Taronga Western Plains Zoo family pass GIVEAWAY

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.  

feeding the lions at Taronga Western Plains Zoo

Greetings all,

Before we even left for Taronga Western Plains Zoo in Dubbo, my husband declared he was going to feed the lions.  When we arrived at the zoo, we immediately booked him for the afternoon lion feeding, then toured the zoo on bikes.  We saw the lions in their enclosure first, they were very affectionate to say the least!!  I actually felt like voyeur watching them, worse, photographing them.   

 Feeding the lions (or tigers in the morning) is for the over 15s & costs $59, i was encouraged to have lunch in the cafe with the children while my husband went behind the scenes.  Handsome soldier returned, almost speechless & in awe of these incredible animals.

 Just for scale, my husband is over 6' tall & the lion is standing about 5' back from the fence!!

 They have INCREDIBLE reach & the keepers assure you, they are still very much wild animals, if you went in to their enclosure, they would still try to kill you.  I didn't doubt that as we got up very close to them on the Zoofari tour (part of the overnight lodge stay.)

 Look at her pretty face, so calm & gentle.

 Handsome soldier was the only person in the afternoon feeding group so he let a novice keeper have a turn too.  While my husband was watching her feed the lion, the lioness put her paw up next to his face.  Look at those claws & the fluff sticking through the fence!!

This is my favourite shot, look at that magnificent face!!

This was the absolute highlight of the whole zoo for my husband, an adrenalin rush & . . . complimentary face full of lion breath!!  He would do this again in a heartbeat.  Actually i would have him do both lions & tigers next time & go along to take the photos (the keeper taking the shots didn't zoom in, i would have taken 100 shots!!)  Value for money??  To see the look oh my husband's face afterwards, priceless!!  

Gather round the children folks & show them these amazing animals.  Stay tuned for the next instalment - the Zoofari lodge overnight stay & a family zoo pass giveaway!!  Love Posie