Our last day had arrived and I had arranged a hire car or people carrier to be exact so we could all travel together. Of course it had to be the zoo and on Mother’s Day at that. I could tell Anthony wasn’t too excited about it, on the other hand it was all Lachie could talk about.

I had pre-booked tickets online and when we arrived around 11.30, there was only a few people ahead of us. I didn’t realise the zoo was so large and when I looked at the map I knew we were in for a long day.

Melbourne Zoo is the oldest zoo in Australia, opened in October 1862. It houses more than 320 animal species from Australia and around the world.

Following the map above it took around four hours to see most of the animals that were not hiding.

The butterfly house was amazing, with so many different species. If you stood still long enough one would be sure to land on you.

Trail of the Elephants

On the Main Trail

Lions and Tigers

We watched in awe as this lion slowly approached the window and licked his lips hungrily while looking us straight in the eye!

A tale about the Peccary

As we approached the peccaries the keeper was just finishing off his talk and asked if anyone had any questions. My dear husband asked if they were peccaries and then proceeded to inform the keeper that they were highly prized for their leather hides, being the softest in the world. Indeed he owns a pair of gloves. I should have taken a photo of the keeper’s face as he explained to my husband that we were in a conservation environment and they were not for breeding! Anthony said well I thought you would be interested, said keeper firmly replied “no, I’m definitely not!”. Never one for being able to judge a situation correctly, that is my dear hubby.

Artwork and Murals

It was a wonderful mother’s day and everyone enjoyed it, even Anthony! There is so much to see and do and even after four hours we didn’t get to see everything. There are various food outlets spread around the zoo and many picnic areas. I loved the way it didn’t feel like you were in a zoo and all the animals had room to move about. The zoo is committed to fighting wildlife extinction and is becoming one of the world’s leading zoo based conservation organisations.

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