Greetings all,
We went to Taronga Western Plains Zoo in the school holidays - it was amazing & everything we had dreamed of for our animal loving children to experience. As a super special surprise, we spent the night there - sleeping at the Zoofari Lodge - listening to the lions & tigers as we drifted off to sleep. 'Dubbo Zoo' has over 700 animals on 300 acres of native bushland + is the sister zoo to Taronga on Sydney Harbour.
Bike hire was included in the Zoofari package, so on day one we popped on helmets, collected bikes & took off around the 6km roadway/ 15km walking track, stopping at each animal enclosure & listening to talks.
While i had lunch with the children & peacocks at the cafe, my husband fed the lions - awesome!! He was the only person in the afternoon group feed, so he let the keeper have a turn & took some stunning photos.
The Zoofari experience included 3 tours behind-the-scenes in a bus with the other guests (5 people on our evening.) The afternoon tour took us to the reptile house & display of animal paraphernalia stopped by Customs. It's simply horrifying what people try to bring in & out of Australia. I'm terrified of snakes, but my children loved handling them. We also visited a beautiful cheetah, endangered black rhinos & quirky Meerkats.
After a delicious 3 course dinner in the main house, we had an evening tour, which included meeting magnificent tigers, a happy hippo & burrowing wombat. We had plenty of time with each animal, nothing was rushed & our guide Emma answered all of our children's questions patiently. We had a luxury tent with heated floor tiles . . . & fell into bed from exhaustion!! My favourite was the tiger - the stripes, the eyes, the fact they were a breath away from my children. Annoyed i didn't take the camera on the night tour.
In the morning there was an early tour of the animals waking up. We met the enormous elephants, sleepy lions & fed carrots to graceful giraffes as the sun rose.
Then back to the lodge for a hot breakfast & another day of touring the zoo, this time we drove the 6km track. We farewelled Targona Western Plains Zoo & vowed to return. Next time we'll book in to feed the tigers too!! Zoofari Lodge is pricey ($1500 for a family of 6) which covers tent, dinner, 3 tours, breakfast; 10% off cafe, lion/ tiger feeding ($59 each) & souvenirs. The experience was once-in-a-lifetime & a gift from my husband, for him being away at war in Afghanistan. Love him. All proceeds from Zoofari go to the endangered black rhino programme. There are less expensive sleep over options for students at ZoosnooZ or family camping at Roar&Snore. We'll do Zoofari again.
We visited Cowra (Japanese POW Gardens) & Parkes (the Dish) on the way to Dubbo, then straight home - an easy 400km drive back to Canberra through central NSW 'the food bowl' for a complete 3 day family holiday.
Just follow this blog & leave a comment telling me your favourite zoo animal for your chance to win a Family Pass (2 adults, 2 children $117.30, children under 4 are free, tickets valid for 2 days.) Random winner drawn after midnight Sunday 2nd September. Open worldwide, just tell me who in Australia to post the tickets to. Good luck, love Posie
Disclaimer: because i was going anyway, i asked the folks at 'Dubbo Zoo' if they might offer a giveaway to my readers, yippee, they would love to. No payment, just my love for animals.
25 comments:
Sounds wonderful - we love the early morning tours, and make sure our visits are timed to be there for them. I also love seeing their African wild dog pack - one day I'll see them in the wild...
I love Western Plains Zoo, we have been a few times and have been talking about our next visit with the children.
I love Elephants, I have an elephant painting here that we got in Thailand, it is my favourite artwork in this house.
I love the giraffe, we did the early morning tour about 12 years ago with our teenage children. I have a picture of our youngest feeding the giraffe with a carrot and his great big blue tongue sticking out to get the feed.
It is a great place to visit and your trip sounds wonderful
Oh count me in! Massive Lion fans here :)
Glad you loved our neck of the woods, we love the Zoo, the monkeys are a firm favourite.
What an amazing experience your family had! If I have to choose one zoo animal it is the monkeys.
We have never been to Western plains Zoo, but have thought about it many times! Would love to win a family pass :)
Sounds like fun. My favourit animal would have to be the giraffe. It is amazing how they are so big yet so graceful.
I'm a little horse mad so it'd have to be the Prezwalki horse :)
I love the Zebras....my future DIL just goes nuts over them :)
My boys would love to go there :-) My favourite zoo animal would be the giraffes - they just look so graceful.
Beautiful photos. We haven't been there and I hope someday.
We went to Dubbo Zoo many years ago and did the early morning tour which was wonderful. I would love to go again. Thanks Posie. Sharyn
Looks like a fantastic time to spend with your family! We'd love to take the kids there, the boys were so disappointed there weren't any rhinos at Taronga so to see them at Western Plains would be a treat! My fave though is the elephant, surprise surprise! Has been since I was a little girl :)
I love the Otter's,they are great to watch playing.
Love catching up with what you and your family get up to. Feel for you with your dh being away fighting for us and thank you for the sacrifice your famly makes. I would love to win these to take my little gk's to the Zoo as they love animals.
What a great way for you all to experience the zoo! My favourite animal would have to be the monkeys, they can be very entertaining at times! xx
We are very keen on giraffe in this house. Maybe because we are tall and lanky??
A visit to the Dubbo zoo has been on our to-do list for a while, we pass it every year as we head to the rellies for Christmas! Monkeys are most popular in this household, with a two and five year old who often resemble them! Thanks for the chance to enter :).
A visit to the Dubbo zoo has been on our to-do list for a while, we pass it every year as we head to the rellies for Christmas! Monkeys are most popular in this household, with a two and five year old who often resemble them! Thanks for the chance to enter :).
It sounds so good and the pictures prove it!
I wish I could be in the running! Sadly it's on the other side of the world....
We were ment to go when we moved from Wagga to Brisbane but didn't have the chance. I would love to take the kids. They have yet to go to a Zoo.
My favourite Zoo animal would have to be the giraffe.
Sounds like y'all had a great time!
My two kidlets would love to go!
I don't have a favourite. I like elephants, but then I also like the big cats and the giraffes too. LOL
Congratulations random draw # 20, Food Loopy. Love Posie
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