Our encounter with the native Australian animal rock star: The Kangaroo (at Caversham Wildlife Park)

So last week, our little family were busy playing the role of host/hostess and tour guide to hubby’s family who had flown over from Malaysia for holiday.

All the days were chock full of outings to all the usual touristy places around Perth… King’s Park, Fremantle, Cottlesloe Beach, Swan Valley… and of course, Caversham Wildlife Park.

It was also our kids’ first visit to Caversham Wildlife Park and also their very first up-close encounter with all the usual suspects of native Australian animals… kookaburras, wombats, echidnas, dingoes, koalas and the big highlight of the park: kangaroos.

You can walk straight into the kangaroo enclosure, to touch, pat, stroke and even feed them. The excitement and enthusiasm of every visitor is clearly evident. All around me, I could see and hear excited visitors walking up to kangaroos and squealing with delight as they stroked the soft fur on their backs.

And the kangaroos?

Well, all I can say is that I’ve never seen more bored kangaroos in my life (not that I’ve seen that many anyway).

None of the kangaroos batted an eye at us as we approached them. They didn’t even bother to acknowledge our presence, but continued to lounge around lazily with a apathetic, indifferent attitude.

But it didn’t bother our guests or the children one single bit. Here were real-life kangaroos we could touch and feel and look at to our heart’s content. Sure, they turned up their noses at the food pellets we offered them. They were the superstars after all. They were entitled to play the diva card.

Grace was the most excited person of all. She was like an animated little groupie running after each kangaroo, pointing at them and calling out “Dog! Dog!”. I had to keep a firm hold on her arm the entire time, otherwise she would have thrown herself all over one of these rock star kangaroos in an attempt to cuddle them. And as kangaroos were supposedly notorious for their boxing skills, I definitely wanted to avoid a scene with Grace ending up with a black eye.

If you’re ever in Perth, Caversham Wildlife Park is definitely worth a visit. I consider the admission fee rather on the steep end (AUD25 for adults and AUD11 for children aged 3 years and older). But for a close up encounter with all the classic native Australian wildlife, I would say it’s definitely worth it.

Caversham Wildlife Park
Lord Street, Whiteman
Western Australia 6068

Open every day from 9.00am to 5.30pm (Except Christmas Day)

More information available at www.cavershamwildlife.com.au