Australia 8/19/2022 - 9/6/2022 |
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Tuesday 8/23/2022 - Mount Lofty Summit, Cleland Wildlife ParkWe woke up around 7 a.m. and showered. Tshering Wangchuk and Tshering Om picked us up at around 9 o'clock, and we went back to their house where we had coffee, mini meat pies, toast, and a cupcake.Then we left the house for today's adventures. Our first stop was Mount Lofty Summit. The weather was supposed to be partly cloudy all day today. When we got to the top of Mount Lofty, the sky was blue with white puffy clouds. We could see the city of Adelaide and we could see rain rolling in. The city is surrounded by parkland which was visible from the summit. We heard kookaburras laughing. Mt. Lofty was named by Matthew Flinders in 1802. An obelisk, which was used for surveying purposes, atop Mt. Lofty was built in 1885, and was eventually named "Flinders Column." Then, within 5 minutes of being there, it started to hail. This is the tail end of winter here, after all. We went into the gift shop to get out of the weather, and I bought a necklace and a magnet. The hail stopped and was replaced by light rain. Next we went down the winding mountain road to the nearby Cleland Wildlife Park. The parking lots were nestled within the forested landscape. As we walked from our car to the visitor's center in the light rain, we saw a couple of wallabies lounging in the bushes next to the parking lot. One had a joey in her pouch. We entered the park and bought tickets. They gave us small brown paper baggies of animal food. Guests are encouraged to pet the animals and hand feed them as long as guests respect the animals and don't harass them. If the animals want to get away, guests should not pursue them. We arrived just in time for the "Koala Close-Up Experience", where small groups can get up close with a koala and pet it. We waited in a short line, then sanitized our hands before approaching the koala. This koala was a 15 year old female named Belle. The keeper taught us how to pet her back flank. Her waterproof fur was very soft. She was so cute! They give her especially good gum tree leaves to eat during the encounter as a reward for her participation. Toward the end of our encounter, her keeper said that Belle knew that time was running short, as she was stuffing her face with gum leaves before they were taken away. Southern brown bandicoots and long-nosed potoroos were small marsupials foraging around on the ground. We put down some food, and they came over to eat it. Next we went to the dingo enclosure. The dingoes are the only animals in the park which are contained behind a fence; the others roam free. The dingoes were beautiful animals with light orange coats. A sign informed us that it is believed that dingoes were first brought to Australia by seafaring traders from south-east Asia 3500 to 4000 years ago. There was a pond with many species of waterfowl (pelicans, cormorants, ducks, black swans, geese, and teals), and we fed some of them. Little wallabies approached us looking for food. They were adorable, like miniature kangaroos. I held my little paper bag of food out to one of them, and he grabbed on to both sides with his little hands, stuck his mouth in like it was a feed bag, and didn't want to let go. Craig put some food in his palm and one of the wallabies hopped over to him, steadied itself by putting its little hands on either side of his palm, and ate away. I hand-fed one wallaby that had a tiny joey peeking out of her pouch. The sun tried to peek out a couple of times, but it was mostly a rainy day. Rainbow lorikeets gathered in the trees, as did yellow regent parrots. Their bright feathers were a stark contrast to the gloomy weather. A southern hairy-nosed wombat named Casanova huddled under a heat lamp. A Tasmanian devil was sleeping in a hollow log. Next, we walked to a vast expanse of grass which was teeming with kangaroos.Some were hopping around, others were lounging under trees. They ate from our hands and we petted them. Their fur was very wooly and warm. Two of them came up to Tshring Wangchuk and looked up at him questioningly, but by this point he was out of food. It was a great up-close-and-personal experience with Australian wildlife. We never tire of Australian animals, as they are so different from what we have at home.We could have spent much more time exploring, but we knew that we would have to make it back to Adelaide in time to pick up Rigsel from school. We decided that we should get something to eat before heading back to the city. We went into the cafe for lunch. Many of the other visitors were freezing and huddled next to the wood stove for warmth. I had a slice of Hawaiian pizza and a hot chocolate. Craig had a ham and cheese croissant and cappuccino. We tried some of Tshering Wangchuk's fish and chips, and I ate half of Tshering Om's ham and cheese croissant that she couldn't finish. We then hurried back to Adelaide to pick up Rigsel from school, arriving with one minute to spare. We went back to their house and they made chicken nuggets for Rigsel and gave some to us as well. So much food! We just ate lunch! We watched some Youtube travel shows, including Nepal and Istanbul with Dale Philip. Then we watched a bunch of Bhutan travel vlogs. It was very cool to see Bhutanese landscape, people, and food while we visited our Bhutanese friends in Australia. They made Bhutanese chilis and cheese (ema datshi) with rice and dried beef for dinner. This is one of Craig's favorite foods, and Tshering Om had been anxious to make it for him. Tshering Wangchuk went out briefly and returned with beer for Craig and a bottle of d'Arenberg High Trellis cabernet sauvignon. I recognized it as a d'Arenberg wine immediately by the burgundy slash on the label. Craig had Wild Yak and Four Pines Pacific Ale, and Tshering Wangchuk and I shared the wine. We were feeling less tired tonight (finally getting over our jet lag) and left at 9:30 p.m. to go back to our hotel. Mount Lofty Summit Cleland Wildlife Park |
 Tshering Om, Craig, and Steph at Mount Lofty Summit  Belle  Wallaby with a joey in her pouch, with long-nosed potoroos in the background  Kangaroos look questioningly at Tshering Wangchuk See all photos from August 23 |
 View of Adelaide from Mount Lofty Summit |
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