Day 1!

We finally arrived! I hope no one was getting too worried! ;) Today has been extremely long!  We have survived through a 15 hour flight with very little sleep in a very cramped seat and crossing over who knows how many time zones.  On the great side, we are here and it is beautiful! It is hilly and green with super tall trees everywhere! But it is going to take some getting used to the bus driving on the left side of the road! Good thing none of us have to drive because that would probably be very dangerous. :)
Today we went to the Healesville Sanctuary and saw a ton of animals that are all native to Australia.  I learned a lot about many animals that are only in Australia and I will probably never have a chance to see again.  The coolest thing that I learned was that kangaroos support three young at one time; they have one embryo in the womb, one a very months old that lives in the pouch, and one about six months old that is out of the pouch, but comes back in to feed.  They also have two types of milk to support the two joeys' differing needs.  My favorite animal that I saw today was probably the echidna! They are like a mix between an anteater and a porcupine, but they ball up like a armadillo when they are threatened or scared.  Some other awesome Australian animals that we saw were koalas (which are super cute and have a special enzyme in their stomach for digesting eucalyptus), tons of parrots (Australia has about 50 native species), the top 10 most deadly snakes, and dingos. At the sanctuary they also had a birds of prey demonstration that showed different birds for Australia.  During the demonstration they would fly around over the audience.  That was pretty cool! The show also had a message...that is to use recycled toilet paper! They even had a spokesman named Crapman!  I have pictures for most of the day, until my battery became exhausted!
Well now we are off to the hotel for a much needed shower!