Australia's Ballarat Wildlife Park Is a Must Do

At the end of a long day of touristing in Ballarat, Australia we spied a sign pointing to an animal park. Even though my husband and I were quite worn out, we couldn't resist the urge to go check it out. What a great decision that was!

You enter through the small gift shop, where you pay your $19AU each to get in. As soon as we stepped out the door and into the park, I spied a small kangaroo just lounging about right there on the patio. At this point I was unsure as to whether or not we were allowed to actually touch them. I did anyway. He was just as friendly as could be. Then we noticed that there were actually kangaroos hopping about everywhere. I went back inside and inquired and the gal was quite happy to sell me 4 bags of food for $2(au) each and sent me back on my way to play with the animals to my heart's content.

This wildlife park is very small as such things go. They have wallabies, wombats, alligators, echidnas, eagles, a Tasmanian devil, koalas, quokkas, and of course oodles of kangaroos. There is also a small reptile house full of various snakes. The only creatures let to roam about the public are the kangaroos, but the koalas are in a very open area, too. Great for picture taking, that. While koalas are usually not very active, sleeping like 19 hours a day as they are wont to do, the day of our visit we got lucky and 3 of them were moving about and even posing for us. We could almost reach out and touch them.

The park is awaiting the arrival of more Tasmanian devils soon, but the day we visited they had just one. It is simply adorable. We were fortunate enough to catch feeding time (mice) so got a great picture of the little darling. Apparently there is some disease running rampant among them so the various agencies are trying to get a grip on that via quarantine so they don't all die out.

Aside from the animals, there is a rather large lake with a very nice area for picnics. Tons of kangaroos like to laze about down there. Be wary though as one of this bunch is a little on the aggressive side and will try to grab the whole bag of food from you. Funny as hell, that, but you need to watch your children closely for that very reason. Also, you are not supposed to let the kangaroos have the bag. It is not good for their health. Another word of warning is do not attempt to interact with a Joey in the pouch at all. Mamma gets a bit cranky over that.