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Animal Experiences

The Best of Sydney with Kids: Wild Life Sydney Zoo

December 29, 2015 / Animal Experiences, Sydney, Sydney Life / 1 Comment

We somehow picked what was probably the most popular day of the year to visit WILD LIFE Sydney Zoo in Darling Harbour. Cheese has been asking to go to a zoo and I thought this one was a good size to be manageable with a small child, as well as being easy for me to get to.

WILD LIFE Zoo is in a larger complex with SEA LIFE Sydney Aquarium and Madam Tussauds Sydney down in Darling Harbour. I’ve been to the aquarium on many occasions and never had a problem with going straight in, but somehow this was the day that every visitor to Sydney decided they wanted to visit one of these three attractions, so the queues were out of sight.

I would usually buy my tickets online in advance as there is a saving of 30% if you do, but this time I had a voucher for one adult free with one child ticket, so I lined up in the “WILD LIFE Sydney Zoo” line for over an hour to get our tickets. As a side note, the line next to us was for collecting prepaid tickets such as bought online, and it wasn’t any shorter or moving any faster, so apart from the price difference, I don’t know what the advantage of buying the tix in advance was!

After a very, very, very long wait, we finally made it to the entrance. As the ticket desk is now one huge one with all the attractions, there is no counter when you enter the zoo. The whole zoo is stroller-friendly, which is lucky as I had brought mine for the journey and wanted to check it when I arrived, only to find out that there was nowhere at the entrance to check the stroller or large bags etc, so it came with us the entire time.

The zoo is indeed very small. Cheese is now 4.5, and together we saw everything we wanted to see in an hour, including the crocodile feeding show and the sugar glider animal experience.

There are additional options you can pay for such as “Wild Flight”, where you can zoom over the top of the trees in the zoo connected to a harness for an extra $10 (kids have to be age 7 and up), or having your photo taken with a koala (an additional $15). There are wild life talks every half hour or hour from 10:30am-5pm around the zoo which are great for learning more about the native animals.

WILD LIFE Sydney Zoo focuses on Australian animals. This makes complete sense as the area where the zoo is is a bit of a tourist mecca, with visitors who are desperate to meet a koala or pat a kangaroo.

The zoo is designed in sections to mimic Australia’s famous landscapes – the Butterfly Tropics, Wallaby Cliffs, Devils Den, Daintree Rainforest and so on. For a zoo that is almost completely indoors, I though it was designed pretty well, with large enclosures for the animals with plenty of natural light from open roofs. I don’t *love* zoos, so I was relieved to see the animals we saw looked happy and well cared for, including enrichment toys such as in the echidna den.

The first enclosure – and my favourite – was the Butterfly Tropics, where butterflies roam freely and get up close with visitors. One curious creature landed on my hand, and another on Cheese’s head, much to her delight and then terror.

Other highlights included “Topsy” the Tasmanian Devil who looked like he wanted to pounce on us, the snakes and extremely active lizards, “Ringo” the wombat who was taking an adorable snooze when we visited, and “Princess” the cassowary, who appeared as queenly as her name.

In the Night Fall area, with nocturnal animals, I was excited to see a spotted quoll for the first time, and Cheese was delighted to see the ghost bats in flight.

The one exhibit that scared Cheese was Rex, the massive 5 metre crocodile in the Kakadu Gorge section of the zoo. We learned that when crocodiles in the wild reach five metres they are classed as nuisance animals by wildlife protection offers (they like to eat dogs and tourists alike, apparently) and so are often removed for safety. They used to be shot when they got too big, resulting in a massive decrease in large crocodiles in the wild. Rex was captured and taken to a crocodile farm, where he didn’t play very nicely with the other inhabitants (read: tried to eat his female companions), and was lucky to end up at WILD LIFE Zoo instead of being made into a fancy purse.

Cheese’s favourite part of the zoo was the animal encounter with two sugar gliders. One, whose name I’ve forgotten, has been starring in her own animal show for a while, so was very happy to be gently touched by visitors, and show off her jumping skills. The tiny little gliders only weigh 100 grams, and have the softest fur I’ve ever touched.

