Animal Bonanza

Green Patch Camp, Jervis Bay, Australia

Today was a day of animals. Not since Africa have we had so much to see. First, Meg called ahead to book a dolphin watching trip. During certain times of the year, the Southern Right Whales are around, the same whales we saw while in Cape Town in September. However, since now is not the right season for whales, we settled for the dolphin tour. There are 80 to 100 bottlenose dolphins that permanently live in the large, enclosed Jervis Bay. Halfway through the two hour tour, we came upon a group of eight to ten individuals. Apparently the females tend to stick together with the young while the younger and older males form separate groups. My dolphin spotting skills, however, are not quite good enough to discern which group we saw.

Leaving port

After the dolphin watching, Meg and I announced our plan to visit the small Maritime Museum in town. Dex and Kylie were far from thrilled. I think the word "museum" was our down fall. In the end, we contented ourselves with the free walk behind the museum. The boardwalk through the mangroves was pretty cool. We learned that there are two main species of mangrove trees, the Grey Mangrove, which lives in the saltier water closer to the ocean and the River Mangroves, which lives farther up river in the fresher, river water. Grey Mangroves have adapted to salty water with their ability 1) to secrete salt out of their leaves and 2) to absorb oxygen through their roots during low tide. The puffer fish and small mud crabs were fun to spy on as well

Some big plant

 The Chestnut Teal (aka Duck)
According to our resident bird expert, Dex

Puffer fish

When we got back to camp, we found that the leftover fish food we had bought at the "museum" was apparently like catnip for the birds. In nothing flat, the rainbow lorikeets, crimson rosellas, and king parrots were everywhere, and the lorikeets had no qualms about landing on heads and arms: mine, Dex’s and Kylie's. Ignoring the fact that we really shouldn't feed the birds, it was a ton of amazing.

Rainbow Lorikeet

King Parrot

Kookaburra

Crimson Rosella

Later in the afternoon, Dex came running back to camp announcing there was a mama kangaroo with a joey in her pouch. She was still on the grass when we arrived. I must say, that baby looked a bit large to still be riding around. At first, we could only see a long leg and tail sticking out of the pouch, almost hitting poor mama in the face. Then, the cute little head popped out.

Then, this evening, like clockwork, the possums were out. They have been incredibly reliable sighting in the campgrounds we've been at. Tonight they sniffed for leftover fish food and anything else we may have dropped during dinner. They really are kind of cute and much more endearing than the thin tailed opossums back home. Today was a true animal bonanza.

Mmm, fish food