Family Fun Day

Today was a rare day when we were all off and we took the opportunity to go to the zoo.

I have bitter memories of the Adelaide zoo after my work experience back in 1988. At the time I wanted to be a vet and thought how cool it would be to hang around with the zoo vet. Me and several thousand other kids I suspect. I spoke to one of the keepers on the phone:

'You'll have to spend some of the time with the keepers - what animals do you like?'
'Mammals.'
'Fully booked I'm afraid. You can have birds or reptiles.'
'Oh, reptiles then.' (snakes are cool)

Spending the whole week cleaning out cage upon cage of vermin though, was somewhat south of cool. Positively Antarctic. I never even saw a vet, just the feed room. My only human contact was the keepers who would occasionally wander in, grab a handful of baby rats or mice and hurl them against the wall to kill them before feeding the carcases to the reptiles. Adult rats were swung by the tail into a heavy wooden chopping board.

Today went along way to erasing the bad memory. I was a bit concerned that the twenty-two month old Noodle would be a little young to appreciate the zoo, but he friggen loved it.
Meerkats were a strong favourite. There was a glass barrier along their enclosure and the noodle delightedly got up close and personal with them. Screaming, stamping his feet and pounding on the glass. I hope we're not turning into those sort of parents who look fondly on while their offspring run riot. I reckon it's only fish tanks you're not supposed to bang on anyway. Strangely the only thing that scared him was a goat in the petting zoo. Freaky kid.

My highlight was seeing monkeys picking each-other's arses. Everyone loves that shit.