I have written about this before in various guises, but here is a simple truth about me: I am not always a great Completer-of-Things. Thinker-of-Things, most definitely. Planner-of-Things and even Starter-of-Things, absolutely. And if I ever get around to completing even a fraction of the things that I think or plan or start – or just dream about while I look out the window – look out, World.
However, since I am now 8/10 of the way through my current Headspace meditation trial, I figure that it’s safe to say that this is something I’ll definitely complete. And so I wanted to share it with you here, in case you haven’t heard of Headspace or their ‘gym membership for the mind’, starting with a free trial program of 10 minutes a day for 10 days.
According to their website (and, I’ve got to say, my experience over the past eight days), Headspace is all about ‘meditation made simple’. Not woo woo woo pan pipe music, cascading waterfalls and bird calls, but proven meditation techniques with a scientific foundation. Treat your head right is their tag line, which sounds like an excellent idea to me.
Headspace was started by Andy Puddicombe who, according to a quote on the website from the New York Times, “is doing for meditation what Jamie Oliver has done for food”. Only not charging quite so much (or offering branded tea towels and crockery, at this stage). I’d first seen Andy juggling his way through an interesting (and relatively short) TED talk – you can check it out here if you like – about the importance of mindfulness and, in a nutshell, making time to give our overly busy minds a rest on a regular basis. Another excellent idea.
Speaking of head space, here are two giraffes that my lovely niece Ella and I met at Roar and Snore on Sunday morning.
The Headspace site and app are easy to navigate, pretty to look at and fun to use. With clever animations and images, I’m going to go out on a limb and say that after I complete the initial 10 day challenge, I’m going to subscribe to get access to their other mindfulness and meditation wares. AND I WILL USE THEM. Look out, World!
Hi there. It’s been a while since I last posted. I’m not really sure why that is – time has been filled with stuff and things and to be honest, I haven’t really felt like writing. In the face of happenings in the real world, the silliness of finding and sharing everyday sparks sometimes seems so ridiculous. I mean, people are suffering and getting sick and breaking up and shutting down and doing mean things. Then again, people are also being born, getting healthy, having fun, making things, doing good, starting again, having adventures and laughing. Right?
I also know that whatever is going on, I am still noticing those everyday sparks – whether they’re funny, silly, weird, nice, scary or quirky. And now I feel like getting back into sharing them here. In case we like some of the same sorts of things and I’ve seen stuff that you haven’t. Because we could all use some sparks to make us smile or grimace or snort or make that tsk tsk sound from time to time, I reckon. While we’re dealing with all of those happenings in the real world.
To get back into the swing of things, here are some pics of the baby chimp born at our Taronga Zoo here in Sydney over the weekend. Some classic shots for the family album.
Shiba and her baby boy. [photo by Lisa Ridley]The Fam. [photo by Lisa Ridley, from the Taronga Zoo Facebook page]And my favourite. [image by Lisa Ridley, from the Taronga Zoo Facebook page]You’re welcome!
On Saturday night, a wonderful tradition continued for me here in Sydney. Actually, I think I have written about it here before, but that was a while back, so I’m sure it’s ok if I tell you about it again. It all started almost six years ago, when my eldest niece turned eight. Given that her birthday is in December, I gave her a combined birthday-Christmas present of a Roar and Snore adventure at Taronga Zoo.
(If you’re not familiar with Taronga Zoo, it’s in a fabulous location with some of the best views in Sydney (especially if you’re a giraffe) and they have a really strong commitment to ensuring that the animals are well looked after – which makes for some large enclosures and interesting activities.)
Life is good, especially at Roar and Snore. [image from Taronga Zoo website]Anyways, last weekend it was finally the turn of the youngest of the three sisters in the family to head off for our overnight excursion to the zoo. LG was super excited about it – I know that for sure because she had written I AM SO EXCITED! on the gift voucher in giant letters. She had also started a countdown on her calendar and her whiteboard some time before we were due to go and had written a long list of things that she needed to pack in her bag – she’s an organised gal, alright.
The view from our tent. Uh huh.
And so we headed off to the zoo on Saturday evening in perfect weather. Arriving around sunset, we settled into our glamping accommodation – the large ‘tents’ have wooden floors, nice beds (with electric blankets) and two layers of zipped material doors to keep the pesky possums out. Over drinks and nibbles we had a close encounter with some new friends – including a snake, blue tongue lizard, leaf insect and a few others. And then after dinner, we went on a fantastic night tour of the zoo, when a lot of the boring daytime animals become very active creatures indeed.
Our new lizard friend. Did you know that lizards have ears and snakes do not?LG makes a new pal – the Children’s Python (named after a guy called Children, not because it eats kids…apparently)…
Overnight, we heard some roaring and some snoring (not from within our tent, I swear) and then it was an early start for breakfast before heading off for more behind-the-scenes interactions. Feeding the tall and frankly bizarre-looking giraffes their carrot breakfast was an incredible experience – some people even got a bit of a slurp from their loooong blue tongues. And then a close-up look (while staying dry) at the leopard seal being trained – amazing stuff. After that, we said goodbye to our new friends (humans and animals) and then spent the morning wandering around the zoo.
