Every time we take a trip back to Australia I'm always asked by my friends here in the US about the animals. Will we get to see kangaroos on our trip? Will we get to a cuddle a koala? Will we get bitten by a deadly snake/spider/shark/crocodile/jellyfish?
Ok, that last one is asked more often that you'd expect - and obviously the answer is no because I'm here to write this post today. Unless I'm zombie Sally right now! You never know!
Anyway, scary animals aside, Australia's weird and wonderful friendly animals (or at least, friendly seeming animals) are always what my friends here want to know about.
My kids are just as intrigued by Australia's wildlife, so every time we go back to Australia we make sure to plan a trip to a local wildlife park or zoo.
During our recent trip back to Adelaide we visited Gorge Wildlife Park in Cudlee Creek.
Let's take a look...
Located just a 40 minute drive from Adelaide's city center, this wildlife park in the Adelaide Hills has been delighting locals and tourists alike since 1965.
Spread over 14 acres, the park features a variety of wildlife habitats that are home to Australian marsupials, birds and reptiles, as well as an assortment of foreign animals. You'll find large open spaces where visitors can roam with (and feed) the wildlife, a walk through aviary, and fenced enclosures with trees, rocks and ponds that mimic the animal's natural habitat.
So, just which animals can you expect to see?
You'll find Australian favorites including kangaroos, wallabies, koalas, echidnas, quokkas, Tasmanian devils, fruit bats, wombats, emus, pelicans, fairy penguins, swans, cassowaries, kookaburras and so much more. Imported animals include camels, capybaras, monkeys and meerkats.
Highlights of the park include the walkthrough kangaroo exhibit where visitors can hand feed the friendly kangaroos and wallabies - along with the ducks that are guaranteed to try and squeeze in for a bite to eat!
A visitor favorite is the koala handling experience which happens twice a day at11:30am and 2:30pm. This is an add on experience, but at just $15 per person it's definitely worth it to cuddle a fluffy koala. We didn't get to take part in the koala handling experience this time around as we arrived later in the day, but we have done it before.
If you'd like to see the animals in action head over to my Instagram account for my Reel about our visit.
Now for a personal story about Gorge Wildlife Park. Back in 1993 I actually worked there for a week! Well, it was "work experience" which is a week long school project that 11th grade students take part in. It's an opportunity to experience a field of employment that students may be interested in pursuing. Now, if you've been here a while, you'll probably know that I don't actually work in an animal related field (although we do have a small menagerie of pets at home!) but teenaged Sally was obsessed with animals and was so sure she was going to become a vet. Or an actor. I guess there's still time!
Anyway, work experience at Gorge Wildlife Park was such an amazing experience, even if a big part of my day involved scooping up animal poop! My tasks, other than poop removal, included preparing the animal feed, switching out the animal bedding, and feeding the friendlier animals. The best task, however, was helping out with the koala handling experiences! I got to bring the koalas from their enclosure to the handling spot and hand them over to visitors to hold.
My most memorable experience came courtesy of the quokkas. Those little guys are adorable but I'm convinced that they're evil! Because they were one of the friendlier animals on site, I was tasked with taking their feed to their enclosure by myself every day. As soon as I climbed over their short fence I'd be swarmed by quokkas. Now, I'm sure they just knew that I was bringing food and they were eager to get to it, but they would cling onto my jeans legs making it hard for me to walk. I'd mention this to my workmates and none of them believed me. It was only on my last day that the boss was nearby when I was feeding the quokkas and I stopped to talk to him with one leg in the enclosure and one out. I lifted up my leg that was in the enclosure and wouldn't you believe it, there was a quokka clinging to my jeans by its teeth! I moved my leg up and down and it refused to let go!
Ok, back to the info you need to know...
Gorge Wildlife Park is located at 30 Redden Drive, Cudlee Creek, South Australia.
Gorge Wildlife Park is open daily from 9am to 4:30pm. Closed on Christmas Day and days with a catastrophic fire warning for the Mt Lofty Ranges.
Tickets are $24.00 for adults (ages 16+) and $14.00 for children (ages 3 - 15). Children under 3 are admitted free of charge.
Tickets can be purchased online at https://gorgewildlifepark.com.au/ or at the entrance.
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P.S. Fun language difference alert! I originally typed that Gorge Wildlife Park is located 40 minutes away from Adelaide's "CBD", but changed it to "city center" for my American friends. "CBD" stands for "Central Business District" and is a common term for the city center in Australia. I learned years ago when using this term on my blog that my American readers thought I was making a reference to marijuana! CBD is short for Cannabidiol, a chemical in cannabis. I've also confused American friends with my use of the term "pot plant" which means any plant in a pot in Australia, but only means a marijuana plant in the US! Should a write a post with words that mean different things in Australia and America? Given that we speak the same language there are surprisingly quite a few!
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