#kanagaroos

[nostalgia-eh52]

[travelbugjourney-blog]

These kangaroos are virtually domesticated as they refuse to hop away when I'm within spitting distance.

[thesingingcyclist-blog]

Why did the kangaroo cross the road?

Never had I been so excited to see a kangaroo! So with the promise of spotting one or two, we headed to the Wilson's Promontory National Park located at the southernmost tip of Australia.

It's the country's largest reserve with over 50,000 hectares of spectacular scenery to explore, with huge granite mountains, tranquil rivers, lush valleys, secluded beaches, rugged coastlines and an abundance of wildlife. A three hour drive from Melbourne along the coastal road and we arrived at our cute cabin at Yanakie just outside the park. We started with a 6km trail that took us up a forest covered mountain, through thick bush and into a cool fern gully. The sounds around us were incredible; birds screeching, shuffles in the bushes and unknown sounds heightened our anticipation.

After a beautiful sunset at Whiskey Bay, we made our way to the wildlife reserve, but not before our first exhilarating encounter with a kangaroo. In true cliche form, he waited at the side of the road for us to slow and stop and then simply jumped across to the other side, turning to face us. We pulled up beside him to say hello as he posed for his picture.

The reserve was amazing. We spotted more kangaroos, wallabies, emus, wombats and birds including galahs (obviously, they're everywhere!), parakeets, lorikeets, rosellas.

Next to Raymond's Island further up the coast for some koala spotting, no less than 20 to be precise! They were chilling in the trees in the heat of the day, sleeping upright with little movement. The koala hunt finished at the lake where we were greeted by a huge pelican with the biggest scariest beak I've ever seen!

The highlight of our road trip was a visit to Jervis Bay for a two hour dolphin cruise. The bay is home to the whitest sand in the world, so fine it felt like flour on my feet, and a resident pod of 80 Bottlenose dolphins. Within 10 minutes we spotted them in distance and it wasn't long before they were playfully swimming and taking a free ride in front of our boat just a meter below us. It was magical!

We left Jervis Bay screaming like lunatics at each other in the car, as another fella posed at the side of the road. We stopped and he casually jumped across and waited at the other side for his picture.

So why did the kangaroo cross the road? To pose at the other side silly!

[beautyofplanetearth-blog]

Australia by Heaven's Gate on Flickr

[beautyofplanetearth-blog]

[bjornkorg-blog]

Go Hoppipants, Go!