Day 57 West Wyalong
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| Odd event - Sunrise! |
Well today was one of those real landmark days. Today we fed
Giraffes. We got up at an hour that I thought had been removed – 6:30am and
made our way up to the tour bus. As we were leaving our cabin where we had just
had a good night sleep listening to the Lions roaring, the gazelle in front of
us were running around and fighting and generally having a good time in the
cool. One of the big Eland (misspelt it yesterday) was supervising and even the
ostriches were dancing around.
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| What you got there? |
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| feeding time at the zoo |
On the tour bus we all loaded up and drove off to the
Giraffe sheds where there were 5 giraffes waiting for us. Last night on the bus
we had a couple of families with kids and they sat up front and rushed on and
off everytime we stopped. Today there was a reshuffle of people and the old and
the crippled
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| Happy Camper |
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| Me |
were to get off first and last on, well these kids thought they
were missing out by waiting, I think our tour guide Steve was just trying to
keep them under control and not running off like last night. The only problem was
that the old guy and his wife got out followed by Maureen with my walker and I brought
up the rear just as their mum would slip their leashes and they would bundle
out past me!
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| All gone? |
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| Duck down in front! |
Well we got out at the sheds and there they were 5 giraffes
were standing leaning over the fence, literally drooling. We were told to stand
behind the line and take 2 pieces of carrot each and go up one at a time and
feed them. Well apparently the line does not exist to this one family and the
kid rushed up and fed the giraffe which was fine, but when he fed them his 2
pieces, he went back to the bucket which was strategically located near mum who
was
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| No food, I'm outta here |
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| Lemurs |
say “help yourself, there is heaps there” so the kid was going back and
forth feeding the giraffes whilst the behaved people waited our turn. In the
end Steve realised what was happening and very democratically stepped in to
reclaim the bucket with an “rack off you little bas…” oh no, that was me. He said,
“easy on the carrots, they are there for everyone for a second go”. Coast was
now clear and we could all go up and feed them and pose for photos without the
little darling running around. There were a few faces of the other people that
said a lot
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| Big Black |
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| Big White |
about the kids and as we made our way back to the bus, it turns out
half of them were school teachers, I was surprised there were no quick words
spoken, just nice polite people I suppose. As we were leaving because we had
run out of carrots, one of the giraffes gave everyone the hairy eyeball and
checked each of us out to make sure none of us had any carrots hiding. Steve suggested
everybody raise their hands open and that convinced him and off he wandered.
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| 2 Great Whites |
After the giraffes we went to the Rhinoceros pens. There we
saw a Black Rhino who because they get very cranky, have to be kept separate and
a big male White Rhino who was by himself as they have a new born baby and the
dads can get a bit boisterous with them but they are a very social breed. The way
they came about their names were by the English mashing up the Dutch language
and simple naming process. The white rhino have a wide mouth and the black one
has a narrow mouth. The problem was that the Dutch for wide sounded like white to
the English so they called it White ( a good English name) and as one was
called white then the other one must be black, simple.
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| you can't see me |
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| Sore foot |
From there we drove to the Monkeys and Lemurs area. When
they were doing the Lemur area, John Cleese was asked to officially open it. Turns
out he is a Lemur fanatic and donated all his fees and donations made to a
Lemur protection fund. They and the Monkeys put on a performance for everyone
as they were waiting for the tit bits they were given.
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| Hello, i am over here |
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| Wash those toes |
Back on the bus and it was off to the elephant sheds where
they were washing down the elephants. Cuddles was there next to and Asian
elephant and it was easy to see the differences between the types, small ears,
two bumps, less toenails. They go through this routine were they wash them and
they have to put each foot up onto a bar so the trainers can see the underside
and they
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| Our house |
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| Our canvas house |
get a treat. They really are the cutest animals. At the end of the
wash they get a bit of hay and they grab that and they eat that and then use
their trunks to sweep up the crumbs and get the last bits. As we were doing it,
Lucy’s (one of the teachers) husband was revealed as a sealion trainer at
Taronga Park Zoo in Sydney.
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| Golf buggy disguised as a zebra |
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| rare mongolian pony |
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| Lemurs sleeping |
This part of the trip was worth it all. You get right up
close to the animals and feed them, they are awake and very friendly where as
in the zoo area where we went around later, they were asleep or way at the back
of pens in the shade and stuff. So from the elephants we made our way back to
the lodge and tucked into breakfast and a final chat with the others. We were
supposed to have booked out by 10 but we avoided the checkout rush and
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| Hippos hippoing |
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| Tiger sleeping |
Maureen packed
us up and we had the van on all in under 30 minutes and we were away at 10:30
over to the main zoo area. We had been tossing up if we would unhitch and get
the gopher out and Maureen use a bike or hire a golf cart painted like a zebra.
Another lady had said that the buggy was fine but you could not drive up the
walk paths and the way she said it sounded a real disadvantage, so we were
favouring bike and Beast. When we got over to the
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| Zebras |
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| Eland |
hire place, the temperature
sealed it, Buggy it was. The guy drove it over to the car as Maureen was having
nothing to do with this fandangled, devil inspired piece of technology, it was
left hand drive for a start!
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| Me and my friends |
I took over the reins and off we went. Well as it turns out,
you can get to all the areas except 2 so no big deal. The golf buggy was
perfect for us, we could drive around in the shade and there was a slight breeze
that cooled us. We saw one the young couples doing the bike ride and she was
suffering in the heat, so good choice boss. We made our way around the 5km path
and ended at the gift shop. A quick shop and 1 giraffe later and we watered and
fed ourselves and headed off towards Parkes.
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| Parkes |
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| Field of sunflowers |
We chose parks as it was 100kms down the road and I wanted
to see the Dish from the film ‘The Dish’. So we set off and sure enough as you
come towards Parkes the town, there it is. Maureen went inside and I was
outside and it moved! Maureen got some video of it that I will post here. From parks
we had a couple of hours left and I felt okay so off we went for another 160kms
and ended up here at West Wyalong where we snaffled up a drive through site
with an ensuite. Tomorrow the plan is to head out west seriously, not sure
which way but we are not in the car yet, so no need to decide. As I have said
before, I am constantly amazed at Maureen. Not only has she setup Girt for the
night, she has also defrosted and cleaned out the fridge all whilst I was doing
the blog and to top it off has produced the most perfect Lamb Shanks with
veges, mashed potato and gravy! Well to be fair, she did not cook it, but she
did go hunting and gathering and came upon the right spot, so full bonus points
in my book.
