August 24: Coonabarabran to Dubbo
Left our 5 star accommodation – which had a beautifully decorated water tank, for our 2 hour trip to Dubbo.
Slight delay in Coonabarabran while we waited more than 30 minutes to order and collect coffee – a necessary companion for our driver Les.
Uneventful drive to Dubbo where we found the other two members of our group, Jim and Robyn.
After a short sojourn in the visitors centre, 7 of our group took to the bicycles and Sara opted for a golf cart (given that she can’t ride a bike to save her life)
After about an hour into the zoo excursion, Jim got swooped on by a magpie and spent the rest of the afternoon in the cart with Sara. James and Julie were also swooped upon, and it all happened near the waterhole ( a place we had stopped for much needed coffee).
Zoo was not very busy so we had easy access to all of the animals who deigned to appear in the afternoon ( main feeding time is in the morning). Here’s a sample.
Hipppotamus, meerkat, baby lion, Tasmanian devil, one horned rhinosaurus, black buck, bongo, ring tailed lemur, ostriches, and a takhi.
Arrived at Savannah cabins which are just outside the zoo. In fact you can walk to the fence and see the rhinos. Celebrated our arrival with some wine and nuts. Funnily enough, Chris levetts nieces are staying in the same complex.
We are staying in 2 cabins, which are side by side. Les, Sally, James and Julie in one; Jim, Robyn, Sara and Betsy in the other. Each cabin had been allocated a dinner hamper, so when we convened for a shared dinner, it was quite a logistical challenge. We needed the right number of chairs, cutlery and food to feed 8 people in one cabin.
Here’s Julie and Sally working out how to turn the oven on. It was a good idea to have Robyn read the instructions to them first but it still needed a concerted kneeling effort. (This didn’t interest James in the slightest)
Meanwhile Les was in charge of the sausages with Betsy’s help, while James, Robyn and Jim sat in the stalls and waited patiently.
Amazingly, dinner turned out to be pretty good….
