Day Fifteen, December 1, 2024 – Port Douglas, Australia
Along with a few others from our tour, we took a side trip to Hartley’s Crocodile Adventures, about 25 miles south of Port Douglas in Wangetti, Australia. There we saw crocodiles, wombats, koalas, emus, lizards, cassowaries, kangaroos and wallabies.
Mary was finally about to pet a koala and a kangaroo, both bucket list items!
Kangaroos are native only to Australia and are only seen in the wild, meaning open grasslands and outback areas. These were the only kangaroos we saw on the trip, although we did see some wallabies. Kangaroos are much taller and weigh as much as 200 pounds. Wallabies are smaller, don’t stand up straight, and only weigh about 45 pounds.
We were told that about 61,00 or 80 percent of the wild koalas were killed in wildfires between 2019-20. Therefore, they have been declared an endangered species in Australia and visitors are no longer allowed told hold them due to the stress on the animal. The one Mary is petting is a 4-year-old male who works 5 hours a week and sleeps 22 hours a day. Photo fees go towards the care of the koalas.