Turning 24

 turning 24

I've been rather absent on my blog for the past month or so and although I have a few blogposts ready to upload, I wasn't sure what to upload first and decided on my birthday blogpost. On the 24th of August I turned 24. I already felt 24 and for a while kept thinking I was, so saying I'm now 24 doesn't actually feel weird to me! 

23 was a pretty good year for me tackling a lot of my anxieties and I'm doing really well with it so far. Although it still causes me anxiety, I have forced myself to do a lot of things I wouldn't have even thought twice about before. I started my fitness journey at 23 and cannot wait to continue doing so throughout 24 and hopefully reach my next goal. There's a lot of things I want to do this year and I have a good feeling about 24. 

For my birthday I really wanted to go to Longleat as it's one of my favourite places and I always really enjoy it there. Thankfully this year it was SO sunny and warm, unlike most years when it's been chucking it down and cloudy. Longleat was packed and I don't think I have ever seen it that busy before! 

We first went through the safari drive through and started off with the giraffes that you actually can get out to at the viewing point. They came fairly close which was cool as sometimes they hang out far away. The zebras always seem to hang out close by the viewing point! 

We went through the monkey bit which is what we always do and it's always so entertaining. You can avoid this part if you don't want your car ripped apart and chewed (lol) because they will try and remove anything they can get ahold of. They always chew the car but this year they decided to pull out the washer jet, chew it and then throw it on the floor. They have been known to remove hub caps, number plates and lots of other car parts. They're so adorable and love sitting on the car and going for a ride. Theres always monkeys that like to sit on the tyre on the back of our car and just cruise along. 

One thing I was SO happy about was that we got to see Anne the elephant. Anne was rescued from a circus and was brought to Longleat in 2011. She usually prefers to stay inside according to their website which is why whenever we've been, she's always been inside. We got lucky though and she was outside for a while. I could see her outside when we were going through the monkey drive through next to it and she stayed outside so we managed to stop next to her. She's so beautiful. Elephants are one of my favourite animals, I find them so fascinating. 

Through the drive through they also have camels, deer, bongos etc until you get to the next gated parts, which have different sections. They have lions, tigers, cheetahs, hyenas and wolves. We only saw wolves and a cheetah walking about but the lions were laying down and we didn't see the tigers or hyenas. I didn't get any photos of those though. 

After the safari we went to the main square. The regular carpark wasn't open so we had to park on the grass and walked past this beautiful view! 

I'm always excited to see the koalas and although they're always sleeping, you can always see them. They're so adorable! 

I was brave and went into the Lorikeet enclosure and fed them. I've always had a fear of birds flying at me (even when my budgie flies at me it scares me and I've had him for 12 years). For £1 you feed them out of this little cup. This was something I avoided the first couple of times I've been to Longleat and last year this part wasn't open, so as soon as I knew this part was open, I set myself a goal to feed the Lorikeets. It was actually so much fun and they weren't flying around everywhere like I thought they would. They sit and wait for people to walk through the door with food. They're so beautiful and colourful.

We saw some giant otters that are fascinating, a crocodile, some tortoises, armadillos, porcupines and saw these lil (well big) guinea pigs! Even though I've always had guinea pigs at home over the past 20 years, no matter where I see other piggies, I get SO excited! These piggies were really big in real life, much bigger than ones I've ever had! 

You can also walk through the meerkats which is so much fun. They're so cute but there is a possibility they can bite you so you're not allowed to touch them. It's so entertaining watching them run around between your feet. Apparently they're sneaky and try and escape when you exit, so you've got to be very careful when you leave and only open one door at a time. 

Before we left we went through the maze which was something we'd never done before. The sign said it can take 45 minutes but I timed us and it took us 7, so we were impressed with ourselves! You have to get to the viewing point in the middle and it had a really nice view overlooking the fields.

Overall I had the loveliest birthday with my family and boyfriend. I can't wait to see what happens at 24!

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