We awoke to a brilliant sunny morning. After an excellent breafast
at our accommodation, Luther King House, we
departed Manchester for Blackpool. Our first stop was Wild Discovery. This is a small zoo
located within Ribby Village near Kirkham. We enjoyed a stroll
around the site and saw a number of familiar and unfamiliar species.
Everything was in good order and the animals appeared to be happy
and healthy.
I thought I was back home in Melbourne
for a moment as we travelled along this Motorway!
A Village Weaver
A Goeldi's Marmoset
Gidgee Skinks are native to Central Australia.
This is a Bolivian Black-Capped Squirrel Monkey.
A Dwarf Mongoose
A Capybara
Asian Short-Clawed Otters
A Binturong
A Turkey Vulture
An Arctic Fox
A Dwarf Zebu
One of the experiences offered by the zoo was to feed the
African Spurred Tortoises. We happened to be passing as a
group of people were enjoying this opportunity (so were the
tortoises).
The unfortunately-named Kirk's Dik-Dik
A Giant Anteater
We arrived safely in Blackpool, checked in to our
accommodation and headed for Blackpool Tower. When
it opened in 1894, it was the tallest man-made structure in the
British Empire and is still very impressive today at 158 metres
tall.
It was slightly unnerving to stand on
glass like this!
Within the complex
is the Tower Ballroom. This is also very impressive. We
had a bit of afternoon tea there (but not the actual
Afternoon Tea event as that was £25 per head!) and
listened to the Wurlitzer Organ being played.
The organist announced the dance associated with the piece
he was going to play and some people got up and danced.
This was the last piece played
this afternoon.
We were so lucky with the weather!
These wind turbines are located
quite far out at sea. We could only just make them out
from the beach. My camera's zoom came in handy once
again.
We had dinner at "Coral Island", an
amusement establishment with a "pirate" theme. All the
staff were dressed as pirates. Following a trip on the
Blackpool tram, we returned to our accommodation.
Hunter Chicken is chicken breast, bacon and cheese. It's
very similar to parmigiana.
An unexpected sight, as we trundled along in the tram,
was the factory where "Fishermen's Friend" lozengers are
made.
There are quite a few grand hotel buildings from
yesteryear along the promenade. This one is The Imperial
Hotel.