The last cute animal mention goes to the echidnas, who were very active during our visit and extremely adorable.

WILD LIFE Sydney Zoo
1-5 Wheat Rd
Darling Harbour
Prices: Adult $40, kids 4-15 $28 (buy online to get 30% off)
Hours: Open daily, 9:30am-6pm. Special hours apply during holiday periods.

Golden Ridge Animal Farm: Best Animal Experiences in Sydney

April 23, 2015 / Animal Experiences, Cheese, Sydney, Sydney Life / 4 Comments

We’ve raised Cheese thus far as quite the city kid. She, like our whole family, loves animals and we try to get her out to experience the bush and country life where we can. We had the opportunity recently to enjoy a day trip to Dural for a birthday party at Golden Ridge Animal Farm.

Golden Ridge has been running as a children’s farm for 41 years. It has been owned and run by family of the current owner, Alisa Nye, for the past 26 years.

The animals at Golden Ridge are all pets (you can see more info on the animals and their names online.) and they absolutely love visitors.

A standard visit to the farm follows a path of activities, for which you must be on time to be able to enjoy. The farm opens at 10:30 am weekdays, and 11am on weekends. Activities are guided and hence if you are late, you will miss out.

The visit begins with holding baby animals. On our visit, this included ducklings, chicks and rabbits that were only a few days old. We were told how to hold them and asked to assist the children in holding the animals correctly. It was had to tell who was the most excited about holding the baby animals, the kids or parents.

Next was a walk around the farm feeding and seeing the larger farm animal varieties. We bought the $5 feed bucket option and had a wonderful time feeding the various goats, lambs, deer, ponies, cows and alpacas, all of whom were most excited to see visitors bearing delicious food for them.

Our tour concluded with feeding a baby goat with a bottle. Cheese thought this was awesome.

Afterwards, it’s lunch time, which can either be a picnic lunch or a barbecue using the farm’s facilities, or you can buy lunch from the canteen. After lunch the ponies come out and kids can take a little ride on one of the very friendly farm ponies.

One of the best things about the farm is the space. While the activities are guided, kids can return after the tour to see the larger animals, pat and feed them, or just run around and enjoy seeing a range of other animals roaming around, like ducks and a very friendly little dachshund.

For a day of hands-on country activities, Golden Ridge can’t be beat.

Golden Ridge Animal Farm
686 Old Northern Road,
Dural NSW 2158
(02) 9651 1028
Hours: Mon-Fri 10:30am-2pm, Sat & Sun 11am-2:30pm.
Prices: $15 per person entry. $5 extra for a pony ride or a bucket of feed. Babies under 1 year free.
BOOKINGS ESSENTIAL.
Get directions.

A Guide To The Sydney Royal Easter Show With Little Kids

March 28, 2015 / Animal Experiences, Cheese, Outdoor Play, Sydney, Sydney Life / 5 Comments

I’m a long-time lover of the Sydney Royal Easter Show. I’ve been going since I was a kid myself, so have been so looking forward to taking Cheese for the first time this year.

We tackled the day with one objective – to go at Cheese’s pace and let her enjoy it, however she wanted to. This meant we ditched all the things that we usually like to check out, and focussed on a small number of areas that we thought were do-able (and enjoyable!) for a 3.5 year old.

We had such a wonderful day out, particularly teaching our city kid about the animals and country life.

Top picks for little kids:
Here are my recommendations on ways to spend an enjoyable day with toddlers and preschoolers.

The Animal Walk: This is fun for all ages, and is particularly awesome for kids. Follow the giant paw prints around all of the animal pavilions. Pick up a “passport” and collect a stamp from each station. The pavilions are a lot more interactive now than when I was a kid. There are now colouring in stations, and areas where you can watch chickens hatching, “pat a chick”, and watch wool being spun.

Pat A Pig: Kids can give cute little piglets a tickle, and check out newborn piggies in the stall adjacent.

Sheep Shearing: After watching the demonstration, kids can assist the shearers in shearing a sheep.

