Every time I visit Australia, I like to pet a new animal. Always in controlled, appropriate environments! And this has lead me to visiting a lot of wildlife centers and zoos over the years, which I’d probably be doing anyway but it’s really become A Thing with this petting goal. I wasn’t sure I’d accomplish it this time though, I’ve already done all the basics: kangaroo, wallaby, koala, wombat, and even an emu. What else is there to pet?
My first stop for IBM Z Forum was Perth. I arrived following 25 hours of travel on Saturday morning and spent a groggy day going for a walk in the rain with my colleague Adam on a search for postage stamps, but on Sunday I made plans to take the train up to Whiteman Park, home of the Caversham Wildlife Park! Even after booking my tickets, I didn’t anticipate the opportunity to meet new critters, but I did sign up for the $10 photo-with-a-wombat.
That was cute, but what I didn’t expect were a series of free critter petting opportunities while the wombat photos barn was open. They had a possum! The possums in Australia are very different from the opossums in the United States. Both animals are marsupials, but hilariously the Australians I spoke to said possums are pests, even though they’re very cute. Alternatively, opossums can be kind of scary-looking, but they’re very helpful critters! They control insect pests! They’re very tidy about their environments! Since I’ve never had to deal with a possum in my attic, I love them both.
I also got to pet a blue-tongue lizard!
That was all there was time for, but I guess I have to save some critters for my next visit :)
The Wildlife Park was fun all around though. I got to see dingos, which were very funny because unlike wolves, they just look like someone’s dog was put in a zoo.
I also kind of fell in love with the quolls. They reminded me a lot of cats, and as carnivorous critters, that seems apt. Since I went early in the day, I got to see their spotted tailed quolls running around their enclosures.
The Rufous bettongs (rat kangaroos) were also super cute.
I swung by the little penguin feeding before heading to my final stop: the enclosure where you could walk among the kangaroos and wallabies! Always such a pleasure to meet them and give them some pats.
Surprisingly (for me) this was my only critter stop on this trip. After this wildlife center I pivoted my interests over to vintage trams and almost all the rest of my stops on my journey across Australia and to New Zealand were all about those. From Perth to Wellington, I rode some great vintage rails! Which I’ll write about soon.