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| Glenn with his new buddy at Paul's Place |
| Glenn's Journals 12-08-02 Kangaroo Island S.A. We needed a little relaxing today as we felt like we had been going non-stop this past week so we slept in until our hearts desired. After a relaxing breakfast and shower we took out for the day. Our primary plan was to venture around the north side of the island and, more specifically, stop in at Paul's Place, a local farm that offered the chance to get to meet the animals. We arrived at Paul's Place around 11:30 am but they didn't open any day of the week until noon. We took the opportunity to see Stokes Bay which was only another 5 kilometers down the road. A little after noon we returned to Paul's Place to catch up with the first group of tourists going through the farm. Paul has a very outgoing personality and it showed up throughout the walking tour. Our first stop was to feed the kangaroos, ducks, and turkey by hand. Erin quickly had a baby kangaroo eating out of her hand. The kangaroo would hold your hand still with his and then take his time eating. We would have to keep the ducks away as they were pretty agressive and would stick their nose in every chance they got. You know what they say about the strong surviving!! During this section of the tour Erin held an adult kangaroo in her arms while it fed on a bottle of beer (I thought it was milk but Erin says it was beer). She also held a possum that was all wrapped up like a baby and feeding on bread. The next section of the farm had some of the bigger animals including emu's, more kangaroo's, sheep, deer, and plenty more ducks. Paul handed the bucket to a young lady who, being much shorter than the emu's, quickly had her hands full as the emu's and sheep aggressively went after the feed. Some of the kids took their turn at holding the bucket of feed but were quickly bombarded with animals wanting the feed. Erin and I fed more kangaroos as the emu's and sheep were a little too aggressive to allow them to eat from your hand. We also saw a marin, a lobster based animal, which is bread on the island. The next section of the tour included seeing up close a koala in a eucalyptus tree. Erin and I even held the koala as it grabbed on just like a kid would do. The koala is very soft and cuddly but has pretty mean looking paws and nails that look like they could hurt you if required. Our next stop was at the wall where Paul ha a gentleman lean against the wall. He then proceeded to put feed on the mans head when, all of a sudden, two emu's from behind the wall went after the feed falling from the mans head. Most of the men, including myself, took turns having the emu's eat from the top of their heads. Erin took pictures. She also stopped to photograph a baby koala she had seen. The next section of the tour included a bird sanctuary where we could walk in and have the birds land on your shoulder, or at least see them up close. We also saw an echidna and had a chance to watch it eat with it's long and quick tongue. Pretty interesting!!! We then headed out to the road where the miniature ponies were waiting for the kids to ride. Paul took a few kids on a pretty wild ride while his girlfriend worried about his antics. From here we walked to the shed where Paul sheered a sheep. He also threw a few of the kids into the very soft collection of wool that had been previously sheered. We then moved back to the starting point where the next group joined us. We also had a chance to hold a boa constrictor, which Erin did with no worries and feed and pet the animals again. We truly enjoyed the visit and would recommend it to anyone that loves animals. The tour lasted over two hours (usually only 1 1/4 hours) but I think Paul was having as much fun as we were. After the farm the weather started to look a little overcast so we returned to the caravan park to close the windows and vents in the trailer. Erin was tired so we took a nap before our planned visit to a Pelican feeding at 5:00 pm in Kingscote (5 minutes away). Well we were too comfortable and didn't manage to wake up in time to make the 5:00 pm feeding. We really needed a rest day!! We finally made our way back into town for dinner before closing out the evening reading our books and writing journals. Tomorrow we wouls stop into Seal Bay and Vivonne Bay before being back at the ferry for our 4:30 pm departure. |
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| One of Paul's tricks was to feed his demonic emus from the male visitors' heads!!! He later told Glenn it might have been less painful with a bit more hair... |