As a fairly new mum to a 20 month old toddler, and recently returned to work part-time, I have been trying to make sure every weekend with Liam is filled with fun. Our recent outings have seen us at the beach, and for a walk up Tomaree Summit. Our most recent adventure took us up to Port Stephens to Oakvale Wildlife Park.
I find the week is so hectic and I only work 3 days. Attempting to get through cleaning, cooking and bath-time in between toddler tantrums at the end of the work day can be…manic. I try and get through cleaning and washing on my week days off. This leaves our weekends free for family activities and good old fashioned family time.
Tickets are fairly reasonable. $29.50 per adult. Child entry (3-16 years) is $17.50. Children under 3 are free. They also offer cheaper family passes and annual memberships.
I had never been to Oakvale Wildlife Park before so didn’t really know what to expect.
When we arrived, we purchased some food to feed the animals, so the first thing we did was a short walk around to see the animals. There were so many! Kangaroos, ponies, goats, Texas Loonghorns, Llamas, Alpacas, Donkeys, Cows, Pigs and Sheep. I think the food was $5 (not 100% on this). Liam loved feeding the ponies and goats in particular.
There are of course many more animals to see including birds, reptiles, koalas, meercats, dingos, tassie devils etc. The above list is literally the animals Liam was attempting to feed and pet.
Next up on our agenda was a visit to the playground, which Liam loved. He spent about an hour running around which had him nicely worn out in time for lunch.
Oakvale Wildlife Park have a number of picnic tables available so you could bring a picnic. We purchased our lunch from their cafe. Liam had the nuggets and chips. His meal was quite a sizeable portion for a child. In hindsight, I would just purchase his meal and share it as we had a lot of leftover food between myself, husband and Liam.
After lunch, we went to the farmyard nursery where they were holding a demonstration. They allowed the children to feed baby goats with milk in baby bottles which was very cute. The children also helped herd the goats back into the pens afterward which was lovely to watch.
The park does operate a tractor train which visitors can ride on. Unfortunately we didn’t get to do this as they only did two runs and the queue was long. If this is something your children really want to do, line up early.
I really enjoyed the day. it was very chilled.
I didn’t realise that Oakvale had a splash pad so hadn’t packed any swimmers or towel for Liam. Should have done more research – I literally hadn’t even googled the park!
Having now googled the park, I believe they also offer animal encounters with birds, meercats, koalas, reptiles, ring tail lemurs, and alligators.
All in all, a great day and time well spent if you are looking for something to do with your little ones.