Monday, January 28, 2008

A Big Day Out

Today we went to Werribee Zoo, Werribee Mansion and the State Rose Gardens. Mary, Wendy, Daryl, Megan, Zac, Mich, Lee and of course all of us spent a hot day exploring the zoo, mansion and gardens. Jason dropped Mary, Kady, Leah and I at the zoo entrance and then drove to the station to pick up Mich and Lee.

We began at Werribee Zoo. It's been many years since I have been there. In fact the last time was when I was JUST pregnant with Leah and Kady was nearly three. The family came and I told them I was pregnant. It has changed a little in 9ish years.

Our first stop was the Volcanic Plains Walk. Pretty crappy. lol. Two kangaroo's and about eight emu's. The drought has really affected the zoo and the areas that once had water no longer do. A few small water holes on this walk are filled each day by staff. It was quite hot so I think a lot of the roo's were under the shade.

Next stop were the meerkat's. I love these little animals. So cute and so much character.

12 o'clock we boarded a safari bus and went on a safari tour. Once again many of the animals were sheltered under the shade. No fantastic photography today. We did see some gorgeous animals. My favourite is the giraffe and the zebra's. We didn't get overly close to the animals as the tour buses stuck to the dirt tracks. Years ago I went when they only used small tour buses and you could get really close to them. The buses used to drive right up to the animals. Still lovely to see them roaming around though.

Tummy's grumbling by this stage. We talked about walking back to the car and dragging all our picnic gear to the zoo and then finding a place to sit in the shade. Wendy and I thought we may as well do the last walk and then head over to the mansion and sit in the shade near the rose gardens and eat our lunch.

We went on the Pula Reserve Walking Track. Approx 1km long. This wasn't part of the zoo last time I went and it's a great addition to the zoo. Very well done. We saw the Velvet Monkeys, Lions (from a distance if you stood on some logs, once again hiding in the shade of trees), more meerkats, a quick siting of the hippos, a lovely little water feature for the kids to play in near the hippo area. Lots of little ones cooling off in the fountains of water, next was the cheetah, then some more zebra's and back to the main part of the zoo. We stopped by the Safari shop. Babcia gave all the kids $10 to spend. I added a little bit more and Kady bought a cuddly hippo and Leah bought a DeBrazza's monkey that hangs around your neck. They love stuffed animals. Like we don't own enough. Kady has wanted a hippo (like Abby on NCIS) for ages.

Next stop was lunch. Yummo. Wendy bought some chicken and bread rolls. J and I bought salad stuff, grapes, cherries and plum, a selection of different cheeses and pate, crackers, trout dip, spicy capsicum dip, Turkish bread, biscuits and chips. Mary brought more rolls, some lollies and hot cross buns.

We wandered around the mansion. Love this place. It was a special day as they were celebrating 130 years with a garden party, so they had lots of extras set up around the mansion, including carriage rides, games etc. We lost each other and J, Mich and Lee waited out the front whilst we waited out the back for them as we had all taken off in different directions checking out the insides of the mansion. Found each other.

They had finally restored the tower (something I have always wanted to go up in) but sadly all the tours up there were sold out. :( We walked down to the farm area. We were hot and in need of a drink. We finished off with going to the lake and checking out the grotto. Very unusual for a kids cubby. We went back to the car and sat down under the tree and had a drink and nibblies. Jason drove Mich and Lee back to the train station so they could get back to the city in time to get ready for a night out on the town with one of their mates heading back to the UK. Mary, Kady, Leah and I wandered around the rose garden until he returned. Wendy and Daryl and kids headed home. Megan was sound asleep so once she awoke would have wondered where everyone had gone.

A great day out.


1 comment:

Elie Smith said...

love the photos Dawn looks like you had a great time