBORN IS TOUCHING IT?”
This photo? The VERY REASON I am glad it was Talented Hubby and not me who went. I can’t even look at that photo (it took me twelve minutes just to resize and upload!) without feeling the heebie-jeebies and a cold sweat wash over me. I have a morbid fear of snakes. At least this one was big. Baby snakes scare me worse. Don’t ask me why, it’s far too gross.
I’m actually really grateful for TH this week. He took time off work to volunteer for this thing. The poor guy didn’t quite understand what an overnight trip with 56 fourth and fifth-graders would be like until he experienced it (LOL), but he scored quite a few brownie points for attempting it. Even if he does say it’s the last time :P
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