Today we had planned to go to the
Werribee Open Range Zoo. After getting off to a late start and not leaving the house until 11am, we decided against driving across the other side of Melbourne only to spend a couple of hours at the zoo and turn around and have 2 or 3 grumpy kids in the car for the ride home.
So we headed to
Healesville Sanctuary (which is much closer) and stopped in the Healesville village and monthly markets on the way.
The sanctuary already has a platypus enclosure, but with the sponsorship of BHP they have built a new platypussary with the express purpose of increasing the ability and (hopefully) success of breeding in captivity.
There are his and her nests and ponds as well as a special nesting box for her. It's a joint venture between
Taronga Zoo and Healesville Sanctuary and promises to be very exciting.
With the sanctuary only housing Australian native animals, it's great to see these animals in such a lovely environment.
There are numerous aviaries housing a huge array of birds from black cockatoos and helmeted honeyeaters to lyrebirds and even an albino kookaburra. This lyrebird was going through its repertoire when we visited it this afternoon.
These birds are known for their mimicking and no wonder. And of course, the better looking of the species is male. The females are much plainer.
So, in two weeks time we plan to get an early start and get to Werribee before we head to Sydney for the school holidays. It's great being a FOTZ member (Friends Of The Zoo). Karen and the boys might even take a trip to Taronga while Sydney.
Feel free to leave a comment below and let us know what you've been up to.
