Early Doors

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Last year for my birthday our friends peter and Leigh Walker (The Kids) as we call them, got me tickets for Perth Zoo, so we always promised ourselves we would have a nice day out together.



Now fast forward nearly a year and we still hadn’t used the tickets as we have been so busy and trying to identify a suitable day had been difficult, especially with the work thing and also trying to coordinate the time when the local kids would not be on holiday and we now had nearly run out of time, we had a public holiday weekend so we decided to schedule our visit to see our animal friends.





The weather in Perth is hotting up, we are still officially in spring time, until the 1st of December, and so we are enjoying hot days and cool evenings and mornings.



We had had a pretty good weekend and it was even better as we had the Monday off for the Public holiday, so we were up early with the plan to get to the Zoo for early doors.





We parked in the car par, in what we thought would be in a shady spot and had our fingers crossed there would not be many children about, it is also the weekend of the Perth Show, so hope upon hope that everybody is there instead! oh how wrong were we!



We wafted very quickly through the ticket stiles at exactly 9.00am, handed in our complimentary passes and entered the zoo.



On our way in I noticed a sign to advise the general public that the elephants were being fed at 10.00 am, I love elephants and since I was little have always been a fan, there is something so majestic about these giants and back in 1999 when we were in Zimbabwe, my relationship with these wonderful pachyderm’s was secure.



We looked at our zoo map and realised we needed to yomp right across the zoo to where the elephants were so we could see them get their breakfast, I personally think it is unfair to make the elephants wait until ten am for brekkie then have loads of gormless people stand and watch them eat it (us included)



Even though it was very early we realised that everyone had had the same idea and there were kids everywhere, so our prediction about everyone being at the Perth show was perhaps a little bit wrong. We have lived here for 2 years and this is the 3rd show and we still have not been, maybe next year!



At the elephant enclosure it was heaving with people, they should have thrown all the kids to the lions before their mum and dads got to the elephants then we would all have been able to see, but there was no chance to get anywhere near to see the elephants.



In an act of surrender we wandered off disgruntled and left everyone to it, we would have to returned to the elephants later when it was quieter.



I am in to minds about zoo’s, half of me hates them as they are caging up creatures that should be able to roam free and not be physiologically damaged by their permanent imprisonment and the other half of me rationalises that it may be the only way to protect wildlife and give people the opportunity to see these amazing creatures.



Perth Zoo is spread over a 41-acre site and was originally opened in 1898, as of January 2011, it is home to 1258 animals of 164 species.



We wandered around in the sunshine, my new camera is performing well and I now have the ability to share the compendium of Caroline’s Canon lens’s so in her words, my game has been lifted^, I do have to say that the images are of a far higher quality than what I was producing before and I am enjoying the new experience.



The Orangutans have an amazing enclosure, it is made out of steel and each structure Is like a Daffodil, so a great long stem about 40ft high with the daffodil trumpet at the top. When the Orangutans keepers came in to feed them we hadn’t noticed this huge “Big Daddy” Orangutan who just appeared from nowhere and his bright Orange/Ginger fur, made Caroline say, "oh look there's Julia Gillard" our former and first female prime minister, I nearly dropped to the floor laughing so much.



This great big creature descended from his vantage point high up in his daffodil and when he was coming down it looked like he was wearing a coat that was 30 sizes to large, this fella was massive, as far as Orangutans go, I was just amazed how big he was, he grabbed his share of food from the keepers then with one hand made his way back up the structure to eat his food.



Our day was awesome we had a spot of lunch and a good walk around and our special thanks goes to Peter and Leigh for buying me the tickets, your generosity is appreciated.



The day was hot, and we wandered everywhere we could go, by now the zoo was very busy, but people had spread out nicely.



I will let the pictures tell the rest of the story.



Kj

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Photos

Early Doors
Mary the Dingo is walked through the Zoo she is a pure Dingo

Early Doors
Caroline in a sun hat

Early Doors
Big bull elephant in its enclosure

Early Doors
Never smile at the Crocodile

Early Doors
A food tree in the bird enclosure

Early Doors
Caroline in the bird enclosure

Early Doors
African wild dogs

Early Doors
Elephants on their way to Breakfast

Early Doors
Sad Sun bears, they always loo ksad

Early Doors
The Orangutan ascends from his vantage point to each its lunch

Early Doors
The Southern Hairy nosed Wombat, as usual is eating

Early Doors
We new get tired of the Kangaroo's

Comments

[Orrawan]

Love it
Fun story from the zoo :) I'd love to visit Australia one day. Thanks for sharing your experiences;)

[SkiSet]

Zoos
Hi guys, Yes, Andy, I share your two-mindedness where zoos are concerned. For me, personally, Africa spoiled me for them, after seeing so many wild animals roaming free. However, not everyone has or will have the opportunity to be able to visit them in their natural habitats so, in this respect, zoos are wonderful for that reason. These days, zoos also do a marvellous job with the breeding programs many of them now have, thereby ensuring the survival of many species for future generations to enjoy. It is also good to see zoos such as Dubbo in NSW, which is a subsidiary of Taronga here in Sydney, that have the space available to be able to let the animals roam free, in habitats as similar to those in their native lands, as is possible. Have now caught up on some sleep and am over the jet lag - normal lifestyle resumes, once again .... whatever that is. :) Lots of love to you both. J xx (Ted's now on his way home from Qld as I type) :)

[kangaroojack]

Zoo's
Hi J& T Great to hear from you and thank you for the comments on the blog, thank god someone is still reading it. Also glad to hear you are getting back in to the 'Normal" pace of life, as you say what ever normal is. We hope Mr Teddy is back safe and sound from his Queensland Jaunt, I guess that would be for TT. Our love to you all. Andy and Caroline