Brian and I are glad that our new year (January 1st every year :) also began auspiciously. We are very grateful to my parents for sponsoring a wonderful trip for all of us to meet my brother and sister-in-law in Australia. Australia (whose charming nickname is “Oz”) was a refreshing respite in more familiar culture. In fact, I could almost believe I was in another state in the US if it weren’t for the changes in topography, foliage, and wildlife.
Yet what wildlife and foliage it was! Flying foxes, maniacally laughing cookaburras, wallabies, sea turtles, sting rays, kangaroos, wombats, and KOALAS! We not only visited two wildlife refuges where we could hold koalas and feed kangaroos, but we also flew to northern Australia so we could scuba dive at the Great Barrier Reef and tour the rainforest. Our time in Australia reminded us of the vast creativity of our Creator God.
1. Koalas (whose name means “doesn’t drink”) spend the entirety of their lives in trees eating eucalyptus. This diet, however, does not provide enough energy for these lovably furry creatures. So they sleep almost 20 hours/day.
3. Wombats poop cubes. Ouch!
4. The cookaburra, a common bird in Australia, sounds like this when it howls. Who can’t help laughing in response? :)
I was also astounded by the rainforest in northern Oz. Apparently the rainforest around there is the oldest in the world—we saw ferns older than dinosaurs. While smelling the fresh scent of verdant life, we spotted spiders, guinea hens, crabs, and foliage of all shapes and sizes. We learned that this jungle not only gifts us with much of the world’s oxygen, but may also house priceless medicinal balms. Yet sadly, the Europeans who first settled in that area destroyed much of the forest. They only saw underbrush to destroy and discard in order to carve land for more lucrative cattle herds and sugar canes. In reality, however, this forest is vital to the earth’s health.
I think I will pause here today with these reflections from the wildlife of Oz. I am not biologically minded, yet God still spoke to me through the creatures of Down Under. I laughed with the cookaburra, bonded with the kangaroo, and smiled with the sea turtle. And in all of this, I praised the One who is the Creator of all of us.