Fun and Free - Queen's Park is the Place to Be!

After a week of rain and sickness we have been keen to get out of the house and into some sunshine. This journey took us a little away from home to the City of Ipswich where we enjoyed a morning at Queen's Park. I've blogged about Queen's Park before but not every aspect of it. So much of Queen's Park is great that's it's hard to talk about all of it at once!

There's a bigger than big playground with equipment to suit all ages and stages of gross motor capabilities as well as a wonderful cafe with a huge deck overlooking the park lands. Today however I want to talk about the incredible Nature Centre.

Ipswich is about half an hour out from the western suburbs of Brisbane and you'll find Queen's Park just off Brisbane Rd, in Goleby Ave, as you nearer the heart of Ipswich. The Centre is open from Tuesday to Sunday from 9am - 3.45pm, Saturday, Sunday and Public Holidays from 9am - 4.30pm and it's closed on Christmas Day.

To see the animals in the Nature Centre is absolutely free but the opportunity for a donation to be given to keep the exhibit happening is available at the entrance. All the animals are cared for daily by wonderful wildlife carers. The tracks in the centre lead you past cockatoos, swans, wallabies, lizards, emus, kangaroos, dingos, wombats and snakes, just to name a few animals.

I absolutely love the wombats! It's a pretty special thing if you see them out walking around rather than sleeping as they are often doing. I guess they're allowed to! The spotted quoll and bilbys are also a sight to see. The bilbys are a newish addition to the Nature Centre and they can be found in their dark cave home.

The animal list doesn't stop there. As you make your way around the tracks there's a huge bird avery to walk inside, just follow the track around. And to finish off the walk you'll discover a barnyard of baby farm animals which are fed at 11.30 and 3.00pm. This time on our visit we saw a calf, some chicks and geese but at other times we have seen cute little piglets and a kid (baby goat) too.

We almost did everything on our trip to Queen's Park during this visit. We enjoyed a lovely morning tea together, saw the animals, had lunch at the cafe and finished off with a big play in the playground. This park never lets us get bored - there's a lot to see and do! If you live in Brisbane, treat yourself and take a trek out to Ipswich to see the Queen's Park Nature Centre.