Never Too Many Pandas.

You can definitely never have too many pandas. As an animal lover I'm really conflicted about zoos, on the one hand there's the happiness of the animals and on the other, there's the conservation side of things. I feel that Ocean Park probably does do a lot to conserve China's native animals and actually, most of the enclosures are nice and big, and that's despite the huge theme park expansion they've been working on since I last visited.





I did actually lug my DSLR along for the ride for this excursion but my new snappy little Canon did a pretty swell job too - I'm actually thinking about getting my butt in gear and talking about my cameras in an upcoming post, and it's that little camera that had me inspired.

I just felt like my blog needed more pandas and more animals, it's been a while since my goat-crazy phase of the summer.




This monkey's weird, human-like face creeped me out a little, sorry little guy.


Making like a panda.



Making like a dancing panda.




Panda selfie, can you tell I like pandas?




Red pandas are an acceptable panda substitute and these guys were much more boisterous than they were when I visited in 2011.


So pretty.





Weirdly, and probably second to pandas (obviously), I think the goldfish exhibition is my favourite thing at Ocean Park. I think it's because it reminds me of my mum and it's actually pretty neat as they include the history of the goldfish too - bit more exciting than it sounds (only a bit).




The Ocean Park cable car is still one of the quietest places I've been in Hong Kong, gives you time to think.




It's days like this one where Hong Kong is a completely under-rated holiday destination, look at that sea!




Saw my first arctic fox, so that was neat.






Sloths: not as slow as you think.


For more panda-related fun, I would recommend David O'Doherty's 100 Facts About Pandas, the most accurate panda book I have ever read.

Rhinos in The Cotswolds.

...and I'm talking about actual rhinos, not just me visiting the Cotswolds - though that is something I did just do without going to Cotswold Wildlife Park the day before my birthday too.


What I Wore:
Cardigan: H&M // Vest: H&M // Belt: ASOS // Skirt: Charity Shop
For my birthday (last Sunday, I'm behind I know), I spent the third weekend in a row hanging out with animals, I honestly think I might be zooed/farmed out, so I'm clutching at straws to figure out what we're going to get up to with our guests this weekend but I'm not complaining.

I had absolutely no idea what Moon's plans for my birthday were so I was really excited and surprised when he told me we were off to Cotswold Wildlife Park for the day. Do not even start on me that I turned 26, it's totally cool, okay?

Cotswold Wildlife Park is just on the outskirts of the market town of Burford - right next to my favourite garden centre in the world - and it's advertised everywhere. On the leaflets it always says something along the lines of 'get closer to the animals' 'get closer than you've been before' and that's not just a marketing ploy to get you through the gate, you genuinely do. I can't express how impressed I was with this place, particularly after having mixed thoughts on a zoo as popular and large as Longleat Safari a couple of years ago.



I know zoos aren't necessarily everyone's cup of tea and there are definitely some bad ones but when they're doing good work and the animals are happy, well, there are worse ways to spend an afternoon in the sunshine. Cotswold Wildlife Park was actually voted one of the best zoos in Europe too so... All the enclosures were a really good size and none of the animals seemed stressed or annoyed and were actually really relaxed.

One thing that struck me was how trusting they seem to be, there's no electric fences or razorwire here, I actually had my lunch sat less than 10 feet away from a white rhinoceros. Thing is, the few ruin it for the many don't they, so I can be trusted to sit and admire these animals, while someone stupid could take a dive over that fence for a rhino party. It's not quite the same set up for the lions but you get the idea — I hope no one does do that, just because, well, judge for yourself how nice it is...

Love for Longleat.

I think all weekends should definitely be at least three days long, what a wonderful birthday weekend I've had. The best thing about having such an action-packed Friday for my birthday was getting to go home, head out to dinner and then realise I still had two whole days left to chill out and relax.

We were so lucky with the weather, Warminster must have known it was my birthday because it rained all the way there, yet the second we set foot out of the car when we arrived at the safari park it was glorious sunshine and it stayed like that for the rest of the day.

In case you can't tell, Moon treated me to Longleat Safari Park for my big 24th birthday on Friday and we had a nice day out but I'm probably put off having children for at least the next 100 years.



*Note to self: When going anywhere that passes Stone Henge, avoid Stone Henge.


Beautiful Wiltshire countryside.


Dramatic skies over the Longleat grounds.


It was pretty busy but I do enjoy zoos and being able to see so many animals in one place. Saying that, the animal rights activist in me did have a few issues with this place. I'd definitely recommend that they either get rid of their elephant or get more elephants for her to play with, she seemed pretty listless when we passed her on the safari and some of the enclosures were a little small and dirty, even the new penguin cave.

We didn't manage to get to Gorilla Island or to see the hippos and sealions just because the queue was crazy but I'd still say it was worth the money, I mean I did get the feed some deer - even it wasn't on the safari as promised, it was pretty fun to do something so different from normal, as we don't really do things like this together that often, what a treat!