Gettin' Wild on the Great Ocean Road

The Internet has been in short supply (or incredibly expensive - $10-15/hr -- which is out of my retirement budget) here on the Great Ocean Road, so today I'm writing you from a Library.

Yeah, they still have those things.

It's nice to be surrounded by the smell of books after living off of a Kindle for so long.

But we're here to talk about life on the road.  And there, I've been surrounded by animals.

Koalas, Echidnas, Emus, Whales, Kangroos, and Wallabies to be exact.  Sadly, the Wombat and the Platypus have proved elusive so far, but I'm still hoping to find some.

In the meantime, we'll start with the Koala.  They aren't bears, they are marsupials.  And they aren't friendly, despite their cute, Yoda-like appearances:

I may have found some active ones, but mainly they do a lot of the below.  I've read that they sleep a lot to conserve energy because they don't digest the food they eat very well.   But, that food also makes them drunk, so there is little incentive for them to change.  

Basically, the "lovable" little Koalas are all marketing, but are actually no different from a junkie.  

If they were humans, they would've been put on a 12 step process to eating something else and being more productive during the day.

Echidna - One of only two mammals to lay eggs.  The other?  The Platypus (Travel gods, let me see one!).  Not sure why they both are native to Australia.  Weird.

Emu - the World's third largest Bird.  

Whales - It is a bit early for the Whale season here, but I was lucky enough to catch this guy.  Most likely a Southern Right Whale up from Antarctica for the Winter.

Sheep - Some of my former colleagues are familiar with this guy, sans coastal cliffs and a few more months of growth.   The only place I've seen more sheep is in Ireland.  They're everywhere!

Kangaroos/Wallabies - I was told last night that I may not have seen a Kangaroo after all.  These are a little small, and thus probably Wallabies.  Whatever, I'm counting it. 

A funny side note from that conversation.  As I sat in the hostel last night, an Australian Mother and Daughter asked what they shouldn't miss while on the Great Ocean Road.  I, of course, started listing off all the sites where they could find the above animals. 

There response was, "We're Australian.  We call those things road kill here. Got anything else?" 

To which I say this: 

More pictures of the stunning coastline later, it has been well worth the drive!