Holiday blog day 2

After a hot and tiring day walking round London, what better way to relax that a day walking round the zoo? Whipsnade Zoo is only a short drive from Harpenden, so that's were we decided to go. It was another hot day, although the breeze was refreshing as long as you could find a patch of shade to stand in, and most places in the zoo had some sort of tree cover.

The zoo is spread out over a fairly large area with large paddocks for most of the animals, particularly the White Rhinos and Zebra who had a big space to play in. I know the arguments for and against keeping animals in zoos, but if you are going to do it for conservation and breeding then this is probably the best way to do it.

Anyhoo, we saw Ostriches ...



... a fabulous Siberian tiger lolling in the sun like a big pussy cat, ...



... a fiery flock of flamingos ...



and a baby White Rhino with her mother looking like something from pre history.



Other highlights of the day included a bird show with an owl and several pairs of parrots swooping low over the heads of the crowd, and seeing the elephants form into trunk to tail marching order for a stroll around the grounds.



Needless to say, by the end of the afternoon we were all footsore and tired, but happy nonetheless, and very grateful for the previously mentioned air conditioning for the trip home.

A quick snooze, and then we were out again for a walk down to a classic car rally on Harpenden Common. I was expecting perhaps twenty or so vehicles, but there must have been well over a hundred and fifty, including such delights as Morris Minors, Porsches, Lamborginis, Ferraris, TVRs, vintage trucks and fire engines, Ford Cortinas, Fastbacks, classic bikes, monster trucks, a Sinclair C5 and the highlight for me ...



Fantastic!