Today,
We had a pretty good time, and saw a lot of animals and perhaps too many people, and a bit too much sun (even through the sun screen and hats).
A Minolta SLR Doing a seat of my pants calculation, with what I spent on 3 rolls of film and processing, I probably could afford a decent digital SLR body for somewhere in the 10-12 day (30-36 roll) range. Before Australia next year, I'll have to decide if it is worth it.
{Interestingly, in 1999, I got my first digital camera mostly because I wasn't sure I wanted to carry the SLR to Australia. Now I'm thinking that I may want to get a digital SLR before going to Australia next year because I don't like the pictures our digital point-and-shoot take for things like scenery and animals.}
One other thing I decided today is that if I want to be taking good, or at least better, pictures at places like the Wild Animal Park, I'm going to need a better zoom. What I have now is the lens that came with the camera, which is a typical hybrid mostly wild angle and it just could not zoom in well on all of the animals -- especially from the driving tour.