A quick trip to the Zoo

The first Sunday of the school holidays dawned clear and gorgeous.  It really was one of those perfect winter's days that scream at you to get outside and enjoy it.  We answered the call.

We were still in lazy weekend, holiday mode so we didn't want to go to far.  The unanimous decision was to go to the zoo.  We haven't been in about 6 months which is a bit unlike us and needed to renew our annual passes first but they are so worth it if you live only a few kilometres away like we do.

This visit wasn't about seeing all the animals which may seem a bit odd considering it is a zoo.  Having said that, you can't go anywhere without seeing animals of some kind and I couldn't walk past one of the koala enclosures without taking the next photo.  It cracked me up.

It looks like how I'm feeling of a morning these school holidays.  (Too much cricket and Wimbledon is on which means ALL night here Downunder).

What we really came to the zoo for was the obstacle course which they have had over the winter school holidays for the last 3 to 4 years.

The kids love climbing, sliding, going under and going through all the inflatable sections of the course.

I love the fact that they're wearing themselves out while I find a nice shady spot, spread out the picnic blanket and crochet away for awhile.

Since we were last here they've added a big bouncing pillow so the kids had to try that out for a bit as well.

Then it was time to enjoy an ice-cream while watching the water fountains which no one was in at the time as it was a bit too chilly.  Once the weather warms up it gets really popular as you'll see from one of our other visits in this post.

Another thing I love about the zoo is the water stations.  There are a few of them around the site and you can refill your water bottles with cold water for free.

It's the little things like this that can help families save a bit as we know how expensive outings can get, especially when you're on holiday.  Even after running around on a short visit we usually need to fill the water bottles up.

Another thing I love is that there are seats everywhere around the zoo so there's plenty of spots to stop for a bit of a rest.  Lots of them have a carving of an animal on them and the little baby crocodile kept me company while the kids played on the jumping pillow.

It may seem like we were there for ages but in fact it was a little over 2 1/2 hours from when we left home to when we drove back in.  A perfect little afternoon jaunt.

For my new readers who haven't followed me for long, we live only 3 kilometres from Australia Zoo, the home of Steve Irwin the Crocodile Hunter.  We've been coming to the zoo since the kids were babies so they've pretty well grown up going there.

Since the zoo is really spread out, we always purchase an annual pass and rarely stay more than 2 - 3 hours as longer than that can make the kids a bit too tired and cranky.  We usually pick one or two sections that we're going to go to that day, then have a bit of a play in the fun areas before heading home.

If you want to see more of our zoo adventures over the years, click on Australia Zoo section on the side bar or click here.

xx Susan