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.
