Review: A Day at Taronga Western Plains Zoo

Years ago, I wrote a review of one of my twins earliest visits to Taronga Zoo. They have been to the zoo dozens of times since, and have seen all of the animals there.

So last November, we took a road trip to Dubbo to visit Taronga Western Plains. The following is a review of some of the experiences from the trip!



Kangaroos
It takes a long time to drive to Dubbo. We left Friday mid-morning, stopped for a late lunch at Katoomba - where sushi 50kms from the ocean was a good choice by R and J! - then stopped again at Orange at an old-fashioned milk bar. By the time we approached Dubbo it was dusk, and we were actually staying just outside Dubbo at a cabin site. My wife was driving, and as the road was getting increasingly dark and secluded, she requested something perfectly reasonable.

"Can you google, what do you do if a kangaroo hits your windscreen?"

I'm pretty good at calibrating searches, and the google algorithm is generally amazing/creepy, but three months later, I have not been able to find an acceptable answer to this very specific question.

Just to clarify, we will all be seriously injured, or the brand new car will be a write-off, were not acceptable answers.

Rating: **1/2
We did actually see a couple of kangaroos on the way, but fortuntely none made contact with our vehicle, so my Google game was not blamed for anything.


Zebras and Giraffes
The last time I went to Dubbo was about 24 years earlier. A lot had changed from my recollection. Some of the changes were real - like there is definitely not an all-you-can-eat KFC in town anymore, which was a highlight of my earlier 1994 visit. But other changes were in my imagination. Like my recollection of the zoo was a lot of big spaces with animals off in the distance.

I was wrong.

There are a lot of big spaces, but these are wide open... like plains or something... Western Plains. 

The result is that even if the animals are farther away, you much better views of them than at the Sydney zoo. Except for the lions, which were asleep hiding in the shade somewhere. Lousy kings of the jungle, thinking they're too good for the rest of us!

And you also get stuff you don't see at other zoos (at least in Australia), like zebras and giraffes, together at last!

L to R: zebra, giraffe, zebra, zebra. No photoshop!

Rating: ****
Pretty rad seeing 50% of a Madagascar crew reunited.


Hippos
You can imagine my devastation when, after watching hippos submerged in the water doing nothing for about ten minutes, I turned around to chase after toddler O, only to return seconds later and be told excitedly by R and J that the hippo had got out of the water and done a big poo~!

Yeah, I didn't get photos of the hippos either.

Rating: *
I missed the poop.

Cheetahs
R said, I want to hear the cheetah talk.

I should've realised that what he actually meant was, I want to hear the cheetah talk... for about five seconds, then whine for the rest of the time while my  father is trying to hear all kinds of interesting tidbits about the magnificent animal.

Like here's an amazing fact I learnt: cheetahs are quite fast.

J was convinced he could run between the signposts marking how far a cheetah can go in two seconds, in under two seconds. He could not. What a loser.

Also, the cheetahs had baby cheetahs and it was adorable watching them devour some raw chicken like the vicious little carnivores they are.

Waiting for a feed

Rating: ****1/2

Who doesn't like chicken?

Tigers

In the middle of the tiger talk, toddler O made a grab for the bucket filled with kangaroo tail that the zookeepers planned to feed the tigers. Just to be clear - this was not just raw, but the fur was still on, and it was covered in flies.

R then also decided he needed to go the toilet, and of course, it was immediately after we'd passed a toilet and suggested he should probably go. So he did a 'bush wee' instead.

I ask you, who are the real animals here?

"Look at these wild beasts on the other side of the moat"

Rating: ****
Hot take: the tigers at Sydney Taronga zoo suck, as it's more an exhibit on the evils of palm oil. And don't get me wrong, palm oil is bad, but I want to see a tiger. Not a bunch of bushes where there is probably a tiger hiding. So this was good exhibit, because I actually saw tigers.


Flies
A visitor to Dubbo zoo may proclaim that the tigers or rhinos are the main attraction, but honestly, it's the flies. In my 36 years, I don't think I've ever swallowed a fly. I swallowed two in one day at Dubbo zoo.

Rating: *****
Two flies in one day - hard to argue with that accuracy.