Kangaroos are probably the most iconic Australian animals. They are marsupials that are indigenous to Australia, therefore, I wanted to see and photograph several different species in their natural habitat during our Australia road trip. Kangaroos live all around Australia, however, their numbers are declining. It was actually a big surprise for us how few kangaroos we saw while driving across the continent. Fortunately, there are still some places where it’s not so difficult to observe them in the wild. One of the most famous locations is Cape Hillsborough National Park (map). This park is right on the coast and kangaroos and wallabies come on the beach every morning to feed on seaweed and other food they find here. It’s hard to imagine a more Australian experience than watching a kangaroo on the beach. Recently, park rangers even started to feed them so tourists won’t leave disappointed. The animals appreciate the food, however, they are still wild and they can come and go as they wish. We had two mornings in this national park and the first morning was spectacular with lots of kangaroos and wallabies that spent a lot of time on the beach. The second morning we only saw three wallabies and they left quickly, so there’s still some uncertainty that makes photographing them more enjoyable and valuable. We saw two kangaroo species at Cape Hillsborough National Park, the eastern grey kangaroo (Macropus giganteus) and the agile wallaby (Notamacropus agilis). The grey kangaroo is the second largest living marsupial on earth. As the name suggests it lives in the eastern part of Australia. The agile wallaby is a smaller species, common in northern Australia. Early settlers named this roo as they were impressed by its speed. Fortunately, I was able to take all the photos I envisioned on the first morning, even though, photographing wildlife in such a touristy situation was not easy as I was unable to move freely to get into the best positions. Some people also wondered into the frame so I had to remove them from some of the photos during processing these images. I took some photos on the second day too, but we mainly just enjoyed the view of the sunrise and the three wallabies. Spending two wonderful mornings on the beach with the kangaroos and wallabies was a terrific experience and I’m happy with the photos too.

Gear: Canon EOS 5DsR + 17-40mm f/4, Canon EOS 5Ds + 70-200mm f/4 lens, Manfrotto tripod