Farmyard Nursery: A classic favourite. Get up close with goats, chickens and other barnyard favourites. As you exit, you can have you photograph taken with the cutest lamb you’ve ever seen. $15 for one large, high quality image, or $25 for a pack.

Food Farm: Technically this is on the animal walk, but there are no live animals here. Instead, you’ll find a lot of interactive stations for kids to play as they learn about where our food comes from. Cheese’s favourite was the play chicken laying shed, where she placed eggs under hens and then collected the eggs over and over and over. The tractor that kids could climb into and pretend to drive was another hit.

The Dairy Farmers Milking Shed: Here’s your kid’s chance to try their hand at milking one of the more gentle cows.

Live Shows: Cheese highly enjoyed the My Little Pony and Giggle And Hoot live shows. Both had live singing and the characters dancing, and ran for 25 minutes each under the shady Big Top Amphitheatre. A great way to take a rest break and keep the kids entertained at the same time.

Circus Workshops: Kids can try their hand at circus arts under the guidance of Ashton Entertainment Circus professionals.

Character Meet And Greets: Say hello to “Oh” from the movie “Home” (have you seen it yet? It’s adorable!) and Transformers.

Ferris Wheel: The rides are expensive. For three of us to do the ferris wheel it was $23. It was worth it though, to take Cheese on her first ferris wheel and see her face light up with joy as we flew through the air. We also had a fabulous view of the show and surrounds up there, making it a nice change of pace when you need a break from the crowds.

Showbags: A visit to the show ins’t complete without a showbag. The little kiddie ones are at the entrance, making it a stress-free experience to drop by with a little kid and not get stuck roaming around the pavilion with a kid who wants everything. The showbags that Cheese wanted were all the licensed character types, which were around $26 each. Cheese picked out the Disney Princess and Dance bags, both of which I was happy to see were excellent value. Each had a lot of items that Cheese will get a lot of use out of (like dress up items, hair bands, play jewellery and wands), and were of good quality. She was thrilled.

Tips for making the day a success
Start early: Get there when it opens as the showground is very quiet for the first few hours. Crowds start picking up around midday.
Set a budget: Decide before you go how many rides/showbags/toys the kids can have and stick to it. Pack food and your own water bottle to help keep the costs down.
Schedule wisely: With little kids, you’re not going to see everything in one day, so pick a handful of experiences to enjoy, and leave the rest for next year.
Keep kids close: With so many distractions it’s easy to lose your kids. Write your phone number on their arm or on a band around their wrist (I think they hand these out at the main entrance as I saw a lot of kids with them).

A big thank you to the Sydney Royal Easter Show for providing me with tickets to write this blog post. Head to the Sydney Royal Easter Show for your own magical day out. The Easter Show runs from Thursday 26 March to Wednesday 8 April, 2015, at Sydney Olympic Park.

Summer Playground At The Sydney Opera House

January 15, 2015 / Animal Experiences, Cheese, Indoor Play, Outdoor Play, Sydney, Sydney Life / 2 Comments

The Sydney Opera House never ceases to surprise me with their wonderful programming for families.

Right now, kids can enjoy the fabulous free Creative Play available daily at the Sydney Opera House just inside the Western Foyer. Kids can take time out of the heat with free LEGO play, while contributing to a collaborative musical composition – using their LEGO creations. The shapes built by the kids is turned into music using a really cool technology (a scanner in the roof and some sophisticated software). Three very entertaining and energetic musical performers engage the kids and introduce the LEGO music every 15 minutes.

I’d previously thought Cheese was just not really into Lego, but she surprised me by wanting to build Lego towers for over an hour. I literally had to drag her out of the building, which was a shame considering how great the air conditioning was.

Creative Play operates daily until January 26. Free and suitable for any ages who enjoy building with regular sized LEGO (no Duplo here).

Out on the Western Forecourt is the Summer Playground. The Harbourside sandpit is a big hit, letting kids kick off their shoes and play with the provided sand toys while parents can sit around the sandpit under shade and enjoy a drink or lunch.

