lions and tigers and bears oh my...

I'm tired... I'm vaguely sunburnt (which I shouldn't be, because I was wearing sunscreen)... I have a heat headache...

But I had a good day...

As you can probably guess by the title of the post, and the photo of the nice zoo keeper (mmmm... dreadlocks) and his macaw buddy, Ma and I went to the Adelaide Zoo today. We went partially because we've been saying we should go for a while now, and partially so we could see the gorillas they have "on loan" from Taronga Zoo before they head off to, I think, Holland sometime next month.

Plus, as I mentioned last Monday we managed to get passes letting us in at children's prices (almost half price) which was a bonus.

It's been a long day though... I was up by 6:30 this morning (stupid body clock responding to sunshine... grrr), and was dressed and ready to go by around 7... Ma was here by 7:30-ish and we were out of the house and at the supermarket by around 8 or so...

Granted we only hit the Zoo by around 10:30...

I took both my digital and SLR camera... I must have looked like a total tool on a couple of occasions... film camera with my mega-zoom lens strung around my neck, but also snapping pics with my digital camera too. And on top of that I was carrying my backpack (with the seperate section for my SLR in the base) which had lunch for Ma and I in it.

The two rolls of film I took (70+ shots in all) is in being developed (we dropped it off on the way home), but I won't have any of those shots to share until Monday afternoon. I think there are some good ones though... because I did have my big zoom lens on the camera I got in really, really, really close a few times on various animals... we'll have to see how well those worked out. Hopefully not too much camera shake courtesy of the zoom lens and my shaky hands (never a good thing for a photographer).

It was nice to see the changes they've made (yet again) to the Zoo... they keep improving stuff for the animals and the place just keeps looking better... the only downside is that with much more natural habits for animals like the Sumatran Tigers, you don't always get to see them because they're either hidden in the underbrush or else down the back of the enclosure. The tiger and orangutan enclosures are the newest ones, and really beautiful... although I have to say that the tiger one will be stunning in three or four years when all the plants in there have had a chance to get nice and massive. Plus there might be a better chance of actually spotting said tigers...

What was interesting, although not particularly photogenic, was the "historical display" in what used to be the Elephant House, back when the Zoo had an elephant (I'm sure there's a random photo of me on the wagon it used to pull around the grounds somewhere)... and it showed the way they used to treat the animals, through no fault of the people at the time, but in some cases it was really depressing... like the all concrete lion enclosure, where the only piece of "furniture" was a concrete bench right in the middle... and the poor lion family clustered around it.

It was also nice to see all my favourites... the Red Panda, who I "adopted" and wrote a report on when we spent four days at the Zoo when I was in Year 7... the Squirrel Monkeys, who are just too damn gorgeous, and who I sat with for about three quarters of an hour on a previous visit, just trying to get a good photo of them (unfortunately they're in a new cage now, and the bars are much less conducive to photography... although I did try, so we'll have to see what happens there)... the gorgeous and very old Chilean Flamingo (from memory he's well over 50 or 60 years old, which is possibly why his feathers aren't really that pink anymore... or, as I just read online, it might be because he's not eating enough carotene, which is actually what makes them pink rather than white) who is always good for a photo opportunity, and seemed to be very interested in people today... and last but not least, the Meerkats, who are just adorably cute, and thanks to their position in front of the giraffe enclosure, they're in a perfect spot for some good closeup photos.

And the perving wasn't too bad in a couple of cases either... a few cute boys out with their girlfriends for the day... managed to clandestinely snap a couple of shots of them too... mostly without even looking... hehehe...

Ma made a fatal mistake when we were on her way out, she turned to me and said "Take me out of here before I go back to the Zoo Shop and buy a giraffe"... we'd already stopped off at the shop once on our rounds... it's a nice shop, but hideously overpriced mostly, but you find things in there that you don't really find anywhere else... so of course I then suggested that we go back... I think she wanted me to talk her out of it, but my exact words were "Hi, I don't know if we've met, but I'm an enabler!"... she found a plushie giraffe, and, of all things, a plushie Leafy Sea Dragon... so she got that too... she also got me this gorgeous antelope head statue that was just breathtaking... I think it's an Addax from the horn shape, but I just fell in love with it... unfortunately it's going away for Christmas...

We had a great day though... beautiful weather, interesting outing (much better than the ongoing Cleanfest!), pleasant lunch out in the world...

But after all the sun and the walking and the schlepping of the backpack, I'm just knackered... I need a cool drink and maybe a lie down...

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