June 21, 2009

Birdwatching

I haven't been updating this blog for a while. I'm really into photography right now and taking a lot of pics of birds so my other blog is getting more attention.
I went to the Parklands for 2 days straight. On Friday with younger son and Saturday , I cycled there with older son . It is currently my favourite spot for birdwatching as I get to see birds I don't usually see in other areas of the bikeway and it helps that there are ducks there for the kids to feed. There are eels and turtles in the mini lake too but they haven't come out after the water had turned a bit murky due to the rain spell the past months. There is also a little airstrip next to the park where hobbyists congregate with their miniature planes on the weekend. I keep telling myself I need to take pics of them too but my main focus is really taking pics of birds. It's a bonus if I can shoot birds I rarely or haven't seen before.

June 01, 2009

Alma Park Zoo

We went to the Alma Park Zoo yesterday. It would have been about half an hour drive if dh had taken the Gateway instead of going though the city centre and into some northern suburbs . Yes we got lost for an hour or so there. I'm afraid us south suburban people don't usually go to the northern suburbs vice versa and so it took us ages to figure which road we were at plus only decided to use gps in my phone when we were almost there.
Anyway, when we got there, we were pleasantly surprised at how nice and shady the zoo was . There were tall, shady , beautiful trees at the entrance and we didn't need to go out of our car to buy tickets, just drive through and the nice attendants came to us.
Most of the animals were in enclosures where they roam about freely whie visitors can feed them with a bag of animal feed bought at the entrance or cafe cum souvenir shop. There was an enclosure for fallow deers which we went to first because it was near the carpark, as well as camels , llamas , koalas, kangaroos , tahr (mountain goats) etc. I think the two red pandas were my favourite. I took pics of it napping while dh videotape them eating and moving around. I also managed to get pics of birds and trees in and around the zoo although I did pity the birds that were caged there . One galah in the cage seemed tame and liked us stroking its head. We found that out when older son, always inquisitive, poked his hand in the cage to touch it. The baboons were also cages too unfortunately. There was a short presentation about them by a zookeeper while a large alpha male baboon set in the cage behind him and amused the crowd with his antiques. There was also a presentation about koalas and the kids also got to touch a baby croc and a python.
At around noon, we had a nice layback lunch in one of the picnic area where there were tables, benches and even a place to barbeque , in the midst of lovely shady trees. Dh had prepared some sandwiches and cut fruits for the trip beforehand and I bought sliced cakes and drinks at the cafe nearby. There were some amazing looking peacocks and peahens roaming around the area and the boys were trying to chase them. I think they enjoyed the zoo more than the nature walk two weeks ago as there got to see lots of animals. It's a nice zoo , not heavily commercialized like some others and I highly recommend it. :) Though it is a good idea to study how to get there first!