Animals!!!

Location: Townsville, Queensland

Today, we went to the Billabong Sanctuary and saw many things. Our morning we started with a long-awaited sleep-in and a really good breakfast. We got to see so many different animals, including but not limited to Kangaroos, wombats, Black Tailed Cockatoos, Dingoes, Bilbies, Cassowaries, emus, snakes, Monitor Lizards, Crocodiles, pademelons, Koalas, and several types of birds. Everybody in the group got to feed and pet the Kangaroos along, with Roman getting to hold a Black Tailed Cockatoo. Most of the group got pictures taken with some of the Koalas. We had so much fun seeing these animals up close. We got to hand-feed the kangaroos and the ducks, and it was awesome to be able to touch and interact with so many of the animals. Some of them are endangered, and we learned interesting facts about many of them. For example, koalas rarely drink water, they have outlived all of their previous predators, and their digestion takes about seven days from one end to the other! One of the most exciting parts of the day was a crocodile feeding show where the rangers taught us about the crocs and fed them. They are incredibly fast and strong, and it was crazy to hear the sound of their jaws snapping together. After spending the majority of the day at the sanctuary, we headed back to the hostel we were staying at, and we got to relax a little before dinner. Dinner was made by Steph and Amanda and was homemade baked mac and cheese with garlic bread, chicken sausages, and broccoli. Half of the group is now either playing pool, chess, or watching a movie, while the other half either showers or hangs out in their rooms. We are leaving for Cairns early tomorrow morning!