Nicky goes to the zoo

The last time Nicky went to the zoo he was six months old. He was a little baby in a pouch and he was more interested in the hedges in front of the cages than the animals. So we were curious, at 27 months, as to what kind of reaction he would have.

My dear husband had taken off a few days with the public holiday so we decided to go to the zoo on Tuesday, figuring that there would be less people around. We had not counted on all the pre-schooler trips though. A few of them were more noisy than others. Some of them actually sang as they went along.

First stop was the big gorilla. We were lucky because he came out and strutted his stuff. I think it’s easier to have a bigger animal to look at; some of the smaller ones are more difficult to find.

After that we went past several monkeys and landed up by the orangutans. These were a huge hit with Nicky. He laughed and laughed.

The next big animal was the elephant. They put on a bit of a show drinking water with their trunks and eating mountains of grass. We took a few pictures.

I was quite excited to show Nicky the giraffes as one of his favourite toys is Jerry the Giraffe and he also has a little plastic one that gets carted around on a circus trailer.

I took him out the stroller and he went into climbing mode on the fence! The giraffes were quite majestic and ate out of their food troughs at the appropriate height.

The lions were a bit difficult to see since they were sleeping in the shade. The cubs were really cute though.

After that we went to see the farm animals. Nicky laughed at the sheep munching away.

The Amazon exhibit has been receiving quite a bit of publicity. For us the most impressive show came from an underwater snake. I think this is the first time I’ve seen a snake slinking around underwater.

Last on the list of what we wanted to see was the bear. This was a special thing for us as I often affectionately call Nicky my “little bear” and wanted to show him what a real bear looked like. Unfortunately the bears were napping too. One was right next to the glass. I took a picture but it really looks like a black lump behind a reflective glass. We did manage to chat to a zookeeper who was observing them. I was glad to hear that the bear was no longer pacing around as he had been on our last visit.

By this time it was after 1pm. As we drove home Nicky followed the example of his namesake and fell asleep.

I hope you all had a fabulous heritage day and enjoyed time with your families!