Marapana Wildlife World

We had to take Amanda somewhere to get up close and personal with kangaroos for her first trip to Australia and we chose Marapana because it's also one of the few places to cuddle a koala as well. It's about an hour south of Perth near Mandurah.

The galah parrots greeted us on the way in.

We all got a bucket of food and quickly made friends with the first kangaroos we met.

Our family with a roo family



We all fell in love with this joey who refused to get out of his mom's pouch.

Ben pet the little guy and even offered him some food.

We saw this joey bouncing around later and couldn't believe he somehow managed to fit back in his mom's pouch, too! Look at those big feet!

We fed the ostriches and emus as well and laughed at how they maneuvered their long necks through the fence.

Don't feed the camels there...turns out they've figured out the system! This one stole the bucket and dumped all the food in his mouth.


We made some new friends when we spread out our picnic lunch...lots of ringneck parrots looking for crumbs...

...and this sweet one-armed kangaroo looking for friends.

Speaking of friends, this snake did NOT find one in Ben! He was not thrilled about this close encounter, although he did go back to pet it a little later.

Finally we moved on to the main event and it didn't disappoint....the koala exhibit was terrific.

This little baby was running around on the ground for a while and I just about jumped the fence to take her home.

Are they not the cutest little pair in the world?

Koalas really know how to relax!

We each got to take turns holding the biggest koala, Crystal. She was sweet and soft and so cuddly!



Ben asked for a turn to hold her but I said he was too small. Then he asked to hold the baby instead because she was just the right size. I wish, Ben....that would have been a priceless picture!

Instead, the boys had to settle for petting the ones within reach and that seemed to do the trick.


Such a fun day!