Taronga Western Plains Zoo Dubbo Aug 2020

 On the outskirts of Dubbo, you will find the Taronga Western Plains Zoo.  It is a 300-hectare open range sanctuary, so well design that you can hardly tell there are any barriers between you and the animals, they can look so close but yet are so far away...

Plan to spend the whole day .....   You can travel around the zoo by hiring a bike or a cart, walk it by foot, or just drive your car around... once you park in one of the strategically placed parking areas you can explore each section by foot, jump back in the car and move onto the next. You can follow the flow of the park in one direction only!

With memories of our African safari, we saw lots of rhino's, hippos, giraffes and zebra's .. though everyone's favourites are always those cute little meerkats.

Within the grounds, you can camp, sleep in a lodge or stay in one of the glamping tents... but of course at a price.... which we would have paid if it was not booked out.... well it was during covid, so we could splurge a little.

Because of covid, none of the interactive or safari experiences were available to us. 

If you have your car you could easily take a picnic or you could stop at the Waterhole which is the cafe and takeaway food stall.   

We really enjoyed our experience here 

Taronga Western Plains Zoo Dubbo | Taronga Conservation Society Australia

This fellow came bolting down his paddock when he saw lunch was ready

so how do the meerkats keep so warm, when it is so cold here is Dubbo....

Ahh now I get it!!

Pacing, Pacing

Dubbo Aug 2020

 What you come to realise when you drive into this large country town is that Dubbo is not just about the zoo.  

You can easily visit for a few days and still not have enough time to do everything.  For us, it was only 2 nights which gave us enough time to explore the town and spend a full day at the Zoo.

If we were there longer we would have purchased the Dubbo Region "Great Big Adventure Pass".  This ticket will give you: 

1 x 2-day pass for Dubbo Zoo

1 x entry to the Royal Flying Doctor Service Visitor Experience

1 x day entry int the Old Dubbo Gaol

1 x tour at the Wellington Caves ( just a short drive away)

https://dubbo.com.au/visit/great-big-adventure-pass

As I mentioned before during our short time here we spent some of our time just walking up and down the main street.  Passing some lovely old buildings and the Gaol which nestles right in the middle of town.

 

We stayed at the Macquarie Inn, a comfortable large room with it's own kitchenette.  It did adjoin the pub, but we were so tired after our busy days that we were happy enough to veg out in our room and let the Ninja do the cooking... 

 

I will cover the Zoo in a separate post.

Animals on Bikes - Molong to Dubbo

 Animals on Bikes is a "Paddock Art" sculpture tourist trail between Molong and Dubbo Zoo. 

http://www.animalsonbikes.com.au/

After passing through Molong (we were travelling from Orange), you first see the first of metallic sculptures in a no more appropriate place than the front of the Cladwells's Scrap Metal Yard.  If you can't take the full 120km run this stop alone has many photo opportunities.  Just past the scrapyard on your left is the turn-off..... If it is not called Banjo 

On our return home I have found on their website there is a detailed map that you can download and follow using your odometer to find them..... A better option than slamming the brakes and chucking a U-turn like we did every time we spotted one LOL.. 

If you don't have a map, drive safely, keep your eyes peeled and let anyone that comes up behind you pass so you can drive a bit slower to enjoy!!

Ok.... so these are real!!