Don’t feed the wildlife in Australia! – so people say. There are still many who feed them, though. I’ve ever seen a bunch of high school kids fed 2 cassowaries Maccas.
Anyway, I’m going to let you know a place where you can legally feed wild wallabies. It’s one of my favorite places in Queensland. The distance is quite far from the place I lived in but it was worth it!
Where is it? Granite Gorge Nature Park it is. It’s located in 332 Paglietta Road, Arriga Queensland 4880. Apparently, it’s not that far from Cairns. It’s only about 75 km. There is a wide parking space. I thought it was just an ordinary tourist attraction where people can see wallabies and walk around the hills.
But there are many things that we can do there. It has accommodation as well. There are cabins, safari tents, and spaces for camping. The price varies. If you’re interested, you can book through the website.
https://www.granitegorge.com.au/services
If you just want to see the wallabies like I did, just go to the reception and pay the entrance fee. You might want to buy some pellets to feed the wallabies. The day admission is $15/adult and the wallaby food is $2/bag. I don’t know why it’s written $1/bag on the website. But I truly paid $2. Maybe they haven’t updated the website?
Before entering the area, the receptionist gave me a sheet of map and she explained about the route I should take. There are 2 walks: grade 3 and grade 4. It’s an easy walk to the wallaby spot, so wearing thongs is no problem, but you might need proper shoes if you want to walk further. Don’t forget sunscreen and a hat if that suits you. It was so hot when I was there. Was it summer? I can’t quite recall. But anyway, just in case.
From the reception, it only took me a minute to get to the wallaby spot. I thought it’d be far. I was welcomed by a wallaby who was chilling out on a rock under another rock. I tried to feed him, but he didn’t even look at the food. He just ignored me like I wasn’t there! Well, I guess he’s not hungry.
I walked down a little bit to find another target. There were some wallabies who were curiously looking at me. I took that as a sign of hunger. I put some pellet on my hand and pointed it at whoever wanted to take it. When I got close to one of the wallabies, I bent slightly and let them approach me. When one got near me, I sat on the rock and let them sniff the food on my hand and finally ate it.
I was so happy to finally be able to feed the wildlife. When I was at Etty Bay, there were 2 cassowaries on the beach and there’s a woman who told me not to feed them (I wasn’t going to anyway), but yes, I know that it’s not right to feed animals in the wild because then, they’ll get used to it and make them don’t want to hunt food by themselves. In Gorge Nature Park, I could do it! I could touch the wallaby as well – I always wanted to. Their fur was so soft! Can I keep one of them as a pet? They’re just so lovely!
After the second customer, there’s no more wallaby who wanted to eat the pellets I brought. So I left the spot and walked to see the other side. There’s no more wallaby afterwards. Well, I saw one who seemed hungry because he kept looking at me like he hoped for food but when I gave the pellets to him, he was ready to run away. So I just poured the rest of the pellets on the ground near him.
It’s unique how the place was surrounded by rocky hills. I actually walked on the rocks. The path was quite confusing – there’s no path on the rocks. But there were yellow dots on them that made it easy for people to follow.
After going up the rocky hills, I met a stream. The receptionist said there’s a big turtle who lived there. I waited for some time but there’s nothing. Maybe the turtle was sleeping or wandering somewhere.
After the stream, there’s a small pathway that led me to the other side of the parking lot. Oh, there’s a small natural pool near the stream I saw from up the hill. There was a couple swimming there. But I didn’t get near it because I didn’t want to swim and I wasn’t that curious to see it. So I headed back to the car.
I don’t have many photos of Granite Gorge Nature Park I don’t know why. Probably because I concentrated more on taking videos for my YouTube. You can check it out in the link below.
