Walkabout Park Wildlife Park
The sanctuary was set up in 2005 and fought with the aboriginals locals to stop mining for sandstone and eventually won in 2013. Now animals have over 30 hectares of land to wander about in but some are housed in cages for their or our safety.
We were given a safety lecture, how to approach and touch the kangaroos and wombats but don't go near the one with a red collar as it has attitude and doesn't like being touched and will kick.
One of the parrots in the wildlife park but beware as this now bites.
A kangaroo.
An emu.
Another kangaroo.
There are two male Tasmanian Devils, they did come out but there was never a good photo of them until...
... and here he id although it was through the bars of his cage.
Our first glimpse of a koala...asleep of course as they spend up to 20 hours a day sleeping, digesting the eucalyptus leaves that they eat which are not very nutritious and need a lot of digesting.
I didn't stay long here even if all the snakes were behind glass.
Lisle, our guide, did get a blue tongued lizard out to show us up close and we could have a stroke.
There was a family of meerkats, not native to Australia but very popular with visitors as was the guinea pig and rabbit enclosure.
A meerkat on guard, and there is always one on guard.
Scampering along the enclosure wall.
Another koala, asleep, but this one is friendly and likes a human to cuddle it.
Lisle picked it up but it took a while for him to wake up.
At last he woke up and enjoyed his cuddle....
...but all the excitement was too much and he was falling asleep on her shoulder so he was put down on one of his favourite spots and in seconds was asleep again.
Flying foxes...bats of course.
An owl that things its a human and sits on hands and shoulders and watches the rangers at coffee and lunchtimes. He has a wing injury and can't fly.
A serval, again not native to Australia, but just like a large domestic cat.
The brother and sister are recent introductions and are used for educational purposes to tell people about the dangers of dogs and cats affecting the local environment.
The parrot enclosure with a range of parrots that have got to big as pets or have outlived their owners as they can live for a hundred years.
Some are colourful.
The female of the same species.
Another colourful friend.
A dingo, but we were told not to go near the wire mesh.
When he stood back, I could take a photo through one of the holes in the mesh.
And then it was feeding time and the kangaroos and wombats rush from all over the park for one of their three meals a day when they hear the rangers rattle the buckets with their fed inside.
The red collared kangaroo to be avoided. Kangaroos are larger than wombats and wombats have more pointed faces.
Then it was time to move on to Hunter Valley country, a wine growing area...
...with a micro climate and green with recent rains.
Just one of many vineyards.
It was also a culinary experience with a chocolate stop and tasting.
A very busy tourist attraction.
And then it was a wine tasting, hosted by a Mr Munro whose ancestor arrived here and set up a vineyard in 1851.
And then another wine tasting.
The outside of the winery.
The main reception area.
And then we went to a dairy who sold cheeses from their herd of goats, so had another tasting, accompanied by more wine.
A selection of cheeses on display for sale.
Some wild kangaroos in the fields around the dairy.
A mother and a joey. They are active at dawn and dusk but tend to sit out the middle of the day in shade to avoid the hot midday weather.
Then we drove on to Newcastle, famous for its open cast coal mines, long trains and the largest coal exporting terminal in the world exporting 60 million tons of coal a year.
The Ocean Baths in Newcastle.
One of several statues / art installations in the city.
Despite all the modern development in the city, there are a few older buildings still surviving.
And another institution, Harry's in an old railway carriage but unfortunately shut.
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