Featherdale Wildlife Park

Featherdale was a great place! We went there with Lyndon, Christine and their three kids as part of our Blue Mountain holiday weekend when they visited us here in Sydney. This was the first time any of us had been there, and it was great to explore a new place. I am glad that we did this, it ended up being a really fun day.

We were able to spend a lot of time petting and feeding Australian animals. It was our first time petting a Koala! We also were able to pet kangaroos and wallabies, and it was nice because it wasn't rushed or timed, we could just sit next to these animals for hours if we wanted to and pet and feed them. I was happy that my boys were so gentle with these small animals, and were able to have lots of time with them. The animals had places to go that we could not, so if they became frightened or annoyed then they could get away. There was only once when William ran into these areas near the end of our time at Featherdale and it scared all the kangaroos in this particular enclosure, and they literally all hopped away. That wasn't good, but I quickly got William out of their space and the roos calmed down. 

  The WALLABY

The CASSOWARY

I sometimes confuse this bird with the Emu, but it's not an Emu, it's a Cassowary.

The PELICAN 

The KOALA

I was really excited to see the Koalas up close, and we did get to pet one as well which was awesome! In other zoos it costs extra to pet the Koalas so we just don't bother doing it, but here it was free. I was so happy! And they were kind enough to take a family photo of us around the Koala!

The WALLABY continued...

George and Gregory really had so much fun. When we first spotted the wallabies just hopping around us, we were all surprised and excited. We had no idea that they would be around us all day. The boys really spent a lot of time petting these sweet Aussie animals.

My boys really loved feeding the wallabies. William kept walking up to the container where the food was, and he kept getting more and more, so I had to keep depositing coins into the pay box. The ranger there was like this boy keeps taking animal feed, and I replied that is why I keep paying for it!

This is my first time touching a wallaby! So soft.

This wallaby was a mother. Every once in a while her baby would poke his head out. Here he is taking a quick drink of water.

  The PENGUINS 

I love penguins! They are so cute waddling around their enclosure.

  The TASMANIAN DEVIL

  The WOMBAT

The PARROT

Sydney has beautiful birds. I love all the gorgeous birds about Sydney. This parrot was lovely and bright with all his colours!

  The EMU

It was funny to us that the Emu had the most guarded enclosure. There was fencing all around him. It felt a big weird because so many animals were just strolling about that he would be caged up, but I guess these birds can be aggressive and wouldn't like being petted. 

The fat SEAGULL 

Seagulls are all over Sydney where we live by the wharf, but this seagull has a good life. He's the biggest guy I've seen here yet!

The KANGAROO 

At Featherdale, you can purchase these ice cream cones filled with animal feed for a couple of Australian dollars per. So we purchased a bunch so that the animals would get near us. These guys are truly gentle and fun to be around. They would eat the food and cones from our hands, but if someone gave them a cone or dropped it, they were not shy and would pick it up and eat it straight away. 

Usually, at the places we visit in Sydney, the kids pet the animals and I take photos of them doing it because usually there is a line up and you only get a few minutes with the animals. Here is completely different. You have a lot of time to be with the animals, and this meant I could take photos of my boys and my boys could take photos of me. This was my first experience petting a kangaroo! I loved it, these animals were so cute, I wanted to take one home with me. Who wants a dog or a cat when you could have a roo!

Here is when I saw William run after the roos, so I took after him rather quickly and I must have startled this little guy in my pursuit. Oops!

  The DINGO

These guys look like regular dogs to me. There was a little one too in the enclosure, he was so cute. These are beautiful animals.

All of us together at Featherdale Wildlife Park!

We had a great time exploring Featherdale Wildlife Park. It was a fun place for both kids and adults. The cousins were able to run about and see all their favourite Australian animals. We truly enjoyed our time with family at the wildlife park. Glad we did this. I love this photo because we have everyone together looking in the general direction of the camera! This isn't easy to do with six children under eight years of age and four adults. So hooray for us!