Dubbo Zoofari Trek - 5-6 August 2023


8th August 2023
By Tim Mifsud
TOCA Members from the ACT, NSW, and QLD met at the Taronga Western Plains Zoo at Dubbo for their Zoofari experience on 5 and 6 August 2023. Some Members arrived a day early and experienced activities at Wellington and Dubbo. A great time had by all. The News Article is written from the perspective of one TOCA member, Tim and Alissa, who took their two daughters on the Zoofari. Photos of the event have been uploaded to the photos page.

Event News by Tim Mifsud

 

Alissa and I left Queanbeyan at about 7am with a packed car and our two daughters Sophie and Molly.
 



We let everyone on the WhatsApp chat know when we left. Due to everyone having different schedules we were not able to travel together but the chat made it feel like it was a group effort. It was actually handy to have some people forging ahead of us and also to be able to advise those to come if any issues along the way. It made the trip more interesting to hear how everyone is going on the chat.

We made it to Cowra in good time but found the 50kw charger had quite a wait so we decided to go for breakfast at the cafe on Kendall.

We also should have gone back and got in line because we could have charged up and then gone straight to Dubbo. In the end we went to the Tesla destination chargers across from McDonalds in Cowra and met some lovely people who had never seen a Tesla before so we talked to them for a while.

 

Then we made our way to Bathurst. This was a rough old road with lots of potholes. Admittedly we did take our time in Bathurst, going for a lap of Mount Panorama (under the speed limit). I showed my family where I lived and went to University and then we went to get a charge at the supercharger. It was busy. We got a spot but it quickly filled up with a line of EVs waiting as this Tesla charger is open to non-Tesla.


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



 

 

 

 

As we left we learned the Tesla charger in Bathurst is a bit rough on fully loaded Model 3 Long Rangers. It scraped on the bottom even going over one wheel at a time. We left there at 1pm.


Next we hit slow going roadworks all the way to Orange. The road to Wellington was slow going as it was rough and full of potholes. For some reason the Tesla routed us around the back lots on the way to Wellington.


We finally made it to Orana Motel in Dubbo by 5pm. I put the car next to Joe and Jen’s on the complimentary chargers at Orana before we walked to dinner at the RSL and met Phillip and Julie there. We had a lovely time getting to know each other there while having dinner. None of us went to the observatory as despite the great weather, tickets had sold out.
 

 

Upon returning from the Caves where we had not a lot of mobile phone service we heard Phil and Julie had spent the morning at the markets and Joe and Jen after going to the Gaol had decided to try the zoo for a morning visit before they both went to a local winery that also doubled as a dumpling house. Apparently the dumplings were delicious. 

 

Unfortunately we weren’t able to meet everyone when they arrived at the Zoofari Lodge and it seemed most had already settled in by the time we arrived at 2.30. We checked in and boy oh boy the scenery had my whole family buzzing as we found our lodgings for the night. 

 

Once we settled in, we all reported for an afternoon on the bus. This is when we met some more of the group. We had a great time checking out some of the animals. The bus tour went late past sun down so we couldn’t get a photo of the crew until Sunday morning before Breakfast. 

 

The bus tours took us back of lot to a range of enclosures where animals are looked after for washing, feeding and breeding away from some of the their daily enclosures where the general public see them. 

 

Our first experience as a group was feeding the giraffes.

 

 

And also visiting the rhino with our guide, bus driver, and barista Trinity. 

 

 

 

 

After the tour we regrouped and got ready and went to dinner where we enjoyed meeting the rest of the group. We were served some delicious delicacy in Camel meat Kofta, marinated crocodile and lamb marinated in roobios tea. 

 

 

Some of us braved the cold and got up early to capture the sunrise from our glamping accommodation  
Sunrise Photo from Norelle:
 
Some of us decided to go on the early 7am bus tour in the fresh air open bus to see the Asian elephants receive their daily wash and clean.
 
We also got to see the big boy White Rhino  
We then gathered for a quick photo of some of us who went on the bus tour and had our Teslas on show at the Zoofari entry.  
After breakfast we dispersed and some started making their way home. We stuck around and went to the zoo for a walk to see some animals we had yet to see like the lemurs, spider monkeys and gibbons.
We got a bit lost big thanks to Molly, we managed to find our way out.
 
We then had enough charge to get all the way home direct from the zoo to Cowra. We were home by 6.30pm having left at 1pm.

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Our avid TOCA photographers took a great record of our beloved zoo inhabitants during their weekend.  Thanks to Norelle Page for the snapshots of her experience, and to Phillip Gower for his contributions (see the photos page for all the photos).  Phillip certainly had some nice photo opportunities on his trek from Queensland, including the Silo Art.

 

Follow the link here to see more photos.

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