Tuesday 25th March

When I say that it was raining this morning, I actually mean that it was a deluge – no kidding, it had rained on and off really heavily all night, and looked as if it was here to stay all day. We waited to see if it would lighten up, but no joy so off we went anyway to the zoo. Tom had arranged for us to have an encounter with a cheetah – yes, a real cheetah and actually in the enclosure with it. So no amount of rain was going to put me off! Whether it was because of the weather or not, the National Zoo & Aquarium is nowhere near as well cared for as Australia Zoo, nor Auckland and certainly the aquarium is not a patch on Sydney Aquarium. There didn’t seem to be many staff, or they weren’t around; there was a definite whiff in the air and it was very untidy. Having said that, the animals seemed to have large enclosures and certainly looked well.

We started off in the aquarium, (partly to keep dry for as long as possible) which is also the reptile house but there aren’t many snakes and no poisonous ones. There were 2 kinds of skinks, which I didn’t like – they move too much like snakes but are scaly like lizards, weird creatures. There was a BIG groper in one of the tanks (no it wasn’t Tom), grouper, I suppose we’d call it. He was about 5’ long and grey and ugly (I know – sounds more like Tom than ever!) – he’s one of the biggest types of fish in the world.

We had a good look round before our date with the big cats and just happened to be watching the lions when one of the males started to stalk a bird that had flown into their area. Seeing this great cat chasing a prey in real life was amazing and Tom got it on video! (The photo is a grab frame from the video) The poor snow leopards looked a bit bedraggled, but the sun bears were playing around as if it wasn’t pouring and one of the tigers was on the prowl.

When it came time to go in with the cheetahs, we had to have some instruction then just followed one keeper, Chris, into the enclosure with the other one, Brendan behind. There were three cheetahs, two females and a male – Shasa, Tanzi and Reba, all lying in a low wooden shelter. We were introduced then I got down to meet Tanzi. Because I was wearing the hood up on my jacket, she wasn’t happy and growled at me – good start! Once I’d removed it and she could see my face, she backed down but Chris took me around the back of her to meet Reba. He was just like a big domestic cat, pushing into my hand as I stroked him, then licking my closed fist. He then decided to go for a walk, so I got to stroke Shasa instead. Tanzi had settled down but we made no move to go back to her although she was just inches away. Tom filmed all this, then Brendan took the camera and Tom came into the shelter too and stroked Shasa. She obviously liked the smell of his hand because she licked it for ages. Chris said he didn’t know if that was a good sign or not – I think he was joking! We had 15 minutes with them and it was just wonderful – definitely a once-in-a-lifetime moment. They all came from South Africa at the same time about 4 years ago but are not related. There are plans to try to mate one or both of the females with the male King Cheetah that the zoo also has – we saw them too, all wet and forlorn looking. They are bigger than the ordinary cats. It’s a recessive gene that also gives them their different markings. The King cheetahs have a defined stripe along their backs as well as the blotch markings.

I have to say I didn’t notice the rain while I was in the cheetah enclosure – I wonder why?! When we got back to the shop, they had certificates for us to say that we had survived the encounter, and a couple of the small shopping bags that were on display. We did consider carrying on around Canberra, but it was coming down harder than ever as we left, so we came home to the motel to try to dry out. At least the heating works in the room so we’re setting up our own sauna at the moment!

As there isn’t net access here, you won’t get to read this yet, but we move to another motel in Canberra tomorrow which has it. We decided to spend another couple of days here so we can visit some of the government buildings, which are open to the public so we have re-jigged our route from here to Melbourne. I can hardly believe we have only just over a month left – still, that’s plenty of time to fit loads more in!!

Now I shall finish my bit and leave Tom to sort out his photos. Bye for now.
Later We went to the Pancake Parlour in the city centre for dinner and had a lovely meal – everything is served with pancakes of different kinds, a bit like pasta but not, if that makes sense!! They advertised themselves as having free wireless internet. Unfortunately, it’s unserviceable at the moment so Tom couldn’t post the blog as he’d hoped. He’s just “encouraged” me to add a bit more about the zoo so it’s all his fault if it’s gone on a bit. The rain has finally stopped and the skies are clearing so we hope tomorrow will be less of a washout. Speak to you all soon. Byee!!