Mom Endeavors

Our fam­ily had the plea­sure of tak­ing a lit­tle week­end get­away to San Diego! With SO much to do there, much cooler temps, and only a 6 hour drive from Phoenix, it’s a super pop­u­lar des­ti­na­tion for us “Zonies”! One of our favorite places to visit in San Diego is of course the world-famous San Diego Zoo! And, we were espe­cially excited for this visit because the new Aus­tralian Out­back exhibit just opened on May 24^th!

About the Con­rad Pre­bys Aus­tralian Out­back exhibit:

The 3-acre exhibit is home to 23 species of Aus­tralian birds (includ­ing the kook­aburra, bower­bird, palm cock­a­toos, and Goul­dian finches), Parma wal­la­bies, wom­bats, and Queens­land koalas. The new exhibit pro­vides out­door perches for each of the Zoo’s 21 koalas (includ­ing three joeys, which range in age from 8 to 10 months). That’s a lot of koalas! In fact, the San Diego Zoo actu­ally has the largest breed­ing colony of Queens­land koalas and most suc­cess­ful koala breed­ing pro­gram out­side of Aus­tralia!

Our expe­ri­ence:

This was espe­cially fun for us as we’ve actu­ally been to Queens­land, Aus­tralia (My brother-in-law lives there!!)! In fact, we got to hold koalas there!!  So, it was really fun to check out the Aus­tralian exhibit at the San Diego Zoo and rem­i­nisce about our time in Aus­tralia. Right as we entered the exhibit, the first very rec­og­niz­able Aus­tralian ani­mal we encoun­tered was the kook­aburra! Right across from that were the wom­bats! They’re my favorite of the Aus­tralian mar­su­pi­als, so I was espe­cially excited! But, they were sound asleep in their sleep­ing den and one of their self-dug tun­nels! For those not famil­iar with wom­bats, they are so cute and unique! At the famous Aus­tralia Zoo in Queens­land (home of the late Steve Irwin), I actu­ally had the plea­sure of going into the wom­bat enclo­sure for a super cool expe­ri­ence! Even though we only caught glimpses of them sleep­ing this time, I love the new space for them at the San Diego Zoo! If you catch them when they’re awake, they’ll be really fun to watch as there are great view­ing areas!

The real high­light of the exhibit though is the new area for the koalas! If you’ve been to the San Diego Zoo before and remem­ber the koala exhibit, this one is SO much bet­ter! First up, it’s big­ger and more spa­cious (and much eas­ier to nav­i­gate with a stroller)! And, I love that there are perches for all the koalas! It was fun try­ing to spot them in the trees (some­times they blend in really well). Most of them were sleep­ing (koalas sleep a lot)! But, we did get lucky when some of the keep­ers came out to weigh some of them. Once the keep­ers were done, the koalas were really active! We watched them eat and even watched a young one get a “piggy back ride” through the trees! So fun!

Aren’t they seri­ously so cute?!! Need­less to say, these two were a pop­u­lar site dur­ing our time there!  The boys loved that, but of course, their favorite thing was the koala play struc­ture!   I love that the Zoo added this!! It’s essen­tially a mimic of one of the koala perches (com­plete with koala stat­ues) that the kids can play on! It’s a pop­u­lar spot with the kids for sure! After our visit to the new Aus­tralian Out­back exhibit, we enjoyed some time at the rest of the zoo. There are SO many great things to see! Due to some sleepy/fussy kid­dos (& a busy Sat­ur­day), we decided to forgo wait­ing in line for the Giant Pan­das. But, if you’ve never been before, they are an absolute must-see! Here are some pic­tures from prior vis­its: River Hip­pos may very well be my favorite ani­mal (strange, I know). So, that is always a must-see spot for us as well!  Plus, you can get some adorable pho­tos on the hippo statue! We saw a lot of other awe­some ani­mals as well! Here are some of my favorite shots from the day:As always, we had a great time at the San Diego Zoo! It’s an absolute must-see South­ern Cal­i­for­nia des­ti­na­tion! And, the Aus­tralian Out­back is a great addi­tion! Have YOU been to the San Diego Zoo? What’s your favorite thing there?

Dis­clo­sure: My fam­ily received free admis­sion cour­tesy of the San Diego Zoo (thank you!!!) for the pur­poses of review. All of our opin­ions, expe­ri­ences, pho­tos, love of the zoo and ani­mals are all our own!!