Billabong Sanctuary, Day Two

DAY TWO!  Day one is here, here, and here.  This is the last one, I promise! So….we liked our day at the Billabong Sanctuary so much that we opted to come back the next day.  You can get your ticket stamped before you leave to visit the next day for free.  We came back the next afternoon to see some of our favourite things.  We headed back over to see the cassowary and got a good look at these black cockatoos.  The colours on their tail feathers are gorgeous! We watched this young water hen being fed.  There were several chicks, as we watched we realised that several of the adult birds were feeding them. There’s that pretty cassowary! We enjoyed the cute turtles basking in the sun.  Until we came here I didn’t realise that ‘basking’ was the actual term for what reptiles do to warm themselves.  I thought it was just a saying: They are basking in the sun.  But you can use the term by itself: Look at the turtle basking!  Who knew?  (Okay, everyone but me!) I watched a ranger and their volunteers administering medication to the echidnas.  They had sore feet for some reason (they hadn’t yet worked out why) and needed cream applied to the bottom of their feet twice a day.  The first one was easy enough and after he (she?) was done he happily enjoyed some food, sticking his snout into the container. The second echidna was not so willing.  He was affixed to the ground with superglue, apparently.  I had no idea they could burrow themselves in so well.  The ranger dug and dug around him, but it took quite some time before she could wiggle him free.  He just dug those feet in with his spikes pointing out and there was nothing for her to grab onto.  When he finally did come out he rolled up into a ball and they had quite the task getting to those little feet that were in there somewhere. We went to the bird show again, so we got turns holding the lorikeet again. This time I remembered to take pictures of the tawny frogmouth.  He was hiding in the tree behind the audience.  They pulled him out during the show and afterward he backed himself right up against the tree again.  He blends in so well. And we got to see another turtle race!  TurboBug’s trauma with the turtle the day before was forgotten.  He was a little hesitant with the turtles at first but by the end he was fine. Back to the dingo show, where this time I learned that dingos aren’t considered native to Australia.  What?!?  They are a cultural icon!  Apparently they were brought here at least 4,000 years ago (or more).  We’re wondering how long a creature has to live here to be considered native!  They brought out the male with the familiar dingo colouring for pictures. We wanted to see Psycho in action again so we waited near his enclosure before the crowd arrived.  At first he was basking but as the time drew near we saw him disappear into the water.  It was very creepy!  He was so silent, we could make out that he had positioned himself near where the ranger would feed him but then he disappeared.  The water was not deep at all, it doesn’t take much to conceal a croc.  They can hide in the water for an hour without surfacing, tricking their prey into thinking it must be safe to approach the water. This time I got a video of that awesome snapping sound.  So. much. force.   Some kangaroos were hanging out near the croc enclosure, they happily ate from our hands.  TurboBug loved feeding the kangaroos.  The only downside was that about a week later we saw some wild kangaroos that came right up to us and TurboBug didn’t understand why he couldn’t give them a pat! We went to the afternoon wombat talk and the kids got to give Tonka another pat. TurboBug was delighted when he moved his foot after he’d touched him.  One last time.  That croc couldn’t stay away from my kids.  Or vice versa.