Getting Into Young

Finally we are getting closer to Young, via Parkes and Grenfell.

The following pic are from the trip between Dubbo and Young - a distance of around 280 kms.  Tons of pictures, but this is just a selection of some to show the beautiful old buildings and different country..

beautiful old brick homes

flat land with great soil

old converted church

flat scrubby country

I love these old falling down places - what a story they could tell!

More roadworks heading into Young

Tomorrow we visit a haunted house at Junee!!

Part 4 of The Big Trip

I thought that tonight i will finish off our trip around the Dubbo Zoo for you - there will be a few more pictures than usual, but the zoo will be over then!

Don't forget to click on the pictures to make them larger and so you get a good look at them.

here we go:-

Lovely lioness sitting minding her own business and she would not turn around

Beautiful lion standing and looking and didn't want to turn around

I think he turned around at this point to tell us all to be quiet!

and this is why I think the lion wanted us to be quiet! Right next door to him!  No wonder neither of them were interested in us!

Some water buffalo

Bison with baby

Some zebras

And of course I can't finish this  up without some more information about my beloved tigers!

Food for thought.

I do hope that you have enjoyed the pics of the Dubbo Zoo, of course not all the animals are here, if I put them all in we would be here till Christmas almost, so I have selectively culled!

I'll be back tomorrow with the Dubbo to Young leg of our journey

The Big Trip part 3

Still continuing on at the   Dubbo Zoo:

Don't forget to click on the pictures and they will enlarge so that you can see them clearer:-

Here's the Cheetah, having a nice little rest in the sun

The elephants all have logs in their pens, and they pull the bark off with their trunks and eat it - I never knew they did that!

Now to the best of the lot - the tigers

This handsome young tiger is named Satu and he is quite relaxed here, thank you!

This tigers name is Juara, and he is the oldest male tiger at the park.

He weighs in at 150 kgs

Here's me again, feeding him his morning tea - talking away to him like he is a kitten!

So stunningly beautiful up close - just look at the size of those paws!

The tigers are fed 6 days a week and on the seventh day they fast. A lot of the feeding is done by us silly people who pay to do it!!  But it was just so worth it....

The zoo is thinking of breeding Juara next year.

This tigers name is Indah, and she was hand raised  at Alma Park Zoo in Queensland

It is interesting to look at the differences in laws between New South Wales and Queensland - in New South Wales, no keeper is permitted to enter any enclosure with any wild cat.  No hand raising is allowed.

So even though Indah loves the keepers at Dubbo, they cannot pat her or touch her in any way.  She loves the keepers, and rubs herself against the wire  to try and get a pat. She is very affectionate.

Here she is again, lying in the grass in her enclosure behind the scenes.

The big cats get one day a week out of the spotlight so they can relax and feel normal.

Well that is it for tonight - i'll be back tomorrow with more info on our trip.

The Big Trip part 2

Well today is an exciting day for us all, today is about Dubbo!

Of course when I say Dubbo,  I mean Dubbo Zoo!

We spent two nights in Dubbo, travelling to the zoo for the last two days, the Zoo is only just outside the town.  The Dubbo Zoo ( Taronga Western Plains Zoo)   is a part of Taronga Park Zoo in Sydney.  It houses African animals in a natural like setting, and is a breeder of endangered wild species along with Taronga.

Some quick pics from the zoo ( no more than 10 a post,  promise!)

So here we are, at the entrance to the Zoo.

administration and shops and souvenir places (of course!).  

         You can drive your own car around the Zoo, or you can hire bicycles or little cars like golf carts to drive around.  We drove ourselves.

There are lots of walking tracks, and the displays of animals look like they are free on the landscape, it's not until you look closely that you see the wide water traps and wires around all the pens - they have utilized  changes in the level of the ground to contain animals also - it is all very well thought out.

On with the animals!

Some mountain goat things on rocks!

Some mountain goats on the ground

Gorgeous giraffes - they have the most beautiful eyes! Isn't the baby adorable - they are two metres tall at birth!!

Some lovely horned creatures lying around - sorry, but I didn't get everyone's names

If you look really closely at the above picture, you can just see the Hippopotamus swimming in their pool!

One gorgeous rhinoceros bottom!

I reckon the first rhinoceros was practicing for this picture!

Some noisy noisy geese.

That's it, 10 pictures.  Click on them to get a closer look, won't you!

Tomorrow night we travel on for part 3 

The Big Trip Part1

Well, we are finally back home and not yet all unpacked, but that's not about to go anywhere!

I've been sorting through the cameras, and unfortunately I haven't done a real good job of naming places, so I'll do my best with what I've got! i don't want to bore you to tears, so I'll split the trip into bite sized sections, aren't I thoughtful?

Day 1 was Sunday 26th May, when we packed up the vehicle and headed onto the road - well it sounds dramatic!! The scenery getting to Cunninghams Gap from our home is pretty nondescript - I only took this one photo!

We have to travel almost out to Ipswich, then turn left to follow the Cunningham Highway up to the Gap.

*Cunninghams Gap is Cunninghams Gap is a pass over the Great Dividing Range between the Darling Downs and the Fassifern Valley in Queensland, Australia. The Gap is the major route over the Scenic Rim. The Cunningham Highway was built to provide road transport between the two regions.

It is situated in Main Range National Park, between the peaks of Mount Cordeaux and Mount Mitchell. On a clear day the pass forms a distinct break in Main Range's profile as seen from Brisbane.

The highway itself is a scenic drive although steep with an 8 degree grade on the descent.

In 1827, Allan Cunningham set out from the upper Hunter River, to explore west of the Dividing Range, discovering the Darling Downs; returning in 1828 from Brisbane to discover Cunninghams Gap.^[1] He was aware of the economic benefits that a link between the coast and pastoral lands to the west would provide.^[2] Cunningham travelled on the right hand side of the Gap whereas the highway today runs on the lefthand side from Aratula.

I'm always a little bit scared going over the Gap, it is well known for bad accidents where it can be closed for days, but unfortunately, it is the fastest way to get where we want from where we are!

This old truck stop marks the top and has been there for years.

Traveled through Warwick, and on to Goondiwindi, where we joined the Newell Highway

We stopped at Goondiwindi for the night, birthplace of a once very famous racehorse - the Goondiwindi Grey, Gunsynd.

We were up and travelling early the following morning

Day 2 - The sign post says it all!!

Lots of long dead straight driving - not really much to look at and really quite boring...

 We were heading for Dubbo, and in a hurry! More tomorrow!

* Information from Wikipedia.