She looks lovely, but we were grateful for the extra thick glass between us, just in case…Yeah, yeah, hello everyone. Now hand over our breakfast.Hello, possum.A tortoise (I think). Shows its age through the rings on its shell, like the rings on a tree trunk, apparently.Up close and personal with the amazing leopard seal.A beautiful show-off.
One of the highlights (which I wish I could’ve captured better, but it was actually pretty scary at the time) happened when we were checking out the chimps on our early morning tour. The guide was telling us about the male boss chimp and, right on cue, he came to the front of the enclosure (you can hear her in the video advising not to make eye contact). He was right up at the glass and started tapping on the ground in front of us. The guide suggested that we could tap back at him.
And then he went a little bit nuts and hurled his large self at full pace right up against the glass and ran towards us. Thankfully, the $10k per pane extra-thick glass did its thing – but it definitely woke us up first thing in the morning!
I really can’t recommend this experience highly enough – for adults and kids alike – especially as a great gift idea for visitors or people who might be tricky to buy for around Christmas-time… If you’re interested (and you really should be, according to LG, her sisters and me), you can find out more at the Roar and Snore website here.
This week, with some Irish friends visiting for the rugby and a burst of some incredible springtime weather, we spent a lovely day at Taronga Zoo. Definitely one of my favourite spots in town and quite appropriate for the Lions fans.
Anyways, no pics of the animals today – but the tree trunk that I saw in the reptile exhibit. I was so taken with it, I almost didn’t notice the giant boa constrictor that I was meant to be checking out.
So here it is – the Taronga Zoo Tree Shark…
Oh and some large toy animals in the Zoo shop wearing booties. Just because.
I love the zoo. I especially love our zoo, Taronga, here in Sydney. I know that zoos aren’t universally popular or politically correct, but I know enough about Taronga to know that they’re making a huge effort to make the animals’ zoo lives as interesting, healthy and fun as possible – and same goes for the visitors. And behind the scenes, they raise a lot of cash for important conservation work and run many important breeding programs.
(As an aside, they also run the incredible Roar & Snore program, with an overnight stay at the Zoo – glamping all the way – and several amazing behind-the-scenes tours with keepers. I’ve been twice and can’t recommend it highly enough if you’re looking for a unique gift or Sydney experience.) Here’s a pic of the set up from the Roar & Snore site, in case you don’t believe me!
Uh huh.
Anyways, it was a lovely sunny day in Sydney yesterday, so I took myself off for a trip to the Zoo. Along with a lot of other people in Sydney, it seemed. It’s not an old-school zoo, so it doesn’t feel like you’re visiting the animals in jail – although judging by the many fools who climbed into the kangaroos’ area, some sort of electric shock system for idiot visitors might be in order. (I did wait around for a bit to see if the larger kangaroos might take matters into their own hands and kick the people out – literally – but they were very patient and polite hosts.)
Here are some pics from my day at the Zoo – if you haven’t been, or if you haven’t been for a while, then I reckon it’s definitely worth a visit on a sunny day!
Such a poser – this Rhinoceros Iguana was really working it for the camera. Or the sun.It’s a bit blurry, but I like to think this Lawson’s Bearded Dragon was trying to lead his mates in a daring escape attempt.And this is the brilliantly named FIERCE SNAKE. The most venomous land snake in the world, apparently, so he definitely lives up to his name. And the venom in one bite can kill 200,000 mice, so they say. Hope that’s toughened glass right there. Here are two Red Bellied Black Snakes getting close. And they don’t have a rainbow scale pattern, that’s a reflection from the glass, sorry! As is the creepy giant hand in the top right corner. I like this photo because the Short Necked Turtle was coming right at me. Also because he looks to be wearing a little girl’s shoe.Now that’s a meal with a bzillion dollar harbour view, lucky giraffe.Some days, I feel just the same, Chimps.Where the Chimpanzee enclosure meets the Human enclosure.
The old elephant enclosure – they’ve moved out, but it’s still a beautiful building.
A Zoo with a View.Just some of the crowd at the Zoo.
If you’re interested, you can check out the Taronga Zoo website here and the Roar & Snore info is here.
![Shiba and her baby boy. [photo by Lisa Ridley]](https://everydaysparks.files.wordpress.com/2014/08/shibababy.jpg?w=840)
![The Fam. [photo by Lisa Ridley, from the Taronga Zoo Facebook page]](https://everydaysparks.files.wordpress.com/2014/08/chimpfam.jpg?w=840)
![And my favourite. [image by Lisa Ridley, from the Taronga Zoo Facebook page]](https://everydaysparks.files.wordpress.com/2014/08/chimpschillaxing.jpg?w=840)
![Life is good, especially at Roar and Snore. [image from Taronga Zoo website]](https://everydaysparks.files.wordpress.com/2013/10/roarandsnoretents.jpg?w=840)
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