A lofty lunch delivery

Australia is home to many big things.

We have the world’s largest sand island, the world’s largest coral reef and some bloody big sandstone rocks rising randomly from flat red desert.

Our big things are mostly parts of our landscape, and those gimmicky man-made icons that promote local industry in towns across the country; not so much our animals.

Sure, we’ve also got some big red kangaroos built like ‘roided-up’ bodybuilders looking like they’re ready to rumble, and crocodiles as long as small trucks who can cause more damage than said truck running over you might deliver, but stick them next to huge African game and they don’t seem quite as intimidating.

Giraffes though, while the heads of a full-grown adult could probably fit four or five of my own noggin inside them on a diagram comparing the two, are not scary like a peed-off elephant or an angry hippo.

They’re not going to stalk you like a lion or make a beeline for you like a highly strung black mamba trying to make it back home when you’re in its path.

I have, however, seen giraffes fight each other on nature docos, to assert dominance or win mating rights.

I’ve seen them defend their young aggressively.

I know they’ve got brawn and bravery.

They could probably mess anything up if they wanted to.

But, they choose peace and grace.

Being herbivores, they don’t even kill other creatures to survive.

All these traits have led me to adore them.

They’re obviously not native to Australia, so if we want to see them here, we’ve got to hit up a zoo or two.

Mogo Wildlife Park has the second largest giraffe population in any Australian zoo or wildlife park after Dubbo Zoo.

We drove through the town, near Bateman’s Bay, when we drove from Jervis Bay to Merimbula last school holidays, so we stopped in for a little look-see of my faves.

It’s a great little park.

It’s got a heap of native species and furry farmyard friends, but many exotic critters you might not expect to find inside too.

There are monkeys galore, including several gorillas, lions, rhinos, otters, cheetahs and zebras, to name a few.

Then there’s the Rothschild’s giraffes.

Each time we visit a zoo I take a look at the animal encounters available in case there’s something exclusive to that park that we might miss if we don’t return for another 20 years, or in case something is affordable enough to purchase for the whole family.

At Mogo, that was giraffe feeding.

It cost me just $25 per person.

So, for four of us – two of my teenage sons and one girlfriend – it added just $100 to our entry fee to get up close enough to these gentle giants and take home a more unique memory than one of watching them from further afar.

The platform: a set of large metal steps that looked like something you might board a plane directly from the tarmac on.

The dish: loads of leafy green sticks.

The dinner guests: long-necked, yellow and brown patchwork-patterned beasts with horns and swishing tails.

Their eagerness: palpable.

Our excited giggling: registering on the Richter scale.

The photos: priceless.

And on that, we didn’t get stung any extra for a souvenir photo taken by staff; we were free to take as many photos and videos on our own devices as we liked.

So, we did.

It was refreshing to find an affordable animal encounter that we could all get a buzz out of.

The giraffes might be big, but the cost to deliver them their lofty lunch was really quite a small price to deposit another core memory in the bank.