Backyard Zoology · 3 November 2019
2019-11-03T21:06:53+11:00
https://www.facebook.com/backyardzoology/posts/pfbid0HqSYrXEJhv1LkE2NP4taWXEhE4FkfwkN71Wbw61cpCux9GEbhHBkgTPXZ9aE6VABl

And just like that, we're home! 5 amazing days in Melbourne including a cheeky trip to Phillip Island, down the Great Ocean Road and to one too many patisseries! Many of you know about my horrific fear of flying which has me avoiding planes wherever I can. Getting to Melbourne on the overnight train though is easy, and we chose a sleeper carriage so we could have some privacy, get some sleep and avoid any germy people. Which is all well and good until the kid you're travelling with gets sick and sniffs, does that thing where he wipes his nose upward with his hand and hacks and coughs the entire trip home. So instead of locking the germs out, I locked them in with me!!! Let's not even talk about the fold down toilet which had me wanting to chop my fingers off mid trip. But it was all worth it!

Not only did we have a lovely trip and some beautiful mum and son time where I have learnt a bucket load about sneakers and rap music, but we saw Little Penguins, Swamp Wallabies, Cape Barren Geese, the white-backed sub species of The Australian Magpie and not one but two Koalas!!! I freaking love Koalas. There's something just so unassuming about them and they smell bloody delicious!!! We were doing a Great Ocean Road tour, the beauty of that being that you don't have to worry about traffic, parking, getting lost and you can sleep on your way there AND back! But it also means you are under the whim of the tour guide and we discovered we had only 15 minutes at Kennett River to spot koalas. 15 minutes!!! I would have loved a good hour there to meander up the dirt road, scanning all of the surrounding gums, for fluffy grey/brown butts. Actually I would have been happy to just spent the entire day there! But alas 15 minutes it was and in that time we got to see two koalas and for a girl who is obsessed with koalas but doesn't live near a colony, it was still pretty damn exciting. And even better to watch my 17 year old spot his very first wild koala!

These two were doing what koalas do, sleeping, moving briefly into another position, stretching their heads right back and their legs out straight, just blissing out despite the numerous people down below. I had a little moment, as I lifted my camera up to capture the gorgeous faces, of just outright missing my husband who didn't come along on this trip. I know he would have loved seeing those cuties up there in the gums, the sun behind clouds, a strong glare slicing through the leaves.

It may have been only 15 or so minutes but I'm still buzzing from seeing those beautiful faces. And now I'm home back with my dogs, one of which is on the bed with my son, her snoring reverberating down the hall and the other one is curled up on his own bed near me, snoring HIS bloody head off, not a care in the world 😂. It doesn't matter where you roam, or what you see or do, there really is no place like home.

Koalas
Kennett River, Victoria