Up close and personal

DAY THREE

Up early and we were off for our last bus tour.

This time to meet the animals in their bedrooms before they got put out for the day.

Here I am below, feeding a  giraffe a breakfast carrot.

Then we met the Lions who slept rather  close to where we did,

some of our party could hear them in the night.

We didn’t hear anything….

Below is Graham feeding a carrot to a Bongo.

We met up again with Cuddles the African elephant.

She is housed with 3 other old ladies,

although the others are Asian elephants and  they don’t get along, (like many old ladies) so they are in separate pens.

They are all old circus elephants, some from Stardust some from Bullen's.

I wonder if they miss the sparkles and feathery headdresses!?

Probably not, BUT I bet they remember them.

These days their hobby is painting works of art to sell in the gift shop.

What a great job, being a zoo keeper of lovely things like this!

(I can cope with big poos)

 

 

Following our tour, we had a cooked breakfast with an African theme and then back to the lodge to pack up and check out.

(bit of a amusing mishap when we left our torch and chargers behind, but eventually we were reunited)

Then we had some more time to spend in the zoo.

Such a lovely day we took the top off the Lotus and took her into the zoo!

(really, we took the top off as it is just easier for me to get in and out without it,

we put the top on Frostys back seat)

 

 

Graham took the great photo of a Cheetah.

Mind you the cheetah was more interested in what was over the fence!

These are our zebra friends from near the lodge,,,

 

I loved the Galapagos tortoises. They where all asleep in their house when we got there

and then they had a little parade out into the daylight.

Easy to see why the sailors picked them up and took them away and ate them,

they move slow but have bizarre undulating muscles/joints.

They have a little baby!

Its about the size of a small saucer.

 

 

Goodbye zoo!

I recommend the Zoofari lodge…

 

 

Our next stop was Coonabarabran.

A few tips to remember in the future…

1. When the roofs off it is a full olfactory experience. We must have passed 100 dead roos, and I had lots of imaginings of what would happen to our dainty English car if a Roo landed in the front seat! AND they STUNK! poo
2. It was freeezing…. we had to stop so I could put on my coat, and gloves etc..
3. In the word ‘B double’ (truck) the B must stand for either a/ Bully or b/ Bastard. Or maybe both and that is were the ‘double’ phrase comes from. We were just a little gnat for them to swipe and we had a near death experience.

However,we arrived safely (although I was slightly traumatised).

At our next motel we stopped for Graham to check in and while

he was gone I was greeted by a few cats who thought a car without a roof was pussy heaven.

(as do some 50+ men)

 

 

Until next time, Kim