One of G's best friends when she was three was a little Australian boy named Edward. On her 5th birthday, Edward and his brothers (yes, he already had 2 younger brothers when he was only five) gave her a very cute book with a very Australian theme--Possum Magic
by Mem Fox. Lita, who's G's ninang and often sends her little stuffed (Australian) animals, would get a kick out of this book.
Last year, I got the girls to finally remove the picture books from their shelves so we could donate them to children's libraries, and make more room for their chapter books. G refused to give Possum Magic away. I don't blame her. It's a very sweet story about Grandma Poss who is able to make Hush, her grandkid, invisible. To make Hush visible again, they have to scour the continent and eat different kinds of Australian food. You meet the animals down under, and then you learn about the unique kinds of (people) food they have in Oz. This beautifully-illustrated book is endearing and educational at the same time.
Some of the animals in the book are really foreign to me so when one of the guys suggested going to Lone Pine Sanctuary to kill some time before our Sydney flight, I immediately agreed.
The kookaburra actually cackles, not laughs.
And I didn't know kangaroos were so gentle. A few of them were roaming freely in open space.
There were scores of koalas in all stages of their lives--toddlers, bachelors, and geriatric ones. Even at these different ages, they're still all slow moving, and asleep most of the day. I've never seen such a lazy animal. It has something to do with their eucalyptus leaf diet and the way their body digests the food.
For a donation of au$16, you can have a picture taken with one of them.
Katsuya-san with a cuddly koala
There were dingoes, wombats, and even a Tasmanian devil.
Unfortunately it was fast asleep!
We had a nice time looking at the unusual animals, but this is definitely one of those times I wished the kids were with us.
Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary
708 Jesmond Road, Fig Tree Pocket, Queensland
Tel +61 7 3378 1366
Email koala@koala.net
No comments:
Post a Comment