Knowsley Safari Park visit

 

Last Sunday it was Craig’s birthday and he decided he wanted to go to Knowsley Safari Park for the day as his birthday present. It has been about 12 years since we last visited so Matthew did not really remember it at all. Some of his family members came along as well.

 When we arrived we decided that we were going to do the drive safari first. It is split into various zones. Most of the animals (sensibly) stayed away from the road so I had to zoom in to get any photos. The rhinos and the ostriches weren’t afraid though and were stood right up to the road.

We decided that we were not going to drive through the baboon enclosure as last time we had seen them doing damage to quite a number of cars so we followed the car friendly route which did allow us to stop and watch those brave enough to drive through. This time the baboons were more interested in having a ride on the cars rather than ripping of windscreen wipers and wing mirrors.

 The drive through safari took an hour so it was a bit early for lunch. We had been told that there were various displays on so we went along to the Sea Lion show to find we had just missed it, so we went to the bird display instead. My goodness those birds like to fly very low over your head. I had to duck a number of times to avoid a bird crashing into me.

 My nephew decided he wanted to have his face painted so my brother in law took him along and ended up getting his face painted as well. As he was the only adult in the park daft or brave enough to get his face painted he became a bit notorious with members of staff looking out for him during the day.

 We saw the sea lion show. I didn’t take any photos as I ended up holding my great niece during the show. She was fascinated by it and was copying what the sea lions were doing when they were clapping or waving. I had forgotten just who wriggly a one year old could be and how much attention you need to pay to make sure they are not inadvertently kicking the person in front of you or trying to steal a little girl’s tiara. I did enjoy that it though as it brought back memories of when my two were that age.

 Knowsley Safari Park does not have any of my favourite animal which is the red panda, but they did have meerkats which made up for that fact. I was surprised at how close you could get to them as at Chester they are behind glass and when we went to the Cotswold Wildlife Park they were in a deep pit.

 My nephew was just the right age for the rides that the park had so he went on all of the ones that were open. The rides were aimed at children from about 3 to 12 years old. I don’t remember those being there when we last visited but I know that they have done a lot since we were last there. It was easier to buy a wrist band and they were surprising good value. It was £10 per wristband but you could have unlimited rides and any accompanying adult went on free. No wonder my nephew wanted to go on everything.

 The whole day ended up being longer than we expected as there was more to do than we thought. We got there at 10.00am and left just after 5.00pm. Obviously some of that was my nephew going on the rides and if you went with teenagers or babies then you would probably not be as long. We did all enjoy it and are now planning to go to The West Midlands Safari park next month.

Word of the Week - Cinema

 Warning – this post contains plot details and spoilers so if you are planning on seeing any of these films and don’t want to know then skip that section.

 It’s funny how like buses you can wait for ages for one to arrive then 3 come along at once, there are films that you want to see then they all seem to come at once. I have felt like I have lived at the cinema this week after seeing 3 films in 4 days. As you can see I don’t have a particular genre of films that I watch, it is just whatever takes my fancy.

We are fortunate to have the choice of a number of cinemas near us. We do prefer ‘Vue’ rather than Odeon as they have the big recliner chairs and you have more space. For us it is also slightly cheaper for the tickets. We don’t tend to buy snacks from the cinema as there is supermarkets very close by so we tend to stock up there. Matthew has also been known to take a McDonalds in when we have been in a rush.

 On Sunday, I went to see Downton Abbey with my Mum and sister. I have loved Downton Abbey since the first episode and have watched them all multiple times. It is even better to see it on the big screen. Mary is my favourite character but only marginally over Violet, The Dowager Countess. Violet always has the best lines and that was apparent in her final line on her deathbed ‘ Denka, do be quiet, I can’t hear myself dying’. I admit I was in tears at this point but that line was just typical of the Dowager Countess. The filming style was different from the series and the last film and all the characters looked more heavily made up and tanned (even those that didn’t go to the South of France). You could tell Hugh Bonneville had lost a lot of weight and he did look very different. I am glad that Mr Moseley finally had some good luck and that he and Miss Baxter were finally able to be together.

 On Tuesday we took advantage of the Meerkat Movies and went to see Lost City. It is a typical Sandra Bullock film which is why I was surprised that Craig wanted to see it. I enjoyed it as a rom-com but Craig just said it was okay. I hadn’t realised that Brad Pitt was in it as well and did gasp quite loudly at his sudden demise. The change in Channing Tatum’s character was a bit unbelievable but overall it was a light hearted fun movie and a pleasant way to spend an evening.

 On Wednesday, again taking advantage of Meerkat movies we went to see Dr Strange and the Multiverse of Madness’. Dr Strange isn’t my favourite MCU character but I did like Wanda. The trailer I had seen gave no indication that Wanda was actually the ‘bad guy’ in this film.  That did spoil it for me and I thought the film was ok but I won’t bother going to watch the next one. The heavy use of  fantasy style CGI  puts me off this series as well. I know that CGI is used heavily in most films now but when buildings are bending and things are being twisted etc, it is a little off putting for me.

 It seems the film industry are making up for the lost years as there are quite a few films that are being released this year that I want to see including ‘Lightyear’ ‘Thor, Love and Thunder’  ‘ Mrs Harris goes to Paris’ ‘The Fishermans Friends’  and maybe ‘The Railway Children’ and ‘Elvis’.  Craig wants to see ‘Maverick’ and ‘Black Panther’. Matthew and Emma will probably go with him, but I will give them a miss as although I will probably end up watching them at some point I am not bothered about going to the cinema.

 Do you like going to the cinema and what films are you planning on going to see?

Linking with with Anne at Raisie Bay