Dubbo Zoofari

We have frequently heard good reports about the Taronga Western Plains Zoo at Dubbo, and in particular the fun to be had staying overnight surrounded by big African animals.

So grand-daughter Aelie flew up from Melbourne, and we loaded up the Tesla for a road-trip to the zoo, approximately 900 km away. We stopped overnight in Armidale.

It takes a bit more planning with an EV when you move inland from the main highway.

Bridge over the Clarence River

Canola in flower

Roos at the University of New England in Armidale

Joey

Painted grain silos at Dunedoo

Scene from the deck of our glamping tent

Off the deck

Aelie

Exploring the zoo in a buggy

Lioness

Cheetah

A rare 'Bongo'

Eland

Rhinos outside our tent at dawn

Blackbuck

Scimitar-horned oryx

A dazzle of zebras

Camels

Tasmanian devil

Galápagos tortoise

Meerkat

Elephant bath-time

Peacock

Noisy miner

Eastern rosella

Emu

Native violet

The Pyramid at Girraween National Park

George & Aelie climbing The Pyramid

Aelie driving the Razorback

 

Swell Sculpture Festival 2025

A good collection of sculptures this year. Because of the beach erosion caused by Cyclone Alfred in March 2025, the sculptures were shown on the foreshore, but not also on the beach.

Bathers by Phillip Piperides

Unbridled Freedom by Colleen Lavender

Dream Rider by Michael Brown

Life Tower by DerbyCross

The Net by Betty Chamberlain, Walter Holt and Josh Scott-Jouir

Evolution by Jina Lee

The Shanty Men by Monte Lupo Arts

Daydream by Claudia Hickel

Adrift by Bill Dorman

Tactile Conversations by Claire Badenoch

Big by House of Lamby

Beach Ball Spider by Drew McDonald

Tree of Life by Angus Wilson

Snake in the Wood by John Nesirky

Hollidaying by Christopher Trotter

Mystic Passage by Mieke van den Berg

Roll Models by Chainsaw Newton

Eye Spy by Jeff Raglus

Stories to the Wind by Andrea Castiglione 

Sand Soldiers by Joanne Adler

Global Tension by Alex Polo

Global Tension

Friends by Anna Bonshek

What Doesn’t Kill You, Mutates and Tries Again. Renee Coombe and Amanda Stuart

Black Cockatoo by Al Phemister

Master of Peace by Jai Hackl

Verdant Deployment by Frederick Beel

Of Sowing and Reaping by Nadine Schmoll

No Colour in War by Emryn Ingram-Shute

No Colour in War

What Lies Beneath by Andre Braun

Imagined by Nicholas Tossmann