Hungry families can grab a bite at the Summer Playground’s House Eatery By George, Opera Bar or Opera Kitchen. Their kids’ menu features three meals, each $15 (tip: if the cafe inside the foyer is open, you can pick up a kids’ box for $7 which includes sandwiches, juice, a cheese stick, museli bar, lollypop and mini box of smarties. These boxes can be brought out into the Summer Playground area to eat).

When we stopped by, the Taronga Zoo’s Zoomobile was there, giving kids the chance to meet Australian wildlife like echidnas, snakes and shingleback lizards. Sadly the day we visited (Jan 15th) was the last day for the Zoomobile.

The Sydney Opera House Summer Playground is open until 01 Feb 2015, Sun-Thur 9am-11pm, Fri & Sat 9am-12am.

Public transport is the easiest way to get there (catch the train to Circular Quay), but if you need to drive, until 31 January Wilson are offering Opera House visitors a special Summerhouse deal. Pre-book a bay in the Opera House car park and quote Summer15 to receive $15 flat rate for weekday parking 9am-5pm and $9 flat rate for weekend parking 9am-5pm.

Brunch Survival Guide: Governors Island Day Trip

August 27, 2013 / Animal Experiences, Brunch Survival Guides, Governor's Island, Manhattan Munchies, New York Food, Outdoor Play / 0 comment

Desperate to get away from the cement landscape that is Manhattan? Us too, especially on days when the heat radiates from the ground up. One of our favourite easy escapes is an afternoon trip to Governors Island. The 172-acre island is just off the southern tip of Manhattan, near Brooklyn. Governors Island was used as a military base for almost two centuries, before 150 acres were sold to the people of New York in 2003. (The remaining 22 acres of the Island was declared the Governors Island National Monument that is overseen by the National Park Service.)

Each year, Governors Island opens every Memorial Day weekend through to the end of September, and is chock full of fun events all summer long. With a young toddler, our choices are a bit limited —so this year the best bets for us were the FIGMENT interactive installations (including the treehouse pictured, above) and a mini-golf course (open summer-long, at the Parade Grounds) the Fête Paradiso and Compost Outpost. Older kids will love the Children’s Museum of the Arts Free Art Island Outpost Program, which is open all season from 11am to 3pm, at Nolan Park. Kids can enjoy hands-on workshops including painting, sound design, sculpture, animation and podcasting.

As well as enjoying the seasonal events offered, it’s also really nice to simply take a walk around the island. I love this walkway (above) through the middle of the park, with the towering trees on both sides, and the empty buildings that once housed military personal (which can sometimes make you feel like you’re in a ghost town). On a quiet day, it’s an eerie vibe. You can walk or bike (BYO bike or hire one when you get there) around the entire island, to take in an amazing view of the Statue of Liberty and southern tip of Manhattan.

The hot event to visit this summer has been Fête Paradiso, a traveling festival of vintage carnival rides and carousels, making its American debut. The collection includes attractions from the late 19th and early 20th centuries, such as carousels, flying swings and a pipe organ. Not only is it cool seeing rare, museum-quality items in a setting as beautiful as the island, you can also ride most of the vintage attractions. Insider tip: The rides are a bit on the pricey side, particularly if you’re going with a toddler. If you’re riding with your kid, it will cost you each a ticket, even if you’re just holding your kid while they’re riding the carousel. The best value is a buying in bulk.

There are a lot of rides, mostly suited to adults and older kids due to lack of modern safety features. The best rides for small kids are the carousels.

A carousel with cars was the favourite among the junior set (vroom vroom!). The only problem? No seat belts to strap the kids in, so the merry-go-round presents a couple of challenges — a moving platform, plus a moving toddler ON the platform who wants to buzz from car to car to car. TOO MANY CHOICES FOR TODDLER BRAINS!

This miniature VW van was dubbed “the party bus” by the parents watching the chaos unfold, as all the kids scrambled to squeeze inside and take the wheel at once.

