Sunday, November 13, 2005

A day at the Zoo...

Yesterday we went to the Melbourne Zoo... M had wanted to do this in lieu of her birthday which was last weekend. She and D both had exams last week and were both madly studying so they didn't really have a lot of time for celebrating... We had a 'quick' family dinner on Monday night as that was her actual birthday - so we did the cake and pressies thing then...
Yesterday was just lovely - we all went - E - my youngest daughter, K - my ex-husband, P and I and of course M and D. We spent the first couple of hours cruising the animals - watching the lions been fed, searching for the tiger which was sitting up near the bamboo looking very bored at the passing parade, marvelled at the platypus in its twilight world, laughed at the meerkats as they lolled about on each other in the sun. K, P and I had an experience with one of the gibbon monkeys - their enclosure is on a elevated board walk and the 'human animals' can view the gibbons antics through a glass window... One of the gibbons swung up to the glass where we were standing and for some minutes eyed us off with intent - I wondered what was going through that little brain of hers... Those beautiful brown eyes seem to have an inner wisdom in them as they searched our faces - just for a moment I felt this connection with this little creature - a fragility, a tenderness and definitely a sense of oneness... I was almost inclined to put my hand to the glass to see if she would put hers up too - only I was afraid that the movement might frighten her... Other people who were watching also noticed this little interaction we were having with her... She was interrupted on her side when one of the other gibbons joined her - the spell was broken and she swung off... Its moments like that which are a gift and make life special... I believe we sadly underestimate these 'wild' creatures and by doing so miss out on a lot... Prior to this we had stood watching a large male gorilla who (and I am using 'who' deliberately here!!) had the most p***ed expression on his face - like "I am having a very, very bad day - and no, I don't want to talk to ANYONE!!!!" - we all did laugh... If we were to know - these primates must get weary of the 'paying public' - like "Do I have to do it ALL again today"... I wonder if they all sigh with relief when the gate swing close for the night... After lunch on the lawn we resumed the 'amble' and visited the elephant walk, the butterfly house, pymgy hippo and giraffes... By then we were weary and 'all zooed out'...
It was a lovely family day and one we must do again in some form... I am very fortunate in as much as P, my partner and K - my ex husband get on extremely well - it makes family do's so much easier and tension free... It is a credit to both of them and I appreciate both of them for the 'hurdles' it took to accomplish this relationship... I count my blessings that I have a good friend in my ex husband and a loving and caring man who is my partner... Thank you to you both - you make my life special...
Lots of photos were taken and if there are some reasonable ones I will post here... We have an 'old fashioned' camera so will have to wait until the film is finished...
I have tried to catch up with the comments which you have left over the last couple of days... I hope I haven't missed anyone out - it was not intentional if I have... I would like you to know how much I appreciate the comments which you take the time to leave... So to all of you - thank you...

2 comments:

Gina E. said...

Ken and I love the zoo too, Sharon. After your operation and full recovery (all fingers crossed), how about we all go out there together one day? Possibly not until next year now, with Xmas coming on (not that it makes much difference to us - life goes on regardless of Xmas, except this year there will be much less money spent...)

Suse said...

Lovely post. We go to the zoo often with our boys, it's a favourite place.

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