Day 56

Day 56 Dubbo – Western Plains Zoo

Cocktails

Cuddles

Never guess where we are, at the Western Plains zoo, not at it, “in” it. We had booked a chalet in the zoo and we are sitting on our veranda watching, Elan, Ostriches, gazelle, wildebeest and giraffes, I know, amazing isn’t it. We are paying a fortune for this but I did not get any opals and this is cheaper.

Elan night

Elan day

We left Tamworth this morning early at about 8:30 as Maureen had been up early with a headache so we headed off. The road as usual is hilly and it tires me out so we just plodded along with a few stops. We were looking on the web last night at the zoo site to see when they opened and stuff and they listed accommodation, naturally they were not open at 9:30pm so we rang first thing this morning on the road and booked in. nothing like last minute planning.

Toy for cuddles

Giraffe from the veranda

We made it through the hills going through towns with great names like Gunnedah, Coonabarabran and Gilgandra, names I have heard over the years. I should mention a bit of an oddity, Maureen went to the toilet in Gunnedah, that’s not the odd bit, the toilet instead of playing music (or nothing but buzzing flies) it played poetry! At the end is Dubbo. Tonight we have had free cocktails and go up for dinner tonight.

Hippo

Plucked Ostrich

Well we did the free dinner and met up with some of the others here. Dinner was fabulous and we had crocodile, buffalo, Barramundi and Ham. Desserts were just as fabulous and by the time we finished it was time to go on a night tour round the park. We saw the hippo’s, the elephants and in particular a 35 year old African elephant, the last African elephant in Australia. We fed Bongos from the Congo and saw an elan up close. The group went on a bus and I took my walker with me and climbed on and off and they were all very patient.

Our Bed

We are now back at camp listening to the Lion roaring and the ostrich hooting, just majical, and we have a 7am tour where we feed the giraffes!

Tomorrow we feed the animals breakfast and have to pack up before leaving. We are going to hire a golf cart so we can drive around together. After that we expect to make maybe Parkes.