Zoo Number Two.. Monarto
Trip Start
Jan 22, 2011
1
23
65
Trip End
Ongoing
Monarto Zoo, South Australia, Australia
Thursday, February 17, 2011
Following the road to Gumeracha is fun, you have to go through the 'Chain of Ponds', the most winding, hilly, and scenic drive to get through the hills to the towns on the other side. It's dotted with beautiful old farm houses and farming properties... it would be a little tricky with the steep hills, but they seem to manage!
As we rounded the last bend, I was looking so closely at my surroundings, at all the little familiar things, that we arrived in Gumeracha without me realizing! It was almost the same, gorgeous old buildings lining the main street, same small town feel, but a few funky new businesses had taken up residence. I was feeling quite emotional being back there, going past my old Primary school, streets where friends lived and places I used to play.
Everything seemed smaller to me though, the streets were shorter and houses smaller, the only thing that was bigger were the trees! they had been very busy growing while I was gone!
Our house was a little way past the town, past a beautiful new stone residence, a winery and fruit orchard, (very posh, but old style-new) and there it was.. looking so different I had to look twice. We went up the driveway, I took as many quick photos as I could while Geoff turned the car around.. there didn't appear to be anyone around, so we didn't hang about. I got a few more shots from the road, then we went back into town to the biggest rocking horse in the world, and it's fab toyshop.
The girls and I climbed up almost to the top ( I couldn't stomach going any higher, it felt wrong!) got a great view from up there, waved down at Geoff, then got down as fast as possible.
After strolling around the toyshop, we attempted to visit with the animals in the little wildlife park there, until a little black Llama decided to bite a sodding great chunk out of Phoenix's' back! Bye!
From there, we drove 25kms or so through more gorgeous hilly towns and along a stretch of the Princess Hwy, to Murray Bridge, and the Monarto Zoo. Yes, two zoos in two days! We are keen, but as we are zoo members now, we really want to take advantage of the free entry, and being more of a 'safari' style zoo, it was a totally different experience anyway.
We loved it from start to finish, and although it's not near the city, we would recommend it to anyone. As we were not there in the morning, our best option was to stay on the safari bus, instead of hopping on and off to use some of the walking trails.. just in case the park closed and we missed the last bus! We did see a lot of the animals, and it was great for the kids little legs not to have to walk very far.
What a great day... the weather is taking a turn for the worse tomorrow, so it will be indoor fun for the four of us, a movie at the cinemas, school work (Boo!! From the kids!!) And washing for me... yay. Then we will be preparing to leave Adelaide for the south, really looking forward to seeing that part of SA.
Scratch ya later!
Love from Felicity and the rest of the Thommos
