Crocs, koalas, kangaroos, that’s only few of the exotic animals we were looking forward to come across on our journey in Down Under and we weren’t disappointed. Australia has such an incredible biodiversity of animals that in Europe we could only watch on telly. This land has been so isolated for centuries that only here you are able to find certain species, even the swans are different, they are all black.

Australia abounds of wild animals and didn’t take us long to spot Kangaroos and other small marsupials like the possum or wallaby, colourful birds, huge pelicans, cute koalas waggling or climbing in many national parks, lizards like the big komodo, turtles, dolphins, whales and much more.

Many species have adapted well to the urban environment and live in “harmony” with the mankind (maybe not reciprocally as some, like the possum, are considered a pest) others, you could only spot in the wide wild and not all are harmless, actually many are poisonous animals. Spiders, snakes, scorpions are only few dangerous animals that could have ruin our holiday and I could go on and on with the list like the cassowaries, a large flightless bird which could also become very aggressive.

Not only on land but also the sea holds great hazards with jellyfishes, like the deadly box jelly, stingrays, stonefishes, sharks, blue-ringed octopus infesting especially the tropical waters during the wet season.

Likely for us, we didn’t see any of those terrifying animals (Chris saw a peaceful ?? reef shark) but, even if they could be so dangerous, bear in mind that some species are shy or even more scared than us and in most cases they would move far away from us asap.

the ungly stonefish; it expertly camouflages among rocks, sand and mud. You don’t want to step on it as its spines could cause death or in “better” scenario paralysis

Best places we watched for wildlife:

• for the underwater world undoubtedly hit to the Great Barrier Reef, it is just legendary;
• kangaroo: well everywhere but good spots are Jervis Bay, Tewantin Golf Course, Crowdy Bay National Park;
• humpback whales: during their breeding migration to tropical waters (June-November) you could just spot them slapping their huge tail from Byron Bay’s Lighthouse or go to Hervey bay for a boat tour encounter;
• turtles: along Noosa Heads coastline and also at Hervey Bay’s Harbour and of course again on the great barrier reef;
• salties, the big croc: Cape Tribulation resident in Myall Creek;
• sharks: Chris fished one smallish in Sorrento, Mornington Peninsula, it was too beautiful that we realised it, and spot one under water on great barrier reef;
• dolphins: Tin Can bay, they have regular b’fast everyday @8am at the marine, or try Byron Bay where they swim wildly.