05.30.09

Today began a little later than yesterday and that was a good thing considering how late I was up last night.  A short bus ride got us to our main destination, Healesville Sanctuary. The sanctuary is home to a number of rescued and endangered animals.  The students were able to see a number of animals up close and personal including sugar gliders, koalas, ring-tailed opossums, and many more.  Fortunately for the Healesville animals, my students didn’t try competing for their mealworms.

The sanctuary is also home to a hospital.  A number of animals from the bush fires this last February were brought to here.  Wounded or sick animals from the area are also brought to the hospital.  We were able to watch an autopsy of a kangaroo being performed by one of the veterinarians.  I was so impressed with my Colorado students – they stuck it out longer than I did in the room with the kangaroo.

Our final stop of the day was the Birds of Prey show.  It was so impressive seeing these animals up close and personal.  I’ve seen similar shows back home and it was fun to see similar birds from a different continent.  For me, the highlights of the show were watching the students duck out of the way as an owl or eagle came swooping in above them.

The sanctuary will actually be celebrating their 75th Anniversary this coming weekend.  And we learned that there was a group of school children from Colorado who sent letters and cards to the sanctuary this winter, right after the bush fires.  We were hoping to learn the name of the school.

Well, in the morning we will be hoping on a plane.  We are leaving the rainy and cool climate of Melbourne and will be headed to the center of Australia…into the outback.  We will be out of range for any cell service starting tomorrow as we begin our bus ride out of Alice Springs.  We will be staying in the Bush Camp Saturday before making our way into Uluru.  Our Tweets and blogs will be silent until we reach our hotel in the Outback on Sunday evening.  (It will give all of you an opportunity to catch your breath.)  We look forward to catching you all up then!