It’s Labour Day and the sun is shining, the birds are singing and the wind is light.  What to do?

With two active kids, it must be time to check out Wellington Zoo situated in handy Melrose, close to the heart of the city.

We’ve been there many times of course, but as we are past the pushchair and lunchboxes of vegemite sandwiches stage, life is so easier on a family trip out.  Thanks to the good old Entertainment Book voucher our entry fee was reduced and we were set for a few fun hours at the zoo.  The friendly team member at the entrance reminded us that at 11.30am Sasa the Malaysian sun bear would be featured at the Keeper’s talk, so off we went.  Sasa is a divine, furry bear prone to minor performances and keen on the odd frozen rock melon.  The Zoo gets it right;  a short introductory discussion of 10 minutes or so and time for questions.  Feeding is the highlight and Sasa makes light work of devouring the melon and impresses with startlingly sharp teeth and claws.

The Keeper tells us that 12 noon will see the chimps being fed with another Keeper.  Off we go, full of admiration of Sasa who even made it as the Christmas soft toy bear from Kirkcaldie & Stains in 2008 – we know, we have two Sasa bear soft toys!

The chimps are the big draw card.  With several dozen keen zoo visitors to entertain, the Keeper is a young, vibrant woman who introduces herself as the Primate Keeper.  Isn’t that the coolest job title in town?  She is suitably energetic to manage this group (herd? posse?) of chimpanzees, with Sam as the male chimp who heads the family.  We learn about the roles of the family members, delight in the antics of Benny the youngest chimp and laugh at the chimp games of stealing the apples, tomatoes and kiwifruit tossed over for them to enjoy.  The games and obvious fun the chimps have impressed all ages and it was a very satisfying zoo moment.

We were on a roll and quickly discovered that feeding the giraffes was the next Keeper activity.  Managing to get pole position we were certainly front and centre when three huge giraffes lumbered towards us.  Before we knew it, a massive giraffe head was only centimetres away.  As informed, we didn’t touch the giraffes, but it was exciting to have a large, beautiful animal so close to observe.  Soon those purple tongues were wrapped around the greenery which all visitors were invited to feed to them.  Nice touch!

Our final visit (in between our own meanderings to visit the other animals) was an introduction to Tahi the Kiwi.  Tahi is somewhat famous in our house as we have read the library book telling the tale of Tahi, the one-legged kiwi who now lives in Wellington Zoo.  The kids were so pleased to see Tahi after enjoying the book.  Tahi lost a leg in an opossum trap, and despite rejecting a prosthetic leg, made with the assistance of Weta Workshop, Tahi gets around beautifully on one leg.   This clever and legendary Kiwi was another highlight of our zoo experience.

Two and a half hours later we had enjoy a great day out, learned some new information, and above all, had seen animals far removed from our everyday lives which brought us much joy.

Wellington Zoo has so much to offer and it only gets better at each visit.

Don’t forget the Zoo!