It's not easy to forget whose house you're in during a night in the wild. Photo / Supplied
It's not easy to forget whose house you're in during a night in the wild. Photo / Supplied
Take a walk on the wild side without having to go all the way to Africa, says Lynette Eyb.
The people and the cars have all gone - it's just us left, locked in with the animals. A hippo grunts in the distance; somewhere a siamang ape calls out to her beloved. It's not hard to imagine lions and tigers lurking in the shadows.
Spotlights and torches at the ready, we're about to embark on night walk around the zoo. Tonight we're visiting the Australian enclosure to see what the koalas and echidnas get up to after dark.
They're not likely to attack us - nor, does it seem, are the kangaroos that nibble food from our hands - but we're still advised to stay close, and to keep our wits about us; we are, after all, surrounded by much bigger beasts.
Taronga Western Plains is a zoo worthy of the great expanse of Australian Outback it borders, some 400km west of Sydney.
Covering a massive 300 hectares, it's an open-range safari-style set-up that, despite its size, prides itself on giving visitors an up-close-and-personal experience.
And that's exactly what its overnight programme is all about.
Tonight we'll feast on an Aussie bush barbecue, and stroke blue tongue lizards and scary-looking snakes before visiting the enclosures and learning about the zoo's conservation initiatives.
Tomorrow morning - at the break of dawn - we'll be off to give the Sumatran tigers their breakfast and visit the siamang apes who will keep us awake for a large proportion of tonight with their vocal gymnastics.
By day, the gates will be opened and the masses will be allowed in to share our animal kingdom.
We'll ride bikes around the six-kilometre circuit, taking in the African savannah and chatting to the rhino keepers as they feed their endangered charges.
We'll lunch on steak sandwiches while the addax graze, and we'll return twice to watch the meerkats with bemusement. The kids will fill in the gaps at the Safari Park Playground or by jumping in and out of a crate used to transport elephants.
An elephant at Taronga Zoo. Photo / Supplied
For now, though, we'll finish our night-time walk before toasting marshmallows on the fire and heading off to the little tent city built around the billabong.
There's nothing particularly fancy here - the tents are sturdy and the camp beds are comfortable - but the toilets are clean and it's fully catered, giving it a posh-camping kind of feel.
Our heads hit the pillow just as the siamang apes find their voice, serenading each other with love songs that I'm told sound romantic in their own language, if not in English.
But it's not long before their tunes give way to the sounds of the Aussie bush - the odd hippo grunting in the background to remind us whose house we're really at. We're eventually lulled into a deep slumber that can only be brought about by a heady day of animal spotting with a dash of snake-stroking on the side.
Getting there: Qantas flies daily from Auckland to Sydney. Regional flights continue to Dubbo - or consider a five-hour kangaroo- and emu-spotting roadtrip through Aussie bush to get there.
Details:Zoo entry costs from $52 adults and $26 for children (kids under 4 free) for a two-day pass. You can hire golf buggies to get around. Overnight stays at Billabong Camp cost from $186 for adults and $105 for children (5-15 years only) including zoo admission. Safari lodges and cabins for kids of all ages are also available.
