On the way to Taronga Western Plains Zoo in Dubbo, New South Wales, the police was blocking the road. When opening the window Amelia started the conversation with a for Australians usual “How do you do?”. “Not too bad …” the policeman responded before telling us that if we only go to the Zoo we could still go ahead.
Although it was not a very deep conversation of course, I very much enjoyed the exchange of polite words and interest in the other person. It occurred to me that I never have experienced something similar in Austria. Neither would I ever come up with the idea of asking in such a situation. I very much liked it.
About the wildlife park: taking the bike to discover the animals in huge areas roaming (almost) freely around, combined with very informative animal talks it was a great experience. Happy the hippo showed off with his big teeth during a spray of high pressure water in his mouth (which it enjoyed very much). The tiger demonstrated its skills on climbing a 5 meter pole to get some kangaroo meat and also seeing a herd of giraffes during feeding time was very impressive.
I assume due to constraints of space you wouldn’t find a similar setup in Europe. So if you like zoos and you are coming to Down Under it is definitely worth a visit. Furthermore, there are also some great people living here 😉