My mission here is done. I can now go home with my head held high. I went to the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary (LPKS) today. The LPKS is the oldest and largest koala sanctuary. In addition to koalas, it houses marsupials, birds, lizards, snakes and barn animals. That meant I had a chance to see kangaroos (the real reason I came), lorikeets, pythons, wombats, emus, etc.
I was able to hold a koala and take pictures with it. I'm scared of animals. My personal motto in life is if it does not walk on two legs or carries a gun/knife/bomb, I'm scared of it. So as I prepared to hold that koala I was scared. I wish they had warned me about their long claws, because when he first grabbed me, I thought it was trying to sink his claws into me. Thankfully, that was not the case. Eventually I managed to crack a smile. After that, I walked around and saw some more animals, including dingoes and a tasmanian devil. I managed to get photos of most things in the sanctuary, but my camera's battery died before I could take a photo of everything.
However, I did come away traumatized by a very sad and disturbing incident. I had bought A$1 worth of kangaroo food to feed some kangaroos. And I did. And took photos and videos of it. The kangaroos, wallabies and emus live in the same area. Bad idea. So, after I had finished feeding a kangaroo, this hungry emu came after me. Scared, but thinking on my feet, I stuck out the small bag containing the food. The emu went ahead and started pecking away. After a few pecks and scared for my hand (and life), I abandoned the bag and put it on the ground. The emu then proceeded to finish the entire bag of food and went on his way. Because of his selfish behavior, now some kangaroos wouldn't be fed (by me). Emu 1 - Olayemi and Kangaroos - 0. The emu may have won this battle, but I shall win this war. :-)
Pictures and videos: http://picasaweb.google.com/hollaatolayemi01
