a 2-day safari in australia
Yes, you heard us correctly: we went on a safari in Australia! Seeing as our real African safaris had been put on the back burner, we put an alternative safari on the cards.
A five-hour drive north-west of Sydney brought us to a town called Dubbo.
Dubbo is home to Taronga Western Plain Zoo where the wildlife roam freely on the wide open plains. But not entirely without enclosures. There are moats or fences separating visitors from the animals but not to the point where we felt we were visiting a typical zoo.
We had booked a 2-day zoofari package, staying at the Zoofari Lodge.
What we got with the zoofari?
- 1-night accomodation: in canvas lodges (more glamping than camping)
- 2-day zoo admission
- an African-inspired banquet on the first night and breakfast on the following morning: both unbelievably scrumptious
- 3 exclusive guided tours
- complimentary bicycle hire
The 3 exclusive tours included a sunset tour, night tour and a sunrise tour. We were transported around via a mini bus with tours lasting about 1 hour each with approximately 20 people on board. On all three tours, we got relatively close to the animals and for some, we were able to feed them. It was unreal to see a hippo so active at night, a cheetah stalking and who would’ve thought we would’ve met a bongo from Congo! (And no, it wasn’t a drum…)
The tour guides were very informative and provided reminders as to the importance of conservation. Incredible hearing how many rhinos in the wild were being killed in a day and how habitat destruction and mining are affecting the numbers of animals in the wild!
We highly recommend if anyone is to head out to Dubbo, the zoofari overnight stay is worth it. After checking out of the lodge, we still had admission to the zoo itself. Hiring bikes is complimentary with the package but get there early for the golf buggies. They get snapped up very quickly. The other way to get around is to drive your own car through the zoo. There are parking spots along the way where you can stop and walk to see the animals.
Dubbo Zoo has been on our family’s to-do for so many years and finally this was the year to tick it off our list 🙂
How much did it cost?
It’s calculated based on how many people per cabin. So for us, two monkeys, it cost us $658 for the package, which when we itemised what we were getting, it actually works out quite reasonable for 2 people.
There is more to see than just the zoo at Dubbo but we didn’t have the time as we only had a weekend here. Next time, we will be sure to make it a leisurely drive out and back with a few stops to explore things along the way.
Share this:
did we miss a bullet? literally, quite possibly
When we saw today’s Daily Prompt: Close Call, we knew we had to write about two experiences that happened to us while travelling, as told by Mrs WiseMonkey.
Have you ever felt a feeling or an inkling that you couldn’t quite explain? Then it finally dawns on you that it was your instincts all along & that some greater being out there is looking out for you. Bet I am making absolutely NO sense whatsoever at this point but please bear with me for a few more paragraphs before running away.
Let’s retell a story so you know where this post has come from.
Back in the early months of 2013, we were both dead-set on going to Africa. A safari through Kenya and Tanzania is something we’ve always dreamed about and so we booked it. As the weeks and months rolled on, we got our vaccinations, got prescriptions for malaria tablets, even got as far as applying for our visas.
However, our visas got knocked back because we had applied too far in advance. It needed to be within 3 months of leaving. Maybe that was the turning point. Come mid-June, a few weeks out from when we needed to pay off the balance for the trip, I become agitated about going to Africa. There is no rhyme or reason, i just keep getting this feeling of a lack of enthusiasm to go to Africa – something I’ve never felt about any holiday before. So I have a conversation with hubby that goes a little something like this:
Me: Are you sure we want to go Africa? We still have time to change our minds.
Him: What makes you say that?
Me: I’m not sure. I’m just checking that this is really what we want to do. The balance for Africa is due next week, and we just need to be sure that’s where we want to go.
Him: Well, where would we go instead?
Me: I dunno. There’s plenty of other places we want to see.
Him: Ok, well, let’s have a think and then decide….
Me: Well, we need to decide by next week
Similar conversations ensues each day for another 2-3 days, and for some reason, I recall feeling like a nag but I also remember feeling we urgently need to make a decision. So we settled on Turkey.
I thought nothing more of it until September 21, 2013 – when we were meant to be in Nairobi, we were in Istanbul instead, not realising what was happening in Nairobi. Militants had stormed a mall and were holding hostages and killing people indiscriminately. When I found out about this 3 days later while Skyping my family, I got goosebumps and I wanted to cry! I actually want to cry now while I write this 2 months on. The automatic questions that flew through our heads when we had heard this: Could we have been at that mall? Would we have been lucky to escape or possibly been one of the victims? Would our holiday have been tainted by being in a country where so much pain had just been caused? Would we feel safe anymore or want to jump on the next flight back home?
So many questions where we would never know the answers. The only thing we know is that we went with my instinct to change our plans and were now safe! Close Call Number 1.
You see, this story may seem coincidental or pure luck but this isn’t the first time something like this has happened.
Beginning of this year, when we were flying back from Orlando, we had a massive layover in Los Angeles. We normally get a room at Hotel Hacienda to freshen up until our flight home. This time we had booked a hotel at Santa Monica to spend some time by the nicer part of town and we were really looking forward to going there. It had been 4 years since we were last there and wanted to just enjoy the day.
However, as our flight was preparing to take-off at Orlando airport, I turned to hubby and said,
You know what? I actually don’t feel like going to Santa Monica today.I don’t know why but I would prefer if we just go to Hotel Hacienda near LAX like we always do and just chill out. I know we’ve already paid for Santa Monica but to justify paying for another hotel, it will cost us the same to catch a cab to and from the airport to Santa Monica anyway. So technically we break even.
