Three zoos in six weeks

As we stood in the queue at Healesville Sanctuary we made an on-the-spot decision to buy not just a family ticket, but a family membership to Zoos Victoria.

This means we can go to any of the three zoos, at any time, however many times we like, within the next year. A quick calculation told us it would pay for itself if we made even one visit to each zoo, but we hoped it might encourage us to visit them more often than that.

Which looks likely. We've now visited each zoo within the last six weeks. (Note: this is not an ad for Zoos Victoria, nor is it a sponsored post, and I have not received anything for free here. It's purely a fun show-and-tell of our days out at awesome places.)

Healesville Sanctuary

Just before baby Iris was born, I had a burst of energy. I started doing mad things like going for long, hilly walks and big outings that wore me out - I was, plain and simple, sick of resting and completely over thinking about when this baby would arrive. (And let THAT be a warning to anyone wishing for such things to hurry along!)

So it was that six weeks ago, exactly one week before Iris was born, we found ourselves at Healesville Sanctuary - the closest of Melbourne's three zoos to where we live. Here they have a focus on native animals, some of which you can get up pretty close to.

The birds of prey show is one of the most popular things here

Tassie Devil!

This was our clear favourite - although it didn't help in my efforts to be
distracted from baby thoughts!

Werribee Open Range Zoo

Steve took Abbey here when baby Iris was one week old, as a way of having some special time with her while I was busy with the newest member of the family.

They went for 'Toddler Tuesday' - and were a little disappointed, as we'd seen it advertised as the time kids get to feed the giraffes, but they've changed it to a kid-themed safari bus (with songs and things). But they enjoyed their day nonetheless.

Abbey reported to me that the giraffes were her favourite

Melbourne Zoo

My memories of visiting this zoo as a kid are always coupled with a feeling of exhaustion. Because when you paid the entry fee you made the most of it - it was always a hugely full day trying to see everything. Quick! Back we go because we missed the bears! Oh no! We didn't see the elephants and they're way over the other side - let's go! Exhausting.

We visited this weekend and it was the best visit I've ever had. We chose a few animals we wanted to see, and were able to spend some time talking about those animals with Abbey. I spent time relaxing in the gardens with baby Iris as I'd recently been sick and wasn't up to walking too much. We all had a leisurely picnic lunch together on the grass, followed by a play in the new children's area.

All in the knowledge that we'll come back again soon and see some more things. It was so great - the Melbourne Zoo is a beautiful place and it was nice to be able to enjoy that.

The butterfly house is always popular

The elephants in Melbourne are pretty fancy. Oh wait...

The elephants are always my favourite

And they had this extra gorgeous new baby on show the day we were there...