We had a wonderfully wild afternoon at the Astra with company Get Wild bringing in some local animals and giving us a fascinating wildlife presentation. We met Bubblegum the Blue Tongued Lizard, Freddo the Green Tree Frog, Angelica the Spotted Python, Lillian the Saltwater Crocodile, Squawk the Red Tailed Black Cockatoo and so many more that I can’t remember all their names! Our keeper for the afternoon introduced us to each of them and told us about their species… then she brought them round for us to touch or say hello to. The lizards ranged from smooth, to scaly, to fringed, with different defense mechanisms. The snakes were silky smooth and docile. Despite Angelica’s size she was happy just lying on the carpet, and her skin gave off an iridescent glow in the sunlight. Freddo had beautiful golden eyes and bright green skin. We were all very excited to meet the lovely soft Ring Tailed Possum who, although nocturnal, was happy to have a midnight snack of corn and be stroked by us all. Our penultimate animal was Lillian, a 7 year old saltwater croc, who watched us all with beautiful big eyes and made a funny noise in her throat. We finished with an introduction to Squawk, who had been living up to his name and making his presence known the whole time! He had an amazing wingspan and fabulous black feathers with a brilliant flash of red on the underside. We happily fed him some seeds, which he ate with gusto. All in all we had a very enjoyable afternoon getting to know the animals and asking questions of our knowledgeable keeper. Thanks so much to Get Wild and to our wonderful residents who made it all worthwhile!