For a change of pace, calm everyone down at Earth Matter’s Compost Outpost (open all season, 10am-5pm, South Battery). Kids can get up close to chickens, goats, rabbits and worms, all of whom spend their days eating compost, care of Governor’s Island visitors. Older kids can learn about compost first-hand, by taking part in the daily composting.

Eating On The Island
When it comes to food, you have a few expensive choices. Fête Paradiso features an eatery inside a pavilion designed in 1900 for bumper cars. Food is available in a tent, catered by French eatery Le Gamin. You’ll be able to try some traditional bistro fare like Steak Frites ($15), Croque Monsieur ($8) Salade Nicoise ($8) and sweet crepes with Nutella, lemon sugar or jam ($5). Kid-friendly options include hamburgers ($8) and Rotisserie Chicken ($10). Adults can enjoy spirits and wine from the Languedoc region of France. There is also the King Island Food Court, featuring a variety of vendors and cuisines, and picnic tables at which to sit. For a really relaxing day, bring a packed picnic and blanket.

Tips to Know Before You Go:

There’s no drinkable water on the island (so no drinking fountains). You can buy water from island vendors and vending machines, but we’d advise bringing plenty of your own. Water bottles can be re-filled in the Governors Island Ferry Waiting Room at the Battery Maritime Building.
The only indoor bathrooms are located on the upper and lower level of Building 110, adjacent to the ferry landing. There are plenty of port-a-loos placed around the island if you can’t hold on to find these bathrooms.

Governors Island
Open every Sat, Sun and holiday Monday from 10am-7pm through to September 29. To get there, catch the East River ferry from Manhattan (from Wall St/Pier 11 ($4) or the free ferry from the Battery Maritime Building) or the free Brooklyn ferry from Brooklyn Bridge Park Pier 6. Check out the ferry schedules before you go, and be prepared for a long line if you’re heading across from Brooklyn.

Coney Island Day Trip: Totonno’s Pizza + NY Aquarium

August 6, 2013 / Animal Experiences, Brooklyn Bites, Cheese, Coney Island, Eat & Explore / 0 comment

Totonno’s - kid-friendly restaurants, Coney Island - via brunchwithmybaby.com — Huge pizza. No problem.

A day trip to Coney Island for most people is about sun, fun and hotdogs. For us however, it is all about pizza at Totonno’s, which is quite possibly the best pizza in New York. Big call, I know. But Totonno’s has plenty of press to back them up over the nine decades they’ve been open, as one of the best pies you’ll get in NYC.

Let’s back up a bit: After hearing about the Totonno’s reputation soon after we moved here from Sydney, we were determined to put their pizza to the test. So we decided to make a day trip of it, beginning with pizza and ending with a visit to the nearby NY Aquarium.

We were a bit wary after walking through a few Coney Island back streets, past auto-mechanics, to a nondescript storefront that opened to an old-school diner. Was this really home to one of New York’s best pizzas? We were dubious, but decided to stay and try it out anyway. Note to readers — our visit and these pics were taken before the hurricane, and before Totonno’s remodeling following the disaster. The pizza however, is exactly the same.

Totonno’s - kid-friendly restaurants, Coney Island — Waiting for food in the low-key dining area.

Totonno’s is not a fancy place. It’s more like your grandma’s 1970’s-style kitchen—no frills tables and chairs, old pictures on the walls, and the menu spelled out in tiles above the ordering window. The service was also similar to what you’d get at your grandparents’ house — friendly and casual, with a strong likelihood that one of the owners themselves would be serving you. (Totonno’s is owned by three siblings; Antoinette Balzano, Frank Balzano and Louise Ciminieri; whose grandparents opened the restaurant.) Totonno’s was closed for five months after Hurricane Sandy ripped through Coney Island, opening again on March 24 to the rapture of locals and tourists alike.

The pizza itself is MASSIVE. Absolutely huge. We ordered a large, plain cheese pizza ($19.50). Of course we ate every single last bite. With a pizza that good, it’s a crime to leave a sad little crust behind. And yes, it is as good as it’s reputed to be. The crispy dough, the perfect layering of delicious tomato sauce, and the dollops of fresh mozzarella cheese: Heaven. Go to Coney Island, just for this pizza. If you want something not-pizza, go somewhere else, as this is the only thing they serve on the menu. Add extra toppings for $2.50 each.

