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Doonside NSW

Featherdale Wildlife Park, 217 Kildare Rd, Doonside NSW

Reviewed by B
Overall: Good. Nappy changes. Feed, rest and play can be taken care of throughout the rest of the park.
Good Points: Bathrooms with baby change area at the entrance to the park, and also at the toilet block in the middle of the park. Clean and spacious. Change tables in both the mens and ladies bathrooms located in the middle of the park – finally the dads are remembered! Off-street parking.
Bad Points: Paper towel in the bathrooms would be good, and a nappy bin instead of a regular swing lid bin. No where comfortable enough or private for breast-feeding – the cafe (with outdoor seating) would be your best bet. Hard chairs and tables.

My little angel’s 2nd birthday today – yay!!! Time just races by, cannot believe how much she has grown and changed in such a short time. To celebrate, we all took the day off and headed to Featherdale Wildlife Park. I’d been there a number of years ago and was excited to go again with a little pixie in tow. And we were not disappointed!! It was so much fun.

There’s loads of off-street parking, which is great. Just inside the entrance, after the ticket booth, there are bathrooms. Gotta love a place that reminds you to go to the loo before heading inside. Rather sort it out at the start than having to go within 5minutes of getting inside. Love it love it!
There is one baby change table in this block, and it’s inside the disabled bathroom (photos to be uploaded shortly – on the iPhone right now). We only had the umbrella stroller with us, thank goodness. Anything bigger than that, you may want to leave outside the door. Not much room at all, but it does the job for quick changes. This wasn’t overly clean, and it did smell of urine, which did not build my confidence about what we’d find in the park – but I was pleasantly surprised.

Kind of in the middle of the maze of the park we found the white toilet block. Now because it’s a wildlife park and it’s a bit smelly (well, you gotta expect it when you’re spending the day in the home of hundreds of different animals) I wasn’t expecting these loos to be much better than the ones at the entrance. Huge difference, seriously!!

Firstly, there is a baby change table in the ladies AND…..the MENS!!!!  Finally a place that recognises dads change nappies too. Too often the men are forgotten when it comes to looking after children in public places, but Featherdale has remembered the guys – yay!

And the next best thing…….these were clean and didn’t smell bad at all. Very very happy. My nose was glad for the break from animal smells for a couple of minutes. Ramp access to both, so you can get in there with a pram. The change tables aren’t anything magnificent – just wall-mounted fold out units. Two sinks, soap dispenser, hand dryer and rubbish bin. There are 3 loos in the ladies side, all standard size so little ones using the loo may need help. Unfortunately there wasn’t a paper towel dispenser, so drying little hands could be a hassle if the hand dryer is a bit scary.

Featherdale is so much fun. It doesn’t cost a bomb either. Get online before going ‘cos you can find some great discounts. We used a buy-one-get-one-free voucher, so it only cost $23 for all 3 of us! And to see so many animals, and get to feed and pat so many gorgeous furry creatures…..brings back the fun of being a kid all over again. Just watch out for some of the Kangas – cheeky things like to pinch the food right out of your hands rather than nibble delicately at your offerings. And watch out for the stealth walking Ibis…..it has a hankering for Nutella sandwiches.