Angelica’s zoo wish granted

When Angelica Dark had her wish granted by the Mandurah Rockingham Make-A-Wish Foundation, the 18-year-old did not think the week-long holiday to Queensland would be so action-packed.

In 2011, Ms Dark was diagnosed with cancer, but after months of treatment and after 18 months of hospital visits, she is now in remission.

Ms Dark, who was joined on the all-expenses paid trip by her parents and two sisters, said the biggest surprise happened on their first day in the sunshine State when her parents, Marcella and Wayne, announced they were getting married.

“Mum had everything packed, the dresses and the jewellery,” she said.

“We had no idea.”

After getting over the excitement over her parents’ wedding, Ms Dark said the rest of the holiday was full of theme park visits and relaxation at luxury hotels.

“We went to Australia Zoo, that was cool,” she said.

Ms Dark said a highlight of the visit was when she and her family had their faces beamed on the centre’s big screen.

“They had a competition where they asked one side to do monkey impersonations and they asked our side to impersonate birds,” she said.

“We had our whole family jump up being chickens, my dad was doing the moonwalk.

“It was awesome and we won lots of prizes.”

Ms Dark said another highlight of the trip was swimming with dolphins at Sea World. “I got to meet a dolphin and sit in the water with it and feed and pat it,” she said.

The final surprise of the holiday was when Ms Dark got to swim with seals, an experience she described as “amazing”.