A Jaguar at the Zoo

Perhaps because we are still on Victorian time, we arrived at the Monarto Zoo this morning half an hour before it opened.

Meercats are always entertaining:

We took a bus around the zoo. There are 10kms of walking tracks you can take if you want to be more energetic. The bus gives you a pretty good view of a lot of the animals. Here's a black rhino:

There are also white rhinos in another part of the park. Another 30 or so rhinos (not sure which species) are planned to arrive from Africa in the next couple of years, as part of a scheme to help save them from extinction.

Wouldn't you love to just stroke this baby giraffe's neck?

I'm glad I'm not a chimpanzee. Or if I was one, I wouldn't want to live in a zoo.

This one has a tiny baby in her lap. The baby is about 5 weeks old.

This is a yellow-footed rock wallaby:

The species is vulnerable or endangered across the country. The zoo is involved in a breeding program to establish the wallabies in protected areas. 

We had a moment of excitement on the bus when this cheetah started stalking some galahs, and slowly crept towards towards them, across the track in front of the bus.

then sat under a tree, staring intently at the birds:

You can see how their spots do make them difficult to see. The galahs kept eating seeds, unaware that at any moment the cheetah could burst out of the shadows to grab one of them. However the bus had to keep to a schedule, so it moved off and the galahs took flight and we were all saved from what could have been an amazing but disturbing sight.

In the afternoon we visited Stathalbyn, a small town with several antique shops, and streets full of old Buicks. A car club were having a rally, and members from at least three states had driven their large shiny cars to the town.

We ate lunch in a pretty park in the centre of town, beside the Angas River. Also beside the river is this dead scarred tree, which to me appears to hold evidence of Aboriginal occupation of the area:

That scar looks like it was formed by removing a section of bark, to make a canoe or for some other purpose. The tree features in a mural on the wall of the public toilets:

And yet the history of the town, according to the information panel, started when European settlers arrived in 1839. There is no mention of the tree or the earlier history of the area.

Our accommodation tonight is delightful:

This is Cherry Farm Studio B&B, Echunga.

It is located on an actual cherry farm. The view from the cottage looks over the orchard, where the owner is preparing to net the trees over the next week or so. Our cherries at home are still flowering, but here flowering is finished and fruit is developing.

I spent a quiet hour or so sitting stitching down binding, and enjoying the peace and quiet here.

We ate dinner at the local pub in Echunga, the Hagen Arms, where the service was fast and the food was delicious.