Down Under
Australia is the world’s smallest,
flattest continent and largest island, with almost 70% of its land mass below
the Tropic of Capricorn. The island continent separates two great oceans: the
Pacific and the Indian. 70% of Australia’s population lives in 10 cities so
wide open spaces are still plentiful. Australia
is about the size of the US but with only 24 million people. We went there with
the objective of seeing as much endemic wildlife in their native habitat as
possible, and to seek out what was unique to Australia that we may not see
elsewhere. We tried to capture as much as we could in photographs, but not at
the expense of getting an experience to remember.
One joyful experience was the nightly march of the Little
Blue penguins from the sea to their burrows.
These penguins are the smallest species of penguins, only 13” tall. They
wait until it’s dark enough to avoid predators, then come out of the ocean in
groups (safety in numbers) and start their waddling journey back to their
burrows. Some walk quite a long way for
their little legs (up to one mile!)
We snorkeled on the Great Barrier Reef and marveled at the
fish and more types of colorful coral than we have ever seen elsewhere. We went
wombat-searching one night even though we’d never even heard of the nocturnal
wombat prior to this trip. They are native to Australia, a muscular marsupial,
although their pouch is backward-facing so when they dig, their baby doesn’t
get buried in dirt. We saw 4 that night and were gifted with one Wombat walking
by us only 3 feet away so we could see she had a joey in her pouch. This was a
real treat and a rare spotting.
We were treated to so many sightings of species which
exceeded our already high expectations. We saw (1) mobs of marsupials,
including macropods ( kangaroos and wallabies), hundreds of huggable koalas
sitting in eucalyptus (gum) trees, and wombats; (2) the egg-laying-mammal
echidna or spiny ant eater; (3) tons of bird species; (4) Fruit bats or “Flying
Foxes”; (5) four species of penguins; (6) Fur seals and sea lions; (7) Emus and
cassowaries; and (8) the fierce crocodile, the most ferocious aggressive
predator we have ever seen.
We saw towering termite mounds, another unfamiliar thing we’ve
never seen. The tallest termite mound is
22 feet tall! The termites cannot handle sunlight so they build mounds and
tunnels to avoid sunshine. These are not the wood-eating types of termites
however. They just eat grasses.
We hiked Australia’s lush rainforests, through the bush, and
around the desert conditions of the Outback. We saw aboriginal land areas where
rivers flood the entire plain region each year, causing the roads to be buried
under 6 feet of water. The towns are cut off for these “Wet” months except for
boats. The crocodiles then move into these flooded areas and take over.
While we spent most of our time outside of the populated
areas, we also enjoyed the cities - the arcades of Melbourne, the harbors and
waterfronts of Sydney, Darwin & Cairns, the wine area of Adelaide, and the
many beaches and shores along the way.
This trip delivered many new, exciting experiences for us,
and many new first time accomplishments: being south of the equator and the
Tropic of Capricorn, seeing the Southern Cross constellation, experiencing the
reverse seasons (November is Springtime), being by the Tasman Sea and the Great
Southern and Indian Oceans, among many others. This was the trip of our
lifetimes!
We found the Australian people most delightful and pleasant
and have made several new long term relationships.
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