No bird soars too high if he soars with his own wings.

- William Blake 

Birds are my natural enemies. Luckily, they were sufficiently far away in the aviary, so there was no need for panic. I have suffered from many past experiences of unprovoked bird attacks - but even so, I must admit that the aviary was amazing and beautiful.

(My favourite is the white bird pictured above, with the oddly shaped beak.)

The zoo was crowded on the day, it still being the school holidays, which made moving around and observing the animals difficult. There was a fair bit of pushing and shoving, and in my personal experience, toes swollen from being stepped on or having various prams roll their full weight over them. Open spaces like the aviary and animals which were in clear sight for all, like the giraffe and koala, made it much easier for everybody to enjoy the experience, pain-free.

Shen

long forgotten

Not long back, I visited the Melbourne Museum with my fellow explorers. It had been a good few years since I last went to museum, but most of their exhibits have not changed, which made it an experience not as great as it could have been. In my personal opinion, the dinosaurs were the most interesting of the exhibits, but then I am known to be partial to dinosaurs in general so it may be a biased judgement - it's a long story, and goes way back, so I'll leave it there.

It may have been winter, and it may have been raining, but that didn't curb my strong desire for some N2 goodness after the museum tour. Melbournians would know N2 well, the nitrogen ice cream brand that has made itself well known with its variety of flavours - ever-changing - and unique concept. They are also rather punny, the peanut buttery goodness which used Reese chocolates was called 'Reese With-a-spoon'.

(I am easily amused.)

Shen

Through continents

It's been a fair few weeks since I visited the zoo, and it was great fun to go through all the pictures. Like the title of this post, it really did feel as if I was walking through all the different places and experiencing the different cultures with how the zoo was set up. The set up also allowed you to see a variety of animals up-close, which made it all even more enjoyable.

That said, everything at Melbourne Zoo wowed me. Since my last visit about four or five years ago, they've revamped many things, mostly to make the exhibits and the animals more approachable, and everything was generally more interactive. The only kind-of downside to the zoo was how many of the animals were alone in their enclosures, but they at least do seem to be well taken care of.

Though most people my age no longer find zoo trips fun, I don't think I'd ever get bored of it!

Shen.

Although it hasn't been long since I revived the blog, I'm already lagging behind! I was caught up with the idea of changing the blog name and the general look of it, but have ultimately given up. In fact, there isn't even a header now! It's very simple, but I've never been good with these types of things, so simple is best! 

[Zoo] Picnic in Japan

Picnic is brought to a whole new level when you have it in under a gazebo in a Japanese garden in the  zoo. It was certainly relaxing, but I was quite frightened when three water birds came up very close to ask for food. I'm not a fan of birds, in fact, I'm terrified by them.

It's been years since I last stepped foot inside the Melbourne Zoo, and it was the first time where I was given the opportunity to really relax and take my time - I was able to even go through all the exhibits!

All that, of course, came after the energy refill of lunch at the Japanese gardens. The following posts will detail the rest of the zoo trip! :)

Mascot.

(Re)Introducing tdt's mascot, Snooffi. 

For those who enjoy dogs on their instagram feeds, follow him at @snooffi

Revived.

It's been a year since I've last posted, when TDT officially went on an indeterminate hiatus. Since then, many things have happened: I've entered year three of four of my uni degree, I've just recently turned 21, and have enjoyed a variety of great things while walking over the little downs that have rolled about along the way.

It's been a long while, but I've missed TDT, and this time I'll try to make it work.

Happy revival to the blog!