Healesville Sanctuary

Yesterday, my family and I drove to Healesville. Whenever my mom said it, it sounded like ‘Hells-ville’…

Anyways, we saw all sorts of Aussie animals, including… *drumroll* …

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THE KANGAROO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 😀

For those who actually read every entry, you might be thinking ‘Well, it’s about time’. They were… Magnificent, there’s no other word for them. 

We also managed to see platypusses (or ‘platypii’, as someone once told me), tazmanian devils, dingoes, HUGE iguanas, wombats, echidnas, emus, and last, but definately not least, birds of prey.

We had a chance to see the birds of prey show. It was the best part of the day personally.

The birds of prey are basically any bird that will eat another living creature. They are divided into two catergories: the raptors and the… Um… I can’t remember… We got to see three different types of raptors.

The first was a kite named River. That’s a cool name, River… The bird handler would throw pieces of meat into the air and River would catch it and feed-on-the-wing. That basically means that as soon as the bird caught the meat, it’d eat it without bothering to land. One time, the handler threw the meat and River turned completely upside-down and dive-bombed to catch the piece… and caught it!

The second was a hawk by the name of James. Heh, my brother’s name… *ahem* This bird actually landed to catch it’s prey, holding his wings up and chasing his prey on the ground.

The last one was a black-breasted buzzard named Bernice. She was rather cantankerous. She wouldn’t really listen to what the holder wanted her to do. Some of the local birds picked a fight with her though and it was very interesting. They dove at each other and caused quite a racket.

After the show, this one guy (who was directly descended from aborigines) showed us how to throw a boomerang. It was fantastic to watch!!!

The reptile show was alright. I had the amazing chance of petting a gigantic iguanna and a black-headed python. I had chills!

Well, that’s the day in a nutshell. I would tell more, but it’s late and I’m tired.

~Marissa