Australia Trip / March 9, 2021

Dubbo, NSW

We spent 2 weeks in Dubbo, our second spot. I had heard a lot about Dubbo over the years and that it was a great place to take the kids. I’ve been meaning to go for ages, so this was our chance!

The Zoo

One of the main attractions that everyone talks about is Dubbo zoo (officially Taronga Western Plains Zoo). I can see why – what a great zoo! It’s huge and mainly African themed although they also have some Australian animals, some Asian monkeys and a few Galapagos tortoises.

You have a few options for how to get around the zoo: walk (very long!), ride a bike, drive a golf cart, or drive your car. The paved circuit road is 5km around, but then you need to walk around the various enclosures. There’s also a safari area where you can go on a bus ride and get up close and personal with the giraffes and zebras.

We opted to rent and ride bikes. The bikes were a bit squeaky and only had one gear. (I should add that I haven’t ridden a bike in about 40 years… You can use your imagination about how those first 5 minutes went!) It seemed that so much of the park was uphill too – until the end when we finally got to go down. The temperature was in the mid-30s C (95 F). I’m not great with the heat (yes, I know, I live in the wrong country). I was so dehydrated and hot I think I was on the verge of heat stroke. I bought a new white linen shirt the day before and the shirt turned orange in all the places I was sweating! (Not sure what that was about!?).

Anyway, it was our daughter’s birthday present. It really is an amazing zoo and I definitely recommend it.

Royal Flying Doctors Experience and the Dubbo Gaol

The next day, we visited the Royal Flying Doctors Service Experience. It was a great, interactive museum. They discuss the history of the service, showed a 3 screen video and had tons of interactive experiences. It was really interesting and we all enjoyed it a lot. (My daughter though came out of the museum slightly disappointed because she thought we were actually going to go on a flight!)

The Dubbo Gaol was also interesting on Dubbo’s main street. It’s an old jail from the mid-1800s. They had an actress give a 30-minute show telling a few stories of people who had tried to escape the jail which was fairly entertaining. We could then walk around and look at the cells, gallows, etc. Worth a visit if you’re in town. They have a Dubbo Experience Pass which we bought which gives you access to the zoo, the Royal Flying Doctors Experience, the Dubbo Gaol and normally (when there’s not a global pandemic) the Wellington Caves.

Wellington Caves

We did decide to go to Wellington Caves a few days later. Not really to see the main cave attractions since we’ve already been to many different caves over the past few years, but instead to see a special cave: the Phosphate and Fossil cave. This cave was turned into a phosphate mine during WWI and the phosphate was used for ammunition. What was interesting was the number of dinosaur fossils in the mine. Over millions of years, floods washed down into the cave and left thousands of bones all in the walls and ceiling. Unfortunately, they didn’t really turn out in the photos – too dark – but they made a couple of full fossil recreations for you to see in the mine.

Botanical Garden

Dubbo has a beautiful botanic garden that I went to twice, I liked it so much! The main part of the garden is a Japanese garden, and on one side there is a sensory garden and on the other a biodiversity garden. They provide food packets to feed the ducks and koi. They also provide chairs and encourage you to have a picnic or bbq and enjoy the gardens.

On the other side of the gardens they have a really great playground that they kids enjoyed and spent hours playing in.

A Walk Around the Caravan Park

One evening, I decided to take a walk around the caravan park and check out the Macquarie River that the map said the park backed onto. It turned out to be a beauty! There were people swimming in the river and tons of birds out.