Mogo Zoo & Pretty Beach Camping

Mogo Zoo, 222 Tomakin Rd, Mogo NSW 2536 Australia

Pretty Beach Campsite, Murramarang National Park, NSW Australia

For my thirtieth birthday, Hai surprised me by taking me to Mogo Zoo and camping. At 5am we packed our cars and drove off on our adventure. It took us three hours, driving through Berry and for their famous doughnuts on the way.

Once there, we payed our $31 entry fee plus the $10 to feed giraffes. I raced to the giraffes first, bypassing all the other animals. I was clearly keen. 

The zookeeper finally ushered me in and I walked up the steps with my Eucalyptus leaves in hand. I never thought about how big a giraffe's head is until I was face to face with one. It's face filled my field of vision with its big innocent eyes and a giant blue tongue reaching out for my leaves.
I then raced over to feed the deer with my $2 bag of food. The deer was so cute as they poked their heads out of their pen. One greedy deer did headbutt the others to get to my hand and pushed them away. Annoying deer, but still cute.

There are some really beautiful animals at this Zoo. We met monkeys, lions, a Fennix fox, hippopotamus, tigers, meerkats and red pandas, all in spacious enclosures, lazing about or climbing trees or eating food. We attended most of the talks by the Zoo Keepers - the Gorillas at 12pm, the Rhino at 1.30pm and the Tigers at 2.30pm.

And after a satisfying lunch of cheese & ham toasties, the carnivore burger and hot chips, we picked up a toy Red Panda on the way (we named him Rupert) and drove ourselves down to Pretty Beach. Here, wallabies and joeys grazed the front lawns of this sleepy town and across the beach campground. The wallabies watched us from a couple of metres away while we pitched our tent and collected firewood.

Hai and I spent our night sitting by our fire and drinking beers. Then we ate like 4 packs of instant noodles (with poached eggs!) since we packed light - but it was so worth it. The next morning we had a stroll on the empty beach and took in the fresh air and sound of the crashing waves.

On our drive back, we picked up some more doughnuts from Berry and listened to my iPod. We also discussed what super hero powers we wanted (a never ending discussion) and talked about the pros and cons of each situation in which to use our power. Only with Hai would I enjoy such geeky yet fun conversations, carrying on for hours.

 Thank you Hai for an amazing trip <3