02/02/2020 – WrAnTz

After our visit to Cohunu we drove out to Serpentine Dam, or more precisely The Cafe On The Dam for lunch. We have visited before, the food is very good and the location good too. Well away from the hustle and bustle of city suburbia and where you can see the local wildlife.

During the course of our meal Steve was mugged by a Kookaburra who, along with his parrot accomlices, took the opportunity to raid Steve’s dinner plate and stole some chips. At the same time the errant bird knocked over his cold glass of Lemon, Lime and Bitters, drowning his Chicken Parmigiana, salad and fries.

Unfortunately, there is no CCTV footage of the crime in progress but I did manage to get some mug shots of the perpetrator and his accomplices.

Thankfully, nobody was hurt during this despicable crime.

Earlier today we spent a delightful couple of hours at Cohunu Koala Park. The park is located near the town of Byford, just 40 minutes drive away from the city of Perth in Western Australia.

According to their own website ….

Come and make friends with some of the unique Australian fauna living in the park. Stroll the bush tracks and pathways. Hand feed many of the free roaming animals. Have a chat with over 30 talking parrots, see dingoes, kangaroos, emus, deer and koalas, just to name a few of the animals that live at the park.

Needless to say I had my camera to hand so here are a few snaps of the, always photogenic, creatures.

First up are the Koalas, after which the park is named ….

Never the most dynamic of animals, the Koalas were, for the most part, sleeping.

Again, from the parks website ….

The Cohunu Koala Park colony was established in 1982 with the arrival of 4 koalas from South Australia. It now boasts more than 25 koalas in its colony. Our colony in Western Australia has an increase of approximately 4 baby joeys each year.

Koalas are marsupials, the female carries its young in the pouch for 6 months then on her back for a further 4 months.

Koalas live almost exclusively on eucalyptus leaves which have a poor nutritional value, thus to conserve their energy koalas sleep 18-20 hours per day, rarely drinking but relying on the water content of the eucalyptus leaves.

18-20 hours is pretty close to the sleep time for the average teenager. I wonder what their excuse is ?

Next up, here are a few Kangaroos. Also mostly asleep but there are a few that were hopping around.

It must be the heat that makes the kangaroos seek shady corners to doze in. They certainly didn’t seem to be too interested in the popcorn that we offered them.

Unlike the birds, and in particular the biggest bird on the planet, the Ostrich.

Two examples certainly made light work of the popcorn that we offered them. And, when shown empty hands, scarpered pretty quickly. I guess it was cupboard love after all.

One of the nice things about Cohunu is the fact that many animals are allowed to roam pretty freely. Although they may be kept segregated to different areas, Joe Public is still able to get up close and personal.

The pony, above, made itself known by nudging each of us in turn. Usually in the rump, as if to say “Gimmee the food”. It followed us round until, I guess, it got bored. Certainly the Emu was quite inquisitive too. Due to their size, they can be fairly intimidating but they are small when compared with the Ostrich. The Kangaroos didn’t seem to be phased by close proximity of us humans.

One species not encouraged to mix with us humans was the Dingo, although this one did seem to be quite friendly. At one time coming over and sitting by my feet, the two of us separated by wire mesh.

I got the feeling he was just looking for some company although, even mine wasn’t good enough, and he took himself off to the shade of the pipe.

In their blurb, the Cohunu folks claim to have over 30 talking parrots. Of course that is probably true and I am not here to dispute that figure. All I can say is that I am glad they weren’t all speaking at the same time.

Many did indeed say hello and at least one seemed to be apologising although we couldn’t work out what for. They are all characters and at least one let rip with the loudest bird call I have ever experience at close quarters. The repeated shriek fair rattled my ear drums. Here are just a few of the residents.