John Stafford from Taralga Wildlife Park says "the interesting thing is where our business is coming from. We originally thought the majority would be tourists, and it's not that, it's mainly young families and people caring for children," including grandparents, groups like preschools and schools, as well as people with a disability and their carers.

He also says than many of these visitors are coming from neighbouring centres like Goulburn and Crookwell, and they've noticed some people coming back again and again because they've fallen in love with one of the animals.

Read more: Background story with photos 

That said, they do still have visitors from further afield, including internationally.

For everyone - of all ages - John believes the park's primary appeal is the ability to get so close to the animals.

As such, the Friendship Farm area of the park has proved very popular, where you can pet and hold a joey or a wombat, or feed the lambs and other farm animals.

There is also a lot to see. They have 120 species of animals and birds across 50 exhibits in the approximately 9 acres of park.

There's a bias towards Australian native animals, but you can look forward to all sorts of lovable critters like wombats, wallabies, deer, alpacas, donkeys, miniature ponies, rabbits, guinea pigs, goats and sheep.

The birds include topknot pigeons, channel billed cuckoos and Bush Stone-curlews. Cr Stafford tells us that they have recently added a macaw, and some more unusual Australian birds like koels.

The park's enclosures were constructed over a five-year period by Cr Stafford, wife Tracey Avery and their family.

After gaining the necessary licence with permits for all the enclosures, it was first opened to the public in July 2018.

The whole experience is designed to be family friendly, so you can even bring a picnic or use their barbeques for lunch.

The park is located on Bannaby Road in Taralga and opens from 10am to 4pm Thursdays to Mondays.

To find out more visit taralgawildlifepark.com or find them on Facebook.