Google recommended that I take the #58 tram line and alight at the Royal Park stop, and go to the the Rail Gate entrance of the zoo. Easy enough, morning was eerily devoid of that many people at and around the tram stop. Just me and one dude in a nice coat. I then used Maps to locate the entrance.
At the entrance, I flashed my Klook voucher QR to get a pass. Easy enough. I spotted the gift shop to my right, and I was keen on buying some souvenirs there later. Unlike what happened at Taronga Zoo, I came in early and was in no risk of seeing the souvenir store close down anytime soon.
The zoo was pretty flat and straightforward, the day was perfectly sunny – combined with the winter cold it was decent enough to let me unzip my jacket and let some chill in, like some comfortable aircon. I went to the big map nearby to plot my course.
So I started at the Rail Gate entrance, and these ended up my course, in order:
- Australian Bush
- Forest of Wonder (tigers, some other monkeys, otters)
- Gorilla Rainforest (monkeys)
- A glimpse of the main gate
- Growing Wild
- Wild Sea (the fishes and penguins)
- Lion Gorge (basically the big cats and dingoes)
The route I took wasn’t conventional – the map picture I showed before attests to that – but I tried to make it circuitous so I could go back to the Rail Gate entrance/exit. Basically the route went from a right to left and down kind of way. There were two areas I skimmed deliberately. “Eat & Play” was just a big area for parents and kids so I just treated it like a 3-minute look, and the “Frogs & Reptiles” area was on the way to the “Australian Bush” area anyway so I just used it as a road to and away from it, any animals I saw in the F&R area were just happy little accidents.
I spent nearly two hours in the area, I treated it like a morning exercise. No rush, I didn’t have any demanding area to go to after the zoo, just a chill time to walk. I appreciated the wide swaths of park area, because unlike Taronga Zoo and its area crammed with so much trees and greens, Melbourne Zoo was like if they blended a greenery park with a zoo. And it showed too in the morning, I saw way more happy people walking leisurely there than compared to Taronga Zoo.
But Melbourne Zoo hid its best attractions, nestled inside its respective areas. I did appreciate the surprises as it made me very happy to either stay and keep taking pictures or sit down and take in the display. I did both in many areas.
There was this structure in the aviary that had this amazing walkway that was domed with sufficient protection to keep stuff in. I’m like, wow this is amazing. I think the aviaries were the only areas I spent a slower time walking in, as the inside layouts were superb.
The Lemur Land was also very fun, going into these man-made huts and seeing the lemurs just go about lazily in their enclosures. Monkey areas were also kind of cool (it’s the Gorilla Rainforest for reference), the walkways sure were well-made. Lots of wood used with decent foliage surrounding the paths.
The aquatic display areas were well-thought too, as it looked like a premium museum display and seeing these big glass displays to see underwater creatures at.
Big picture gallery below:
By the time I got out, the weather went from sunny an hour ago to cloudy and foreboding, so I zipped my jacket up again to protect myself from the increased chill. Fortunately, the last section (the big cats and dingoes) was brief, so after all that, I was back to where I started, and 8 minutes past 12pm time was good enough. I went to the gift store to buy souvenirs – one pin, three magnets and one promotional canvas bag exclusively sold by the store.
I got out of the zoo, rode the tram back to the CBD, and went for the area I knew there are guaranteed souvenir stores. And fortunately again, it’s a familiar place because I ate there for dinner last night. Yes, it’s Queen Victoria Market. Daytime.
Briathrail // Albert 2MNG 
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