In the lovely Abercrombie River National Park this weekend, I was lucky to come across a baby wombat and it’s parent on an early morning stroll. When I came on the scene, the parent nudged the baby towards a hole that led into its burrow. They stood there for a short time, then presumably decided I was safe enough, and continued their amble along the river bank.

Here they are in a lovely still photo. This was just after I saw them, and before I took the video. It looks as if the baby is emerging from another entrance to their burrow, though I didn’t go close enough to see:

I count myself very lucky to have seen these animals, and such lovely healthy ones in such peaceful surroundings. Wombats are found only in Australia. Like many animals here, they’re marsupials. They’re also the koala’s closest relative.

They’re large, as far as burrowing animals go, at up to 1.3 metres in length and weighing more than 35 kilograms. They can also move very fast when they want to, although if you keep well away you’ll usually see them trundling along in a leisurely fashion like these two.