Happy kids

Dubbo (population 42,000) serves a catchment of around 130,000 people, more than half the population of the entire Northern Territory. There is no denial: We are on the doorsteps of Sydney, which is only 400 km away. Long before arriving in Dubbo, the scenery has changed completely: The arid plains of the outback have been replaced by grasslands, the traffic has increased, the landscape is criss-crossed by lots of roads, the majority of them sealed and much wider than the highways that we travelled along in the Red Center.

There is one particular reason for our visit to Dubbo: It’s our thank-you present for Niklas and Jonas. Dubbo features the open-range Taronga Western Plains Zoo, which is home to various species of endangered animals, including some rhinoceroses. The zoo runs some successful breeding programs, and many of the animals in Sydney’s Taronga Zoo, which our boys love to visit, were born here.

Niklas and Jonas have been very patient trip companions. In a bit less than 12 weeks we have covered a distance of more than 14,000 km. Some of the stages demanded a great deal from two little boys who had just turned 7 one day before we left Sydney. Nonetheless, not a single “are we there yet?”.

Jonas, an avid reader, read several volumes of Enid Blyton’s “Mystery” series, a few German “Kommissar Kugelblitz” books, and finally the complete 7-volume “Harry Potter” series (volume 5 contains 800 pages …). When we eventually ran out of books towards the end of our journey, he simply read volumes 1-3 again.

Niklas, though his reading skills are nothing short of his brother’s, spent more time gazing through the window at the moving landscape outside.

Finally, both were busy working on their school assignments (though some gentle pressure had to be applied by Claudia and me …)

"Dad, stop taking photos of me!"

We rent some bicycles and spend 2 interesting days zig-zagging through the vast expanses of the zoo, rounded off with ice cream and souvenirs from the zoo shop. The kids are happy, and so are we.

Fancy seeing you here!

[Dubbo, 22.-25. September]