Taronga Western Plains Zoo
MONTHLY | Issue 2 | August 2024
aka the Dubbo loop. If you haven’t done this little beauty of a circuit then I highly recommend.
here’s what we did and what I would change/keep.
We left home with the kids v early… about 430am… the excitement of rolling out of bed straight into the pre-warmed car in PJs snuggled into your own pillow brought back station wagon sleep-a-thon memories we had as country kids accompanying our parents to valley parties.
Plus, driving off into the dawn has also far outweighed the fairy tail of sunset for me… this is bunker our down hour, not hightailing.
Red flag though, windy mountain roads that you can’t see from the back seat in the dark are more vomit inducing it turns out.
Yes we ate McDonalds because the only time you can eat that is when you are then sitting still for an hour plus afterwards… aaaand, hashbrowns. We also packed a centre floor box of fresh snacks for the kids which was still going on our drive home.
We went straight to the Zoo as the tickets are valid for 2 days. If it wasn’t so cold and threatening drizzle we would have biked, but we could validate a buggy on this occasion which made use feel tres jurassic park.
It’s great to get a loop under your belt, as a reccy, but all the animals were standing by their exit gates waiting to snuggle into bed as the day was short and freezing. The show was over for most. Mornings were much more vibrant… and the giraffe encounter was extremely fun and about an 1/8 the cost of the hippo one… But I guess as the 2 hippos were eating whole cabbages and the 8 giraffes where snapping carrots it makes sense.
The best bit was the fencing, which was sunken low in trenches so it felt like you were indeed on the same plain as these gorgeous creatures, and the vastness of their spaces. Certainly felt like a wilder space than the Harbourside version in the city.
Stay: Airbnb or Embrace Dubbo and book a Motel. The Shearing Shed has classic “amenities”
Eat: PM must stop at the Royal Indian Restobar. The food is fantastic Nth Indian, the kids’s butter chicken and rice is dreamable. But the decor is worth it alone. A simple flip through to the “flashy” section of any commercial hospo supplier catalogue, and you’ll have followed what seems to be the same interiors and fit-out selection for this venue. Loud and proud, from flooring to flatware… if it falls under “regal”, “royal”, or “castle”, from a Disney perspective, it is here. And I am all for a committed curation of elements.
Eat AM: Press Coffee. This is the place to reset your sense of taste if you feel you need it. It delivers to such a beautifully high standard that you half expect the waitstaff to have a cult-like agenda like some multi-million dollar hospo group crews do. However, the only kool-aide being drunk is kindness and good taste. Plus, they’ll happily dish out other must-see joints if you ask.
We did drive back through Mudgee, but sadly it livens up on Wed night and Thursday morning, so we’ll have to be back.
