Aug 16, 2008

Featherdale WILDlife Park

This past week we finally had the motivation to go out and do and see some of the things we have been really excited for locally. We had so much fun with Dave and Kendree. The first stop on our trip was Featherdale Wildlife park, located just 15 short km's from our house.

It was GREAT! Unlike a zoo, there are several places in the Park that have animals OUT of their cages just wandering around. Typically the animals are native to Australia, so there were Wallaby's, Kangas, Wombats, Kookaburras, Koalas, Dingos... the usual. There were many other interesting animals I had never seen or heard of before as well.

This is us FREAKING-out at the one little baby wallaby as we came through the door. Little did we know there would be PLENTY more where they came from! They are so cute! Yes, Gabe does think Business Casual is appropriate ZOO attire.

I wish we had a better pic of this goose! It had a tiny LIME green beak and MASSIVE black feet

Besides the goat story coming up, I probably laughed the hardest at this juncture in our journey. We arrived at a place where there were tons of little wallabys and kangroos running around. You could buy these ice cream cones and fill them with food to feed the little guys. What luck! Laine and I were having the time of our lives feeding them, at least until the obnoxious emus would come from no where and snatch the food. It was very scary! Please enjoy the following montage I have prepared:

Laine, peacefully enjoying feeding the kangaroo

Oh, what is that coming up behind her. An emu. At this point she suspects nothing. Notice the crowd who came to see the show. There were many more on the other side where I was taking the shot. This actually was like the 5th time we'd put her through this. Girls gotta learn.

Wait for it, wait for it... Here he comes, she is about to discover the large bird, 3 times her size, pecking at her hand.

She peers around to see him, throws the cone, and runs away screaming.

Laine discovered she likes her birds muli-colored and behind a cage.

This was the most fascinating creature we saw! Isn't he amazing! And definetely the most adorable!

Next Montage:

"Oh, sweet little goat. Hello!" Isn't he cute!?

"Wait a minute, get out of there! Mom! He's eatin da stroller!"

This was followed by some SERIOUS finger wagging at the goat, of which I am extremely disappointed we didn't get on film. The goat didn't like being bossed around. He SERIOUSLY backed up and came running and RAMMED Laine! Also of which I am extremely disappointed we didn't get. Since she wasn't hurt, it was one of the funniest things I have ever seen in my life. It was like circa 1925 when in Heidi of the move "Heidi" gets rammed by the goat as she bends over, and is sent sailing like a sack of flour. Good times.

Not sure why I thought Gabey would want to ride the goat after what he just witnessed, but it was worth a try!

We made it through, and everyone is still smiling! Cheers!

15 comments:

Englishfam said...

Okay I seriously totally pictured Laine as being like Heidi before you had even mentioned it. I loved that movie when I was little!! That is hilarious. I really wish you would have got that on camera, dang...

Gaengy said...

Looks like such fun! Sorry Laine got rammed! Loved the goat getting in the stroller! I still laugh at the videos of the kids riding kujo at Christmas! And of course the new screen saver of Gabes naughty eyes brings a smile and laugh to my face everytime!!

Rachel Holloway said...

SO FUNNY! :) And you DEFINITELY should have gotten all those missed shots. Those would have make for some SERIOUSLY GOOD laughs! :)

Oh, and Gabe's attire was the first thing I noticed when I saw your post...WOW...a small child in a suit jacket at the zoo...I am lucky to get that at church!

Jenny G said...

Can you please come to the zoo with us? You certainly attract a lot of fun:)

Stacey Lau said...

What a fun place for kids. Maya would LOVE that. You look so pretty in those pics Nat, seriously. Your whole clan is very fashionable. And I'm glad you think my big sunglasses are ok ;)

Kate said...

Ok, ok, I don't know where to start on this one. I am seriously sitting here laughing all alone to myself:
-Love the business casual
-Love Laine getting rammed by the goat.
-Love the Heidi shoutout

Loves!

The Andersen's said...

Nat you are just too funny! I really do love gabes buisiness casual, that part of heidi is possibly the only reason I ever watched that movie! I was laughing so hard at that! Poor laine but hey she can look on the bright side of things... atleast everyone else got a good laugh about it! I just love the hilarious posts!

Sals said...

this totally made me laugh!! The goat was hilarious! The kids love going there!

Kristine L. said...

Oh man where do I even start? I love that weird bird thing coming up to eat some food out of her hand like it was normal. I love that the zoo actually thought it was normal to let the large bird wander around. I LOVE that Laine got rammed by a goat. You know tha tis my favorite part of Heidi... pretty sure I would rewind that part over and over and over again.. and then again in slow motion. So picturing someone I know makes it all the better. Too funny. Too bad you didn't get pictures so you could show her later. I guess she will just have to rely on her own memory for that one. So funny.

Kari said...

You are so funny!!! I love reading your blog because there's always something silly that happens to you guys!

Allison and Noah Riley said...

Hilarious! I loved the photo montage of the emu. :) I wish we had some evidence of a classic Laine scared out of her wits face!

Nicole said...

I'm jelous Dave and Kendree got to go over there! I knew Dave was there, but I didn't know Kendree was joining him. How fun! I want to come visit! How much does it cost these days?

Gaengy said...

Fun stuff. There are tons of clips of people getting rammed by goats on youtube. You could easily fill an afternoon. Also try google search on goat trauma statistics. There is a pretty good wesite dedicated to people that were traumatized at petting zoos, and never got over it. Dad out

Emilee said...

Looks like you guys had a great time, I love the pictures you took and your little family is soooo cute!

Ashleigh said...

First, I'm so glad you got a stroller made for 2 (I think it was a previous post I can't remember, but it's still good to see in a picture). Second, coolest zoo ever. Our only similar experience is the Sugarhouse Duck park where the geese are a little "agressive" which Addison ends up crying about everytime and Olivia sees no problem. Anyway, looks like fun! Laine is getting really tall!

 
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