Greetings All,

Well, for our fun activity this week I decided to take us all to the Melbourne Zoo.  Surprisingly, it was only 5.3km away which made for about a 35 minute walk from The Nunnery.  However, rather than just walk around the zoo like any other zoo around the world, I have found a very special experience for all of us to partake in called, “I, Animal.”  Since the zoo is celebrating its’ 150^th anniversary this year, there are many unique experiences for us to participate in.  I thought that I, Animal sounded like a one of a kind experience that we would not be able to find anywhere else in the world.  And it just started on November 23^rd so we are among the first people in the world to experience it. 

We were able to walk to the zoo which took all of 35 minutes.  “I, Animal” begins at 6:30 in the evening, but with its debut and exclusivity, we arrived an hour early at 5:30 to ensure that we would make it in time.  The tickets were $50 AUD a piece which comes to $52.50 USD for a grand total of $315 USD for all of us.

We entered at 6:30pm and each of us were handed an ipad that the zoo dubbed “zoe”.  With our personal zoe, each of us embarked through the experience that turned out to be part multi-media tour, part theatrical experience, and part animal encounter.  The event prompted us to question the boundaries between human and animal and through our personal experience, find an answer for it.  The group all came back together at the end of the tour and we were all able to discuss our experiences and thoughts with each other.  The zoo even sold food and alcohol at the end of the tour for all of us to partake in.  It was fantastic!  The experience really opened my eyes to living as both a human AND an animal.  Catered exclusively to adults, it was nice to drink and socialize with others at the zoo to really immerse ourselves in the zoo.

This day was absolutely amazing! This is a one-of-a-kind experience that I am so happy we were able to participate in.  Upon the conclusion of the event, we walked back to The Nunnery and called it a night.

All in all, we spent $315 USD on our tickets and $143 USD on our food and alcohol at the end of the experience for a total of $358 USD.

Truly a great time!

Until next time,

Zach M.