Photo heavy post this week, and finally back on top of my weekly posting, yes! For my 30th birthday last week, Dan and I went to the Taronga Western Plains Zoo which is a five hour drive away from where we live in western Sydney. We chose to stay in the luxury Zoofari Lodge Accommodation  overnight. When we arrived we had a hassle-free check in with staff, and then grabbed our bikes to ride around the zoo. It was such a beautiful day for it and I'm so glad we biked around, even if I did struggle up some of the hills! Included in our package was a private after-hours night tour of the zoo where we were able to get close to some of the animals, a full buffet dinner and wine tasting, an early morning before-hours tour and a full buffet breakfast before we left. I'd recommend this experience to anyone, and I get to check it off my bucket list!

We were lucky to get these photos, as being at the Hippo talk was unplanned! We happened to be passing by and saw that the zoo keepers were doing a talk and feeding the Hippos.

Baby Hippo!

Baby White Rhino!

After we finished biking around the zoo, we had lunch at the cafe before checking into our accommodation for the night. It was a delicious meal and we certainly weren't expecting this type of quality for a zoo cafe (usually it's all fried food!)

Our private deck overlooking our very own Savannah!

I thought it was amazing how we were randomly put into the Giraffe Lodging as they are my favourite animals!

Had never seen this type of bird before. It's an Apostlebird and he was very confident and boisterous! Dan fed him a small crushed nut and moments later all twenty of his friends showed up!

Giraffe eating right outside our accommodation!

The night tour involved driving around in a small bus to different animal enclosures in the dark. A red light was used on the animals as to not disturb them, which is why these images are in black and white.

Waking up on my 30th birthday to this :)

Our private morning tour included feeding Giraffes. I had NO idea that this would be happening and I was so stoked! I fed Giraffes on my 29th birthday too!

Even though we got very close to some of the animals, under no circumstances were we allowed to touch them at all, even the zoo keepers touch the animals very minimally as not disturb them too much.

Our bus that drove us around the zoo after and before hours.

Lots of Elephant treats!

The last experience we had during our private tour was to watch the Elephants getting their morning baths! This is a very important time of day for them as it allows the zoo keepers to develop and maintain relationships with them. They can check them for any issues that may come up and the Elephants generally enjoy their beauty routines including a pedicure!

Mixing up a nutritious breakfast for the Elephants.

Elephant art on the walls and Elephant "kisses" on their refrigerator.

I had such a great time and I would recommend this experience to anyone! It was such a nice way to celebrate my 30th birthday. I genuinely enjoy and love photographing animals and learning about them all is always so enlightening.