Western Plains Zoo

Endangered species at the zoo.

We had heard about the Western Plains Zoo ( https://taronga.org.au/taronga-western-plains-zoo) at Dubbo from family and friends and decided we would stay over for a couple nights at a free camp near Dubbo so we could tick this one off our bucket list.

A couple of hippo's ??

The Western Plains Zoo is a little different from other zoos I have visited as it is set out so that you can drive our own vehicle through the exhibit areas and stop where you like to get out and check out the animals.

Linda gets up close and personal with an elephant

I didn’t realise until we visited that the Zoo was a subsidiary of the famous Sydney Taronga Zoo and thus is very well funded and a top class set up.

Piggy back Galapagos Tortoise style ??

We spent five hours slowly driving/walking through various exhibits and would recommend a visit if you are in the area. At $36/person (concession cause we are old ) it’s a good day out and our savings while free camping nearby paid for the day out. The $36 covers 2 days (consecutive) entry to the Zoo - so good value.

This photo has noting to do with the zoo.

For other travelers the free camp at Terramungamine Reserve (about 10 km outside Dubbo) is a small but nice area next to the Macquarie River. There are limited caravan sites but most are level and close to the river. You need to get in by midafternoon to get a site but if your running late there is an overflow area where the road comes into the reserve. Reserve has some nice picnic tables, a couple of fire/BBQ places, and flushing toilets. Sign says only one night but most folk we talked to stayed a couple of days to enable a visit to the town/zoo.