Matfoo’s Weblog

When I experienced the 40++C temperature last year (2007/2008), I was glad that it only lasted for a day or two then followed by a cool change.

When the start of summer in Australia in 2008/2009 is cool, I was quite concerned that something BIG will happen. And it did! Melbourne is experiencing a very hot summer 4 days in a row!

Started on Tue (27 Jan 09) with high of 36 C, then followed by 43 C on Wed (28 Jan 09), 44 C on Thu (29 Jan 09) and today (30 Jan 09), it’s expected to hit 43 C. In fact, it’s almost there as of the time I’m writing this post. The temperature is already reaching 41 C, 2 C shy of today’s maximum.

It’s so hard to sleep at night. The fan is pretty much useless as it’s blowing hot air. The air con is a great help but with it making so much noise at night, a good night sleep is almost unachievable. I woke up at 2am this morning to eat ice cream just to cool myself. That’s how hot it is…

Forecast for tomorrow (31 Jan 09) is expected to be less hot with maximum of 35 C. Man…. this is a very hot hot hot summer indeed.

The Werribee Park and the Victoria State Rose Garden are located almost next to the Werribee Open Range Zoo. Since we were at the zoo, might as well pop over for a visit.

The park has a big mansion called The Mansion which has some historical value to it. Unfortunately, to visit The Mansion, one have to pay for the entrance fee. Too bad…., so we just took some pictures from the outside.

This is not The Mansion. This is where you pay for the ticket

Next to The Mansion is the Victoria State Rose Garden. For roses/flower lover, I think this place should be on your must-visit list. I’m not a flower needless to say rose person but the view of the garden is just fantastic.

Some of the pictures of roses taken by Flora.

During New Year eve, we visited the Werribee Zoo. This is an open range zoo. Open range as in, you are free to walk together with most of the animals. The zoo is about 37km away from where we stay.

Together with my officemate and his family, we made our way to the zoo at around 930am.

The Werribee Zoo is made up of 4 main sections. The bus safari-like section, the normal zoo section, the water saving plant section and the Australian animal section.

The idea of the bus safari-like is something like Open Safari in Africa you see on TV but a much milder version.

Animals here are free to roam around. The environment setting is pretty much like the animals own habitat.

There’s bison…

Antelope…

Wild horse…

Giraffe…. The normal ticket does not include animal feeding. If you want to feed the giraffe up close like those shown in the picture, additional ticket need to be purchased.

Zebra… The bus driver literally has to stop the bus for the “Zebra Crossing”

Rhino… Once again, to feed the rhino, additional ticket is needed.

The bus tour took about 1 hour. The zoo also provided benches and shelters for picnic.

Lunch time. It’s advisable to bring your own food as there’s only one restaurant/cafe in the zoo. Food’s choices aren’t that many. The price is quite on the high side. After lunch, we continued our visit to the remaining 3 sections.

In this section, we can see hippo…

Meerkat…. the weather for the morning was relatively cold. That’s why you see the meerkat are so ‘friendly’. In the late noon when the temperature rises, this is what you get…

The normal zoo section has not so many animals. There are cheetah, lions, african wild dogs etc No pictures were taken because when we were there, these animals were sleeping and it makes no point for photo taking.

Then, we proceed to water savings plant section. Since water is a big issue in Australia, the planting of water savings plant become more and more popular.

This picture is showing part of the garden. You’ll get the idea by looking at the soil type at the base of this plant. These plant are pretty lasting under dry condition and are quite nice for house decoration too.

The last section is the Australian animal section. Sadly, the kangaroos are sleeping (as they always do). We only manage to see emu roaming around.

Comparing this zoo with Melbourne zoo, I would say the latter one is much worth visiting. This zoo didn’t give me a “WOW!!!”. Regardless, it’s a nice way to celebrate the New Year Eve.