#FeedingTheRockWallabies

When we arrived at the rock wallaby site we immediately saw three tiny wallabies sitting on the rocks already being fed by some other tourists. I was worried they wouldn't be hungry for more but as I moved in closely to feed a mother with her baby poking out her pouch, she snatched the carrot from my hand and began to happily munch away.

We all took turns in feeding the wallabies before moving further along. As the sun fell, everyone started to leave to go and see the sunset on the beach. Wallabies trump sunset so we stayed. Just us and a local old guy with one leg in a mobility scooter who comes down most days to feed them.

He gave us a handful of food each and coached us on how to approach them. The first three wallabies hopped away from me but finally one little one stayed put on the rock. The food in my left hand, I approached him on his left side so that it gives them a sense of security. I put my hand out under his little nose and he began to munch loudly on the grains and seeds. Steph and Sonja did the same and before long it sounded like a rainfall with them all chomping happily.

The darker it became, the more wallabies emerged from the rocks. Soon there were at least 30 of them not including the babies. As one of the joeys was eating from his mum's pouch he accidentally fell out of her pouch and scurried to get back in. It was a rare sighting as the guy told us that the last time he saw that was around 3 months ago. The baby was the size a small squirrel and perfectly formed.

I was sitting in the middle of the road with them all surrounding me when one little wallaby came up to me and put his hands on my knee, Steph passed me some carrot and he sat for a while eating the carrot from my hand while he let me stroke his back. I named him Reginald and contemplated stealing him to keep as my pet! We had a connection after all!

Realising I might do some hard jail time, I tore myself away from them all and left them in their natural habitat to feed on the last of our carrots and seeds.