Last year on Australia Day I did photos of sheep and wheat, and told you some of the history about our Australia Day.  I had intended to go and photograph some beaches, but the weather hasn’t been great, either way too hot, or hot and overcast.  Then I thought I wouldn’t do anything.  Then Klara and I went to the zoo today and of course I took my camera.

So, since it was Australia Day we checked out the Australian section.  We don’t normally go anywhere near it, we see lots of these around us, well not lots but we do see them in the wild.  This guy just wasn’t cooperative, he or she kept turning away.  Perhaps sick of being photographed.

So to celebrate Australia Day I am going to show you some of our unique Australianness.

This one was asleep in among the eucalyptus leaves.  I think it was trying to hide.  We saw it and thought it was so cute asleep in the tree.

The Emus were in a section which was all open and you could walk among them.  It was really nice.  The only thing that made it so terrible was the weather, it was overcast and the light was so flat.  I did my best with the images, but they were hard.

I was using my 70-300mm lens and it was nice to be able to get up closer to the animals and birds.  I really like this one, but Klara thinks it is too cliched.  Maybe it is, but I still like it.

The Kangaroos were in the same section, though they were behind a fence, though if they wanted to come to us they could have.  Though they didn’t seem that interested in doing anything except lying there.

This is one of the most active we saw, and this is the most action we saw.  It just stood/sat there and looked at us.  I think that is one of the biggest problems with the Australian animals, they like to sleep during the day.

The Melbourne Zoo is a great place, and while the price to get in is a bit high, $26 for an adult, it was certainly worth it.  There is a lot to see and you get very tired before you see everything.  The zoo has done much to put the animals into as natural environment as possible.  They have breeding programs and they help endangered animals.  I really admire their efforts.

Last week when I showed the photos of the penguins someone commented on how much they hated seeing them like that.  It is an unnatural environment for them, but it also brings them to the attention of many, many people, and it makes them real.  People are going to want to help animals or birds that they feel something for.  The plight of many animals is helped because of their time in zoos and aquariums.  Many animals have been saved from extinction as well.

None of the ones in this post are facing that possibilities, though the Koala may have trouble finding leaves to eat.

The Koala woke up when we were walking out and started eating.  It is chewing on a eucalyptus leaf here.

To all my Australian followers, happy Australia Day, and for the non Aussie’s I hope you enjoy the look at some of our unique wildlife.

I also took many other photos and tomorrow I might put up some photos of the Australian birds that I photographed.  I don’t want to put up heaps on this blog, but I am considering putting up some in a gallery on my website so you can see more.

There really wasn’t that much to talk about as far as photographing at the zoo, but I might do a talk on it tomorrow and what I found.

My new blog has been put up, so tomorrows post maybe the first on it.  Fingers crossed with how it goes.  I will put up a post or part post here tomorrow and you will get the link to it.  Exciting times ahead.