Fairbridge - RodneyOlsen.net

One of the most memorable parts of our family holiday last week was visiting Peel Zoo which is just an hour south of Perth in Pinjarra. We were staying at Fairbridge Village for the week so we were much closer.

Peel Zoo is located 10 minutes from Mandurah and 60 minutes from Perth Zoo. The zoo provides a hands on experience for its visitors. It is a privately funded zoo, focusing on education and conservation, and a wonderful place to spend a day. The zoo is constantly expanding, taking on more animals, and working with the community to protect and conserve local wildlife.

I must admit that I wasn’t totally convinced that the visit would be worthwhile. We’ve got a family membership to Perth Zoo which is a much bigger zoo with a far wider diversity of animals. There’s always so much to see at Perth Zoo that I felt I’d be disappointed by the very much smaller Peel Zoo. I needn’t have worried.

The big difference with Peel Zoo is the fact that you can get up close and personal with the lodgers. I can’t describe how wonderful it is to stroke a kangaroo. They really are the most beautiful animal and the roos at Peel Zoo are so incredibly tame. Their fur is so soft and I could sit around feeding them all day.

As well as patting kangaroos we got to feed and stroke an emu, some deer, and several other beasts.

While walking through the giant aviary I ended up with a bird on each shoulder. Neither of them were keen on going anywhere. They were quite content to use me as a perch for the rest of the day. Maybe they were hoping I’d just walk out so that they could escape.

At the end of our visit one of the zoo keepers very kindly introduced Emily, James and their cousins to one of the resident snakes. It was a delight to see how much she enjoyed sharing her friends with the children.

If you’re ever in the Pinjarra area I can heartily recommend a visit to the Peel Zoo. If you’re in the Perth area, make a day of it. Head down to the Pinjarra Bakery & Patisserie and enjoy some of their award winning goodies, then spend the afternoon meeting the locals at Peel Zoo.

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You may have noticed I’ve been missing in action for the last several days. I was spending some time away with my family in Wolfe Cottage at Fairbridge Village near Pinjarra.

Pauline and I took Emily and James to share a house with Pauline’s mum, Pauline’s brother and his four children, and Pauline’s sister, her husband with their two children. We had a great time sharing the cottage.

If you’ve never been to Fairbridge it’s well worth checking it out. The village offers a range of accommodation and all the money raised through hiring out the various cottages goes back into helping young Western Australians in various ways.

Fairbridge is a major youth charity in Western Australia and the only charity in Australia that owns a whole nationally heritage-listed town site.

Kingsley Fairbridge saw a dream in creating a nurturing and positive environment for young people to grow. He established Fairbridge Village (now nationally heritage-listed) as a world first, in 1912.

Fairbridge runs a myriad of programs and services for young people and has partnership agreements with dozens of other youth organisations. Fairbridge works with children with a disability, young people at risk, young people with drug problems, the unemployed, young people in our justice system, young people who are struggling with life, indigenous young people and refugees, through to gifted young people. Fairbridge helps young people reach their full potential and bring about long term positive sustainable change in their lives.

Fairbridge uses a holistic approach to working with young people and their families. Services provided range from mentoring, leadership development, life skills, interest free loans, accommodation, education, accredited training, employment opportunities and adventure camps.

I’ll tell you more about what we did over the past few days in coming posts.

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