Some Answers

Hello. Here are some answers to your questions.

The animals in the photos are:
Kangaroo
Koala
Wombat

I didn't think you would know the Wombat. I didn't either until someone told me. They are all "marsupials", meaning that they all carry their babies in a pouch. The Kangaroo lives on land (hops around), the Koala lives in Eucalyptus trees, and the Wombat digs into the ground. The Wombat may look cuddly, but they have a saying here in Australia - "as mad as a Wombat" - so they are kind of mean. The Wombat's pouch is upside-down, so that it doesn't fill with dirt when it digs in the ground.

The ride in the train up the mountain took about 90 minutes. The ride down in the gondola took about 45 minutes. Yes, the gondola is like the ones at Banff and other ski resorts...good observation! We couldn't see any animals in the trees. Animals don't want to be seen, since they could get eaten by predators. We did see some white cockatoos and brightly colored butterflies. I don't think there are any zebras here...probably only in Africa.