Today I went on a tour out to the Blue Mountains. The area is about 1.5 hours west of Sydney -- and are called "Blue Mountains" because of the noticeable blue haze over the tree-filled valleys (mostly eucalyptus) -- caused by vaporizing eucalyptus oil.
17 people on the tour -- countries: USA (3 beyond me -- from Ohio), Canada (2 very strange people from Calgary), UK, Australia, Korea
Fun fact of the day: eucalyptus trees are often called gum trees here in Australia and just like marsupials -- most of the 700 species are native to Australia (only 15 occur outside of Australia and only 9 don't occur in Australia). It's one weird island!
Our first stop on the tour was at the Featherdale Wildlife Park. Not a place I would have typically stopped at -- but it was pretty good -- especially since it only houses animals native to Australia (and we only spent 45 minutes there). Lots of koalas and kangaroos (and 1 dingo) -- and tons of birds. And wombats -- very weird looking. I got to pet a koala (didn't want to hold one because it stresses them out) -- they feel like soft steel wool. Odd animals -- they only eat eucalyptus and sleep 20 hours a day.
Some of the smaller kangaroos were out in the open hopping around -- the big ones were in a fenced area. Kangaroos kinda freak me out -- something about the way they hop around.
Animal pics: koala, kangaroo w/a joey in the pouch, dingo, echidna, wombat, kangaroo, southern cassowary (flightless), and a baby wallaby.
17 people on the tour -- countries: USA (3 beyond me -- from Ohio), Canada (2 very strange people from Calgary), UK, Australia, Korea
Fun fact of the day: eucalyptus trees are often called gum trees here in Australia and just like marsupials -- most of the 700 species are native to Australia (only 15 occur outside of Australia and only 9 don't occur in Australia). It's one weird island!
Our first stop on the tour was at the Featherdale Wildlife Park. Not a place I would have typically stopped at -- but it was pretty good -- especially since it only houses animals native to Australia (and we only spent 45 minutes there). Lots of koalas and kangaroos (and 1 dingo) -- and tons of birds. And wombats -- very weird looking. I got to pet a koala (didn't want to hold one because it stresses them out) -- they feel like soft steel wool. Odd animals -- they only eat eucalyptus and sleep 20 hours a day.
Some of the smaller kangaroos were out in the open hopping around -- the big ones were in a fenced area. Kangaroos kinda freak me out -- something about the way they hop around.
Animal pics: koala, kangaroo w/a joey in the pouch, dingo, echidna, wombat, kangaroo, southern cassowary (flightless), and a baby wallaby.
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