January 30, 2020 by Chai Vuriti
Why I see Wild & Marine Life only in their Natural Habitats!
Even though months after arriving in Australia, I never got to see the most hyped animal ‘Kangaroo’ anywhere near where I go.
I mean I went through some deep bushes in Royal National Park in the south coast of Sydney where I came across a very dark coloured snake yet I couldn’t see a single Kangaroo anywhere. I was like where did all the Kangaroos go?
Call me crazy but I don’t like the idea of animals in a cage or a confined environment. Although I’m not against the idea of Animal Conservatories as they help to maintain the ecological balance by preserving the rare species from extinction. I’d rather not see an animal at all in my life than visiting a zoo or an aquarium for wild species. Even though I had the chance of getting a free pass to Sydney’s famous Sea Life Museum, I never went for it. Because why should I?
It always reminds me of the dialogue from ‘The Mentalist’ when Rigsby asks Cho
“Never seen a Zebra?” “Nah” “Never been to a zoo?” “Yeah I don’t do that. You pay money to look at animals. Why?”
It intrigued me then and it intrigues me all the time.
So after months passed by, I finally got a chance where I could actually see the Kangaroos in the wild. Not the wild per se. We made a road trip to the Snowy mountains via Canberra which can mean only one thing. There are kangaroos crossing the road everywhere. To my utter disappointment, I could only see 3 baby kangaroos from afar but a lot of dead kangaroos on the side of the road were hit by vehicles overnight.
Not a fun fact: if you’re driving through the country roads, you’re most likely to see more dead kangaroos than alive. I travelled for 3 hours to reach “The Entrance”, a place where the pelicans come for their feed by the Central Coast Council staff every afternoon. It’s a beautiful sight and a wonderful photo opportunity for myself to shoot them feeding. The Whale sightings season started and I made a stakeout in Kamay Botany National Park for the day. I have seen four dolphins along the shore and after a lot of waiting I have seen the tail of a whale at a very long distance. That’s the sight I could neither remember nor forget.
And when I snorkelled in the Norman Reef which is on the outer edge of the Continental shelf, that’s when I entered a whole new world of Marine life. Fishes everywhere. On my front. On my back. Literally everywhere. That’s the sight you could never forget in your life. To my luck, I have got to see the very rare sighting of a Sea turtle. It also has a name which I cannot recall anymore. Along with the turtle, I have also seen the most famous (finding) Nemo. And many other species like Tigerfish as well. I’m not a marine biology student so remembering just these cost my memory a lot of work.
I started my hike at Fort Walk in Magnetic Island and I could see people making arrow signs with sticks on the road pointing the direction where they had seen a koala at that moment. Little did I know that koalas stay on the tree branches for most of their life and I was always peeking into the bushes hoping to see some koalas. Voila! I’ve seen a baby Kangaroo. We locked eyes. But I got rejected. The Kangaroo ran away and never came back. That was an interesting personal encounter I had with a Kangaroo. When I finished my hike and was returning downhill, that’s where I met a couple who explained to me that I should look on the branches instead of bushes. So there you go. I have seen not one, not two but three koalas sleeping on the branches of trees. It was beautiful.
Riding on the fastest ever boat in Whitsunday tours, I dove in at Haslewood Island Reef near Whitsunday Islands. With the little showers of rain falling from the top and snorkelling on a shallow-water coral reef, it was one of the most exuberant experiences that I could ever get. I finished the entire snorkel session by myself as my English friend who was supposed to be my lookout left me in the sea for good. She got out of the sea way too early and an interesting thing happened. We have seen jellyfishes coming along just after everyone was back on the boat.
During our lunchtime at Whitehaven beach which has the whitest and purest sand, we got company. Three Iguanas joined us and made our dining experience wild.
Just on the opposite side of the island where we snorkelled, there was a shark attack the next week. Interesting how things worked out for me.
Urangan Pier was the next location where I got the chance to see the Sea turtle again. See the Sea Turtle. I like the way it rhymes. Although it was just a glimpse, I was extremely happy knowing it was a rare sighting. When I went to Fraser Island on the catamaran, the jellyfishes didn’t stop coming. I never imagined I’d see so many jellyfishes and I was happy that I was not actually in the water at that moment.
Twelve Apostles is the place where you see Beware of Snakes signboard and just to make the statement valid, a snake was lying in the grass looking at everyone that’s passing through. As usual, I did not disturb the snake because I’m terrified of them.
I did not have the opportunity to visit the Philip island when I went to Melbourne for the first time and nor did I know that I could even see penguins at St. Kilda at that time, although I went to the beach but never got to the pier. It was months later I visited Melbourne for the second time on my Road Trip. Because of the COVID restrictions going on at the time, I could not visit Phillip Island with a limited number of entries. I went to St. Kilda pier this time hoping to see some penguins and guess what? I have finally got the opportunity to see the most beautiful Penguins. They were little. They were calling for one other. As flash photography was not allowed, I could only shoot them with maximum exposure settings, I could barely film them but I could never forget the sight of them.
A few months later, during my mania of Road trips in NSW, I went to a Koala Hospital in Port Macquarie. That was the moment I learnt a lot about koalas and how they are constantly threatened by other species including humans. And why they should not be accustomed to humans.
Did you know, if a koala gets used to humans, it comes onto highways/roads looking for humans after the hospital team leaves it in the wild?
My journey to the Hunter Valley has proved to me that Kangaroos do cohabitate with humans. There were a lot of kangaroos and Alpacas in the fields and there weren’t even barriers. I tried reaching closer to them and as per my surprise, they kept moving away. They were huge and a lot in number. They freeze when I look at them and move away when I move closer. Such an interesting behaviour.
I went to see the Australia Rock in Narooma. I could not find the rock during my first glimpse and ignoring the information board of some animals lying on rocks, I stumbled across the most unexpected scene. Seals lying on the rocks sunbathing. It was like looking for copper and finding gold. I could not take my eyes off them and even forgot about the very reason I came to the location.
During my sandboarding trip to Port Stephens, I was just taking a stroll on the Bagnalls beach when I saw a guy swimming along the shore and found two dolphins surfing happily. At first, I thought it was someone in a snorkel suit but when they rose from the water to their jump, it was a delight to the eyes. I tried to follow them but I could only go so far till the rocks. And just when I thought the day couldn’t get any better after my sandboarding and hike to Cape Hawke Lookout, a whale had surfaced at the Boomerang beach. Though it was far from the shore I could get a not- so-bad look at it. It was very exciting and fun to watch.
As my journey continues, I hope to see more Wild and Marine life in their natural habitats. I wish more and more people would do the same thing, making the zoos and wildlife aquariums redundant.
