We took advantage of the long weekend to visit the National Zoo & Aquarium. Alastair and his parents treated me to an early birthday present...which meant that I got the opportunity to get up close and personal with a cheetah today! Alastair and I also managed to surprise his mum with a meet a cheetah experience too, which meant that we both got to visit the cheetah at the same time.

It was wonderful to get up close and personal with the cheetah. It was probably the quickest 15 minutes but it was oh-so-fun to pet them and hear their deep purring.

Between us three, we got to hand feed a beautiful tiger, hold Betty the boa constrictor (which wasn't cold or slimy as I expected - she was actually quite smooth), feed a giraffe, feed a bear, admire the various sea creatures and reptiles in the aquarium section, take lots of photos, and listen to many zoo keeper talks. All in all, a very fun day!

My mother-in-law and I also pressed a few souvenir coins and she also bought me a very cute hand crafted necklace with a cheetah pendent to remind us of today's adventures. Very thoughtful gift and I love it!

The rest of the photos are available on my flickr zoo set.

Day two at the Western Plains Zoo started off with Alastair and I being at the front gate by 8.30am, to avoid the crowds that we were caught in yesterday. We drove the zoo around until we got to the lions, where we enjoyed the solitude before the masses arrived at 9am.

The rest of the morning was taken up checking out the rest of the animals we missed yesterday, including zebras, water buffaloes, wapitis, the very loud siamangs, three galapalos tortoises, otters, and much more.

The highlight of the morning was the Tiger Encounter. There were six of us (the limit for each Big Cat Encounter). We got to hand feed a Sumatran Tiger (through the holes of the sturdy bars of his cage). It's amazing getting that close to those lethal claws and mouth. My biggest disappointment was the issues I had with my exposure setting on my camera (not the camera fault - my fault). But besides that, it was good. We even got a quick tour behind the scenes of the tiger enclosures and saw the concrete and grass enclosures.

We never did hire the bikes, but ended up driving the car to key spots, and walking back and forth. We ended up leaving early (at about 4.30pm) as I was really tired.

We headed back to the motel for a rest, before having a BBQ dinner (kangaroo steak and veal steak).

We're heading back to Canberra tomorrow, with a planned stop at Parkes and the Cowra Japanese Gardens.

I’m sitting on the motel bed, feeling a lot better after a shower. It’s Alastair’s birthday today. We celebrated by visiting the Western Plains Zoo. We did so much walking and I’m really exhausted, but it was such a fantastic day!

We started the day leisurely, with a delicious breakfast of croissants at one of the local bakeries. Once we got to the zoo, we were surprised by the huge line up of cars waiting to get into the zoo. About 35 minutes later, we finally made it through the gates, paid for our tickets (only 30 cents for Alastair as it was his birthday!!!), and found a parking spot.

Soon after, we were at the Information Centre signing disclosure forms for the Wild Africa Encounter and Big Cat Encounter (in case we eat eaten, etc). While there, we found out about the Giraffes In Focus session, where for $3, you can hand feed and photograph a giraffe. We booked two of the last few tickets.

While waiting for our zebra striped bus to show (for the Wild Africa Encounter), we wandered around the nearby exhibits, checking out the cute Spider Monkeys, Lemurs, Meerkats, and African Wild Dogs (who were fast asleep).

The Wild Africa Encounter was really enjoyable. It’s $25 for each adult, and much recommended. The Encounter provides a behind-the-scenes look at the behavioural enrichment programs for the Black and White Rhinoceros. Our guide was really friendly, and her New Zealand accent was really cute. We got to check out parts of the zoo that’s normally closed off to the public, and we even got up and close to a Black Rhino, and some giraffes. All up, it took about an hour. I learned quite a bit about how to breed rhinos!

We stopped for lunch at the kiosk, before setting off to check out the Black Rhinos (again, but this time, from the public viewing areas), Barbary Sheep, Camels, Scimitar Oryx, Giraffes, Addax, Eland, two White Rhinos, two Cheetahs walking around their enclosure, Asian and African Elephants, three hippopotamus, gibbons, some Bongos (they have such funny stripes), zebras, Persian Onagers (they looked like donkeys), a wombat (who was surprisingly quite out going!), an echidna, some funny looking Tapirs, guanaco and rhea.

Fun fun fun! We took heaps of photos, which we’ll upload once we get back to Canberra (and back to broadband….).

One of the many things I love about this zoo is that the animals aren’t behind any cages. They’re cleverly enclosed in large areas where fences are subtly hidden, often looking like you can walk straight into their area (or swim across to their enclosure).

Tomorrow, we had the Big Cat Encounter, plus all the keeper talks that we missed out today. Plus having come all this way, we HAVE to hire some bikes and cycle around the zoo. The bikes were all sold out today. We hope to hire two in the afternoon. Cycling around the Zoo will just finish the whole weekend nicely.

Just after 5pm, sore feet and all, we wearily and happily left the Zoo. A quick stop past the supermarket bought us veal and kangaroo steaks for the bbq (for dinner tonight, and lunch at the zoo tomorrow).

Gorgeous weather, great company (aww, spending time with My Love), and an absolutely fantastic zoo.