Tuesday 3rd Feb
Thursdays Child
Robin & Joanna Minchin
Tue 3 Feb 2015 22:25
We went to the Wildlife Park set within the Botanic Gardens around 1030 to sign up as volunteers for the day which began with cleaning out and then feeding the rabbits and guinea pigs, Isabelle was in rabbit-heaven. Then onto the parrot cage which was highly amusing as the most inquisitive one ended up........... well you will see from the photos where he ended up. Then to Jumbo's cage, a huge and very noisy Maccaw who kept saying 'hello' at the top of his voice. The children were then diverted to the Vietnamese Pigs and were seen scrambling around on the roof collecting dead leaves and tipping them into the pig pen. Next they went to feed the Iguana with lettuce, broccoli and leaves, and the otters were given fish. After lunch we spend two hours in the large Peacock enclosure sweeping up pine needles and dead leaves.
Everyone was starving by tea time so a huge tea of hot crumpets and lots of honey to give us the energy to climb to the top of the Rock to see the sunset/full moonrise. The children and I headed off around 5pm, giving ourselves an hour and a half until sunset and we decided to to try the "Mediterranean Steps". This was an exciting adventure! Often with my heart in my mouth we followed the path that weaved and wound its crooked way up and down, sometimes it was steps, sometimes just rocky uneven stony ground, frequently there were vertical drops off to the right and always we had spectacular views into the Med. A couple of times the route seemed to end and my heart sank as I thought we would have to retrace our steps, then someone would find the route continuing up a tunnel, alongside a cave, up into the undergrowth or a hairpin bend in the opposite direction. The children were brilliant and kept on going, Isabelle excited about seeing Apes for the first time and Harry pleased to be 'showing' Isabelle the Apes finally.
Such a relief to pop out at O'Hara's Gun at the top of the Rock where the wind was really howling and bitterly cold. Apes in all directions much to all our delight and we spent a very amusing half hour watching them eat their supper and interact with each other. I was very pleased not to have any food on me as a large Ape sat in the exit of the balcony we were on, we had to take a swift and nerve racking route past him; he was pretty relaxed about us being there but if I'd had some food I am sure his attitude would have been very different towards us.
Sadly the cloud cover meant no sunset or moon rise and we then faced a long slow chilly descent. However, it always seems easier on the way down and wonderfully Bol had prepared a large pasta meal for us when we got back on board.
