The Good, The Bad, the Bad and the Ugly

Meerkat Sentinels

Hippo Mouthwash

How cute is this otter?

Baby Galapagos Tortoise - only another 200 years to live!

The Good:  Western Plains Zoo, Dubbo

Well, we've been here in Dubbo nearly a week now, a bit of R&R.  We're in Poplars Caravan Park almost in the middle of Dubbo.  It's literally 2 minutes walk to  Coles car park, opposite the c.p. and I've been there most days, buying fresh food (fresh food?  fish?  Dubbo???)

Our big outing here took us today to Western Plains Zoo, only about 10 minutes drive from where we are camped.  It's 8km by bike, which we did last time, but by the time we left the Zoo, about 3pm, it would have  been excruciatingly cold riding home, so we were pleased that we were able to drive the motorhome around the Zoo.  Plenty of parking, heating when we returned and fresh food in the fridge! The temperature didn't reach much more than 10 degrees (although we believe it was more like 7) and with wind chill factor as well, we were glad to duck back to the van from time to time to drive between exhibits.

Dubbo Zoo is nowhere near as good as Taronga, but what it does have is space and land aplenty for large animals.  Some of it is sad - such as Cuddles, the last remaining African elephant in Australia.  She has a couple of camels for company, and 2 Asian elephants in the next field to share stories with of an evening, even if they are in adjoining stalls, but still, it's sad to think of being the "only".  (Anyone read "The Last Potoroo" by Margaret Wild?)

The Meerkats were, as always, compulsive viewing.  They're such a tight-knit family group, with a sentry always on duty, looking out for the welfare of the rest, or in this case, two sentries.  Perhaps it was a Changing of the Guard?

The hippos, improbable beasts, seem to be happy and well cared for, and trained to the extent that they will put their (open) mouths on a rail, for the Vet to inspect their teeth.  Better him than me!

We spent the last half hour of our visit at the Galapagos Tortoise enclosure.  There are interesting talks by various keepers at nearly every animal enclosure, but somehow I didn't think that the Galapagos Tortoise could be particularly interesting.  WRONG!  We probably spent more time there than even at our beloved Siamangs.  There were 5 tortoises, ranging in age from around 40 to 90.  What was particularly interesting was that the Zoo had managed (well with a little help from the tortoises) to incubate 1 new tortoise, which at this stage, is about 100mm across the shell.  It's still in the premmie ward, but you can see the size of it compared to the pebbles its head was resting on.  Believe it or not, the old tortoises love to have their heads and throats scratched, which I spent most of my time doing while listening to the talk.  They're such prehistoric looking creatures, and their hide is thick and horny, but the skin underneath the throat is soft(ish) and they obviously enjoy the attention.

The Siamangs were, of course, our reason for visiting again.  Since our last visit, a baby has been born, and it was such a delight to see the family of 3 interacting, climbing trees and giving their "family" call. Unfortunately (for us) they are no longer fed publicly, as they were last time we were here, due to the birth of the baby, and the stress to the mother of having too many people around at feeding time.  However, we did manage to stay long enough to enjoy watching them interact and it only reinforced our determination to keep away from buying any products which contain palm oil - palm oil plantations being the cause of the loss of habitat for Siamangs in the wild.

The Bad

The burnt out plug on our van.  We seem to have become complacent, not really worrying too much about how many appliances we run at one time.  With the electric fan heater going full time since we arrived (believe me, it's REALLY cold), all our i-thingies charging, the electric hot water and who knows, perhaps, the final straw, cooking last night's vegies in the microwave, we were suddenly without power.  Too dark and cold to track down the fault last night, but in the light of day a burnt out plug; a visit to an electrician this morning, and the wallet $60 lighter, and the lights are on again.

The Ugly

The nasty little sods who steal from campers (not us thankfully) overnight.  We met a lovely young couple from Adelaide who had spent a couple of months travelling round in a tent-top trailer with large 4WD (alarmed).  Unfortunately she had left her bag inside the 4WD, which, although alarmed, was broken into one night and the bag taken.  Evidently, if you are cluey enough, it is possible to break a small back window in such a vehicle, even if alarmed, and send someone presumably VERY small, inside to take whatever valuables are in sight.  She had not only her wallet in the bag, but lots of small presents which she had bought for friends back home in Adelaide - the bag probably in the river now, all cards lost and little hope of return.  

So, we lock up well every night.  Anyone who needs our thongs which are the only things left outside, is welcome to them.  We are warm and cosy inside.  If it wasn't for our diesel heater, we would probably have turned for home weeks ago!!

Stay safe. xx