A Few Days Break

Hey – this teaching gig is intense with classes from 9-12 each morning and sometimes another presentation thrown in, and I did three of those this week so I most definitely DESERVE a long weekend. Which is why Friday morning we tripped off to Salisbury Zoo. This is a quaint little zoo – volunteer run – and nothing like the big zoos we are used to, so three cheers to the Salisbury Zoo folk. Lots of ideas though!

It was HOT so many of the animals retreated for shelter, as they should and do, so of course we weren’t complaining. But …

• the sloth was staying put in his abode,
• the red wolf barely surfaced for air – we only knew he was there by the twitching ears and the slightly raised head. He popped up for a few seconds but then quicky retreated to the coolness (probably) of the earth.
• the otter was well and truly hidden beneath the den
• the bear cub has been sent away and mother bear was denned
• the macaw though was in fine voice – “hello, hello” … as if it was responding to a telephone call,
• the flamingos were gorgeously crustaceanly pink
• cotton tops were scampering around their enclosure and barely stopped long enough for me to snap their image
• prairie wolves were on observation duty
• and BEES – they have a super bee hive for view. We spent ages watching and listening to the hmmmmm.
• Bison, curassow, bald eagle, spectacled owl, alligators and iguanas are also part of the roll call here.

and because it was HOT we deserved an Ice Cream.

There is also much construction going on a the zoo – they are even constructing an Australian enclosure to house a few kookas, dingoes, and other assorted aussie critters!

We have timed our trip to Salisbury brilliantly because Friday night (the third Friday of the month) is the 3rd Friday festival and fair night and this one was wild! Well some of the folks who were stall holders were wild and a few were just a little bit out there. We also encountered a second hit at Salisbury Zoo as there were a few staff there with a lovely aussie golden bearded dragon too. There were magicians and entertainers, a great local band, and a human sized game of foosball going on that was brilliant. We actually scoped out the plaza where the event was happening after our zoo visits and as soon as we walked onto the plaza, we came across the local TV crew who were asking folk about the running mate for him who shall not be named. Thankfully we had read about Pence in the newspaper and were able to respond appropriately – and comment about the wackiness of such a long, long election process. Give me aussie election campaigns (even with the drawn out results) anytime! And we thought an 8 week campaign was a brain drain!

We love these unplanned strolling days!

About Chris Cheng
Christopher is an award winning Australian children's author of picture books, fiction and non fiction titles in digital and traditional formats.
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