Cuddling koalas and walking with wallabies

I woke up feeling very refreshed having slept for a good ten hours or more (no more bags under my eyes!). We got up and had to walk down to the bay to buy some bread as we'd run out. We were right to buy food on the mainland yesterday as the cheapest bread we could buy was still very expensive. Nevertheless, back at the hostel we ate peanut butter on toast and prepared ourselves for our wildlife tour. As the tour was on the same site as our hostel we had to wait in reception for five minutes before being lead into the wildlife area. First off we saw some cute little turtles and got to hold one that had a permanent smile on its face. As there was such a large group (no booking is needed so group size can vary) it took a while until it was our turn to hold the turtle so the ranger lady showed us a beautiful bird while we waited. This bird was called shadow and if you put a seed between your lips he would take the seed with his beak, take off the outer layer and eat the inner. It looked like we were kissing a bird. We also were shown another beautiful tropical looking bird but this one was very shy so wasn't allowed to be touched. The final bird was called Charlie and she loved attention although only the ranger stroked her. Apparently, if this bird gets missed out on tours she'll shriek out because she's jealous. Even though she had attention she still got a little loud as we moved onto our next animal: the wombat. Wombats sleep all day so the ranger had to wake this one (named Harry). He was super cute, especially in his sleepy state, but didn't stay out for long, he just did his business and went back to bed. 

In a pen round the corner were a load of different lizards and then out of nowhere the ranger produced this baby croc (about 18 months old so tiny). This one didn't have tape round its mouth so we held it voluntarily. However, this crocodile was passed round about thirty people so I don't know how it dealt with this so calmly. I wouldn't want to be passed around that many people. This went for the koala as well which was our next animal. It cost extra to hold the koala and have your picture taken but as we'd got a package deal we got to hold the koala. I was first and was shocked how soft and cuddly it was. And how heavy it was! Pebbles the koala clung onto me tightly and we posed together before it was passed onto the next person and so on. I know they're very lazy creatures that sit around all day but surely they don't enjoy being passed about either. 

Before the end of the tour we were shown a big spider that was pretty gross but wasn't as big as I was expecting. This spider was poisonous so was kept in a box so no one could touch it. 

I'll admit that I thoroughly enjoyed the tour and learnt loads about the animals but I am a bit sceptical when it comes to handling animals. We discussed our views on the tour during our lunch of leftover pasta which we ate in the hostel kitchen area. We then had to think about what to do with the rest of our day. We had free snorkel hire but we didn't fancy snorkelling much as it wouldn't be as impressive as places we've already been. In the end, we chose to catch a bus to Geoffrey Bay, halfway between our hostel and the ferry terminal. When there we explored Geoffrey Bay and Alma Bay (they're right next to each other) before getting an ice cream tub to share. We chose vanilla and crushed donut which were both delicious! You could tell the vanilla was the proper stuff and the crushed donut really tasted like deep fried pastry. 

After our ice cream we sat in Alma Bay (the nicest of the two) and I had a little nap in the sunshine (it wasn't very warm). As it was only about 3pm at that point we felt we should be productive with our afternoon so walked around two kilometres uphill to the start of the forts walk. I should have researched what the forts were used for but the paths leading up to them and around them were fantastic. I think it's a national park so trees cover the area and it's really looked after. Also, as people only walk in this area it's full with wild koalas sitting in the trees and wallabies jumping across paths in front of you. Some of the koalas had little babies in their pouches but it was tricky to see as they were protecting them so well. This walk took around an hour and a half up to fantastic view points where we could see Horseshoe Bay and the whole of the national park area as well as bays over the other side of the island. We also entertained ourselves on this walk (when we weren't looking at wildlife) by having to name ten things in a category (like ten types of tree) and if you succeeded you'd get a snack. We had these strange salty nut things with us that we'd bought with our left over Indonesian money before we left Bali. They were actually really tasty and made the whole walk even more exciting. 

By the time we were back on the main road and heading towards our hostel it was half 6 and definitely time to make tea. For tonight's tea we had a pack of mushroom risotto which we added more courgette and onion toand a bit of ham too. However, we witnessed a guy fully gutting a fish which just made me jealous. Although the food wasn't that bad we agreed that we'd rather eat fresh stuff from now on. 

We'd been given a free drinks voucher when we checked in to the hostel so we traded it in for a beer. I then ended up getting involved in a game of pictionary while Matt tried to Skype home with his half an hour of Internet usage (Australians are stingy). I was teamed up with a strange drunk Australian for the game of pictionary so after the first round (we lost) I gave up and went to bed. It was still quite entertaining though.