On koalas, kangaroos, dingos and emus .

First, let me display my now far-superior knowledge of Australian wildlife: they're not bears.  They are marsupials, that is, they carry their young in a pouch.  They are far more closely related to possums (which they have in Australia too) than bears, which are mammals.

What I am doing in the picture below (holding a koala) is illegal in most of Australia.  Australia is impressively committed to conservation and protection of wildlife (after some stupid mistakes which I will describe elsewhere).  The koalas at Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary are from a breeding stock that has been associated with the sanctuary for generations.  While they aren't domesticated, they've been around humans all of their lives.  They have their eucalyptus trees brought to them daily.  Its a pretty phat life for a prisoner.

Like most strange Australian proper nouns for places and animals, the word "koala" comes from an Aboriginal (native Australian) language.  In this case it means something like "rarely comes down out of the trees for water."  Koalas get practically all of their nourishment from eucalyptus trees, including water.  They sleep quite a lot.

I was rejected by two koalas before this one reluctantly decided to settle into my arms.  When they don't want to sit on you they push away.  If one is not accustomed to handling them, one naturally, almost automatically, moves their hands in an effort to keep them from falling as they push off of you.

This distresses them even more.  The handlers get pissy (because they say repeatedly "don't move your hands") and take them away.  Koalas get very insecure when your hands move.  The point is to mimic the eucalyptus trees they call home temporarily.  When you move, they look for the exit.

Right before me in the line to hold the koala was a Russian child who freaked out, whining and screaming when his koala pushed off of him.  He was about ten years old and a complete brat.  He started yelling things in whiny Russian and slipping away from the grasp of his family as they tried to grab him to calm him down.  His family finally just rolled their eyes and shooed him out of the area.  It seemed like this kind of misbehavior wasn't new to those accompanying him.

That koala was taken away and returned to eat his lunch and they brought me another.  He wasn't interested in our interaction either.  I began to wonder if smelled bad to them in some way.  I had to wait around for ten minutes or so while they went to find the third one.  I tried to back out of the entire process at that point, but the handlers would hear none of it.  They were frustrated with how the child had rocked the boat, not with me.

This guy, his name was Wilson, wasn't enthusiastic as you can see, but he did cooperate and I felt he had a kind of resignation in his expression and posture.  I felt bad for him.  The entire experience of getting this photo ended up seeming not fair to the animal.  I was comforted some by the oft-repeated promise that the money I had paid for the chance to do this (about $16 US) went directly to their support.  Frankly I would have preferred to just pay more to get in to generate that income for them.

Humans suck.

Koalas are soft.  They have a faint odor of newly cut hay.  Those huge claws are not a problem.  He just sat there until the handler took him back.

Also mildly distressing was the kangaroo and emu petting zoo.  They offered to sell you (for about $1.50 US) a bag of kangaroo food as you walked in.  The kangaroos all were lounging around the perimeter of the area, which was about the size of a football field, and none of them were interested in eating the food.  They were very chill.  They tolerated screaming two year olds who thought they were toys with aplomb, but I felt bad for them too.

I did find one 'roo interested in a little snack (not pictured, one of the drawbacks of travelling alone) and I petted him.  He came over to me from the "rest area," a walled off area of the petting zoo section off-limits to humans as I stood at the perimeter shooting pictures, because that's where almost all the kangaroos were.  After he took a few bites, it seemed like he only did it to not insult my offer, he slowly hopped away from me.  Clearly the others were into any of this, so I tossed my food on the ground and walked out feeling I should just leave these poor animals alone.

The emus were more stoic, but they didn't look happy.

I wish this sanctuary was more centered on the animals and less centered on extracting funds from tourists.  Lone Pine has been open for generations, this is likely why.  It used to be completely inaccessible by roads, so I imagine in the past there were far fewer tourists out here during the day.  The ferry I rode to get here would hold about one-hundred passengers at most.

There were probably ten times that many people on the sanctuary.  Once I got off the boat I didn't see anyone I rode on the ferry with until we re-boarded, and not all of them did that.  Now, somewhere out of sight, they bus-in armfuls of tourists.  I'm sure that's more profitable, but it makes me sad for the animals.

In the gift shop there are these pictures on the wall of celebrities who have visited and gotten a photo.  One can also get a photo with a snake, the days I was there it was a fairly large black-headed python, but after the experience with the koala I changed my mind and decided not to similarly bother the snake.

Otherwise the preserve is like a big open zoo, and water dragons were everywhere.  I am told they eat anything, and there no food on the ground anywhere despite the fact that hundreds of tourists and their children were eating the food sold in the gift shop.  I imagine that explains that.

Overall, I did check this off my bucket list, but if I won't do this again.  I thoroughly enjoyed the trip up and back on the Brisbane river, that was actually excellent, but participating in this well-meaning exercise certainly lost it's appeal once I actually did it.

This is what the dingo does to unattended tourist babies.  Thank God for that.