Peacocks and ducklings at Staglands

On Saturday we made the most of the sunshine and drove to Staglands for a family day out (thanks to Charli for winning a family pass at the Kindi Fair!). There were baby ducklings everywhere and it was as though Charli had never seen one before. She was absolutely besotted with them. I thought of the countless times I used to take her to the duck pond in the Botanical Gardens as a pre-schooler and thought that must have hard-wired her neurons to be infatuated with them. She is taking a huge interest in babies of all descriptions at the moment and is lovingly touching my expanding belly at every opportunity.

Both the girls tried their hardest to stroke the ducklings, but naturally the ducklings didn’t feel game on.

Girls: ‘But why won’t they let us stroke them?’

Mum and Dad: ‘Imagine an animal ten times bigger than you walking towards you, with a bag as big as you, reaching down to touch you… would you stand there and let it, or would you waddle away?’

Girls: ‘Run fast!’

So the ducklings were off the ‘animals that like to be stroked’ menu, but were of course happy to be fed. They stroked rabbits and guinea pigs, fed the rainbow trout, and danced around the peacocks proudly displaying their gorgeous feathers at every opportunity (love was certainly in the air at Staglands this Labour weekend!). Sophie was extremely excited to ride in a little wagon pulled by a very lovely donkey.

When we reached the deer park we were greeted by a rather friendly goat (which Charli preferred to view from the safety of Daddy’s shoulders). We walked up the rolling hill overlooking Staglands, under the watchful gaze of the fallow deer, from where we enjoyed a stunning view of the river valley. Sophie marvelled at Clydesdale Bob and we emptied our food bags to the deer before heading down to the cafe for a late lunch at the cafe.

A marvellous family day and we can’t wait to do it in January, when we shall make a pit-stop enroute at the Blueberry Farm.

Our return home on Saturday was via Harcourt Park, where a fabulous playground burnt off any remaining energy the girls had left. We then carried on homeward, singing songs and munching ice-lollies to avoid any chance of a late afternoon nap (which would have resulted in a horribly late bed-time!). And when we couldn’t agree on which song to sing we counted different coloured cars (Sophie: red, Charli: blue, Mummy: brown – totally unfair, Daddy: pink – he’s colour blind and was playing on it big time!).

Previous blog posts with reference to Staglands:
Family fun at Staglands
Urban Sanctuary
Fun with Grandma
‘Chicken’ Grandma has arrived from England
Greytown with Grandma
Soaking up the last of the summer sun
Walking on the Wild Side