'Mandrill'

We decided to take the kids to Melbourne Zoo today as Bella has never been and she just loves animals.

We thought we'd try to arrive early and beat the crowds, but by the time we arrived at 9:10am, just 10 minutes after opening time, the first carpark was already full. We had to wait in line for about ten minutes to buy our tickets at the gate, but once we were inside everything ran very smoothly considering how busy it was.

Our zoo is so well landscaped that once you're in a particular area, you can never see more than a handful of people at a time, even on a hugely busy day like today.

We were very impressed with the improvements since we last visited when Dylan was only 1 or 2.

The monkeys and primates are definitely my favourite animals, closely followed by the butterfly enclosure.

Great weather for it again today too, not too hot, although I do feel like I got a little sunburnt today.

On a different note, only eleven months until Christmas today! Who's ready for that?