That seemed a reasonable explanation to hubby so he agreed.
It was that evening as we turned on the TV in the hotel to watch the news that we found out that there was an armed robbery in Santa Monica and there were police car chases through the streets with 2 gunmen: with one allegedly loose on foot by then. When we looked up on google maps where this was all happening, it was one street away from the hotel we would’ve been staying at. Hubby turned and looked at me and dropped the remote control he was holding. I was stunned myself. Close Call Number 2.
Share this:
48 hours in dubai: this is what we did (part 2)
This post has taken us much longer to write than we had planned. So recapping, day 1 of our time in Dubai was spent learning about its history and visiting Old Dubai! And now, day 2 was to visit what Dubai has turned into!
We had opted to try a Hop On Hop Off Big Bus tour. We have never done this type of exploration of any city during the 9 years we have travelled. And the experience made us feel a little touristy. Here we were sitting in a double decker bus with our head phones plugged in, listening to English commentary (with choice of 9 other languages). Dubai is really spread out so to see what we thought we should see, we figured this would be the quickest and easiest way. Plus, we had heard advice this was a good way to do it. We don’t disagree.
Included with one ticket (220 Dirham for 24 hours or 295 Dirham for 48 hours), there were two routes: a red one and a blue one. The blue route would take us to all the big malls, famous hotels and man-made islands that we so often hear about. We picked this route first as the red one visited a lot of places we had seen the day before. There was also the option of upgrading to a “combo” tour which was a day and night ticket (total = 295 Dirham) which included a panoramic night tour with a Sound & LIght show at Wafi. We chose this option as we figured it would be a nice way to spend our last night.
As we were staying right by Burjuman Mall, this is where we picked up the Big Bus. The blue route went something like this:
Burjuman > Jumeirah Mosque > Mercato > Jumeirah Beack Park > Jumeirah Public Beach > Atlantis on the Palm > Souk Madinat Jumeirah > Mall of the Emirates > The Dubai Mall > Wafi > Burjuman
The stops in “blue” were where we visited on this trip. Yes, two malls and that was our day gone. But before you judge us for “just shopping” all day. We didn’t actually get to much of that at all. The air-conditioned malls are great refuge from the searing heat outside and that is, in fact, their purpose… along with being a place of entertainment.
In the Mall of the Emirates, we had lunch at a restaurant overlooking the indoor ski slopes. We spent a lot of time people-watching and feeling it was all too surreal to be witnessing indoor ski slopes. Then we just kept walking around and around the mall, quite aimlessly, until we finally decided that we needed to get OUT so we could move onto the next stop, The Dubai Mall. Now, this was where we lost A LOT of time.
Dubai Mall has the Burj Khalifa Observation Deck, Olympic-Size Ice Rink, Dubai Aquarium, The Dubai Fountain and a Gold Souk. We made a bee-line to see the aquarium (tickets purchased through the Big Bus operators) however upon entering the mall, we were welcomed with such icy cold air that we had to purchase ourselves a sweater each. How utterly ridiculous that we were in the desert and needed a jumper to escape the cold of the mall!! We are embarrassed to even confess that.
Anyway, the admission ticket gives access to two attractions: the aquarium and the Underwater Zoo. Not the best aquarium or wildlife park we’ve visited but pretty cool that they’re within a mall.
Before we knew it, we needed to head back to the hotel. Drop off our shopping, grab some dinner before we picked up the night city tour.
Dubai looks pretty impressive of a night. The 15 minute sound & light show at Wafi was a little anti-climatic though. The night city tour definitely showed us Dubai in a different light (no pun intended) and was accompanied with live commentary, therefore no headphones needed – YAY! Here are a few photos of the night.
We had toyed with the idea to do the 4WD sand dune safari and desert dinner for one of our nights here but the temperature was just too hot, we couldn’t imagine being outdoors for any longer than we had to plus we ran out of nights! Guess one day we will have to try that….either back here in Dubai or in another Middle-Eastern country!
Overall, Dubai was NOT our cup of tea. It is not a place we look for when we travel. Yes, there is great hospitality and lots of luxury. And yes, there are shops. And yes, the city probably holds the most world records for the tallest building or most expensive cocktail but that wasn’t enough to win us over. If it wasn’t for Old Dubai, we probably wouldn’t have enjoyed our 3 night stay.
Share this:
weekly photo challenge: unexpected
We haven’t written much lately – time simply gets away and then here we are at the weekly photo challenge again. But after today, we have made a promise that we WILL complete our post about Day 2 in Dubai 🙂
In the meantime, the word this week is: UNEXPECTED
During our travels, we always experience or see something unexpected: sometimes good, and sometimes not so good. But unexpected also doesn’t necessarily need to fall into either of those categories.
Back in 2006, Germany was the host of the Football World Cup. We were driving through the Romantic Road in Germany several months after the World Cup had ended. What Mr WiseMonkey saw in the male bathroom was completely unexpected. He had to run back out and ask Mrs WiseMonkey for the camera to capture this unexpected sight….
This is what he saw…
And if you “play” correctly, you can score a GOOOOOOOOALLLLLLLLL!
For more “unexpected” photos: see The Daily Post
wise monkeys abroad 