When we visited, Cheese was too young to do anything except gnaw on a pizza crust, which she highly enjoyed anyway. They did have a highchair, but we opted to hold her in our laps.

Coney Island via brunchwithmybaby.com — Coney Island beach.

After stuffing yourself with amazing pizza, walk on down to the Coney Island boardwalk to check out the beach and do some people watching.

New York Aquarium via brunchwithmybaby.com — New York Aquarium, Coney Island

Then wander on down like we did, to the also recently re-opened NY Aquarium (at Surf Avenue & West 8th Street) and get up close and personal with some seriously cute sea life. The aquarium also suffered a beating during the hurricane and is still being rebuilt. Several of the animal exhibits have reopened, like the penguins, sea lions, otters and walruses.

Last bite: A family-owned pizzeria that loves families. Scarf down some of the best pizza in NYC, then check out the also recently re-opened New York Aquarium for the perfect day trip.

Highchairs: Yes.
Stroller storage: Yes.
Easy access: Yes.
Change tables: No.
Kids’ menu: No.

Totonno’s
1524 Neptune Ave
(between 15th St & 16th St)
Brooklyn, NY 11224
Phone: (718) 372 8606
Price: $$
Hours: Wed-Sun 12pm-8pm

Get directions.

Prospect Park Zoo, Brooklyn, New York

March 27, 2013 / Animal Experiences, Brooklyn Bites, Cheese, Eat & Explore, New York, New York Life, Outdoor Play, Prospect Heights / 0 comment

Nestled in beautiful Prospect Park is the sweet little Prospect Park Zoo. It’s a tiny zoo – perfect for people like us with a toddler. We saw everything in an hour and 20 minutes with our 19-month-old walking everywhere herself. I don’t like zoos much – I usually find them a bit depressing. The Prospect Park Zoo, however, is filled with well cared for animals and exhibits.

Miss Cheese’s favourite animals of the day were the sea lions, whose exhibit is smack in the middle of the zoo. Make sure you catch the daily sea lion feedings at 11:30am, 2pm and 4pm, to get a really good look at the sea lions performing their natural behaviours with some help from the keepers.

Kids of all ages (including us!) will love feeding the animals in the barn area of the zoo. Cows, goats, sheep, alpacas and chickens are housed in barn-like pens, with slats and holes in some of the fences so you can feed them the designated food. Watch out for the goats and sheep – they are so used to being fed that they climb up onto the fences and reach their long necks over for better access to food – funny for us, but a bit scary for little toddlers. They’re super gentle and tame though, and Cheese had no problem feeding them with animal kibble straight from her little hand. The best bit: baby lambs, just two weeks old. Squeee!!

The other highlights for us were the baboons, housed in a large enclosure adjoining one of the visitors centers, with floor to ceiling glass, and the Discovery Trail, a winding path through gardens and scrub lands, with animal exhibits like prairie dogs and red pandas. Cheese particularly loved the ducks, including eating the duck kibble instead of feeding it to the actual ducks.

Cheese watching the ducks, Prospect Park Zoo.

What to eat: This is the sad part of our post. While the animals are well fed, the humans aren’t. There are a lot of outdoor picnic tables to sit at, but inside the cafeteria lies only vending machines. We highly recommend you bring your own lunch, or leave the park and eat at a nearby cafe or restaurant. Check out our personal fave in Prospect Heights, Gueros, or download this guide to eating in Prospect Heights for a larger directory of places to eat.

Prospect Park Zoo
450 Flatbush Ave, Brooklyn, NY
Phone: (718) 399-7339
Hours: Spring/summer (Mar 23–Nov 3, 2013) Mon-Fri 10am-5:30pm, Sat-Sun 10am-5:30pm.
Fall/winter (Nov 4, 2013–Mar 28, 2014) Daily 10:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m