Day 153 Karrinyup, (Perth Zoo),Perth, WA

HAPPY FATHERS DAY to all the should've been and those that are lucky enough to be Fathers and also thinking of those fathers who have passed on. My love to you all.

Although both Philip and I woke up with head colds we decided to forge on to the Perth Zoo for the morning.  Perth Zoo is not a large zoo and you can easily cover the whole area in less than three hours.  Having said that though it is quite amazing they can fit in as many creatures as they do.  We arrived around 9.30 and stayed until midday and that was ample time to see what we wanted to see.

 Being Fathers Day all the dad's had free entry to the zoo so as you can imagine it was packed.  Neither Philip nor I deal well with crowds these days so we did find it a little claustrophobic in certain areas but whenever we saw a crowd we veered in a different direction.  The zoo is set out in sections, as are most zoos, so we were able to walk through African Savannah, Amazonia, Nocturnal House, Primate Trail, Asian Rainforest, Australian Bushwalk, Australian Wetlands and Reptile Encounter.  The majority of the animals are in large enclosures and it was interesting to walk past some of the very early zoo "caves" where animals were kept.  Thank goodness those days are well behind us and animals are no longer caged.

The two most moving parts of the zoo where walking down Tricia Memorial Walk that pays tribute to Tricia the Asian Elephant who was born in 1957 and arrived on the docks of Fremantle in 1963 and who was the matriarch of Perth Zoo and lived to be one of the oldest elephants in the world until her death in July this year.  There is only one elephant at a time in the compound because elephants "grieve" their matriarch and need time away from the public.  The one that was in the enclosure seemed distressed.

The other moving thing was the Sun Bears.  They never stop pacing but when you read their story you understand why they are restless. They were "rescue" bears.  One was chained to a pole outside a restaurant in Cambodia ready to be eaten and the other was a household "pet" that also lived its life chained up.  The zoo is trying very hard to reassure these beautiful creatures that life can be kind.

I loved finding the Tree Kangaroo enclosure.  We have tried over the years to spot these animals in the wild, most particularly in the Atherton Tablelands of North Queensland, but they are very hard to spot in the wild.

The Painted African Dogs are also an amazing creature.  They are the one of the fastest creatures on the planet and very successful at hunting as they hunt in large packs. I found it hard to photograph them because as I said they are very fast!

Philip loves the Meerkats so I was very happy that we found their enclosure.  They really are cute little creatures and I love the way they sit up and pay attention as soon as they hear something that is a little different. As we stood by their enclosure a plane flew overhead and they all stopped and listened.

I loved walking around the zoo.  I know that some people dislike them but how else do we get to see such an amazing variety of creatures in the one area if not for zoos.  There were lots of families at the zoo today and to watch the faces and reactions of the kid as they found different animals makes me think zoos are going to be with us for a very long time.