They had read countless books about giraffes, seen plenty of pictures of the goofy-looking giants and marvelled at facts about the tallest mammals on Earth having ridiculously long blue tongues.

But they had never seen such a magnificent creature in real life.

And they certainly never imagined they’d be meeting two of the majestic creatures and getting tickled by that super long tongue as they fed their new friends carrot sticks.

But there we were, at Tasmania Zoo, doing exactly that – and my boys could not wipe the smiles off their faces.

“How does it feel?” I asked my seven-year-old, who is a massive animal lover. “Slimy,” he laughed, as the almost two-year-old giraffe Hunter expertly plucked an orange snack from his hand. Meanwhile, my five-year-old couldn’t stop giggling about how “tickly” the giraffe’s tongue felt on his hand. Hunter was confident but incredibly gentle and the boys felt at ease standing beside him, despite his towering height. The second giraffe, Tallbert, was a little more reserved, but still watched us with interest to see what all the fuss was about. He seemed as fascinated by us as we were by him.

Our encounter with these amazing animals, which arrived from Australia Zoo in December and now call Launceston home, was over in just a few minutes.

But meeting zookeeper Alyssa Neal and her two tallest charges had a lasting impact, with the boys continuing to exclaim “I can’t believe we got to feed a giraffe!”, despite it now being three weeks since our visit.

Tasmania Zoo is just one of the many great places to visit with kids in Launceston, a city which we’re increasingly discovering has a lot to offer families.

During a previous trip in the September school holidays, we spent time meeting peacocks and riding the chairlift at Cataract Gorge, learning fascinating facts about sea creatures and monotremes at Seahorse World and Platypus House, scouring rockpools at Greens Beach, riding horses at the Country Club and visiting the monkeys at City Park.

And now we were making animal friends of a different kind. Not just with the giraffes (and the snow leopard, meerkats, lemurs, capybaras, lions and many other animals we saw at the zoo) but also with a very special black labrador that the boys were excited to discover was living at our hotel.

Archie the silo dog is an eight-year-old pooch who didn’t pass his Guide Dog training, so he was redirected to a more suitable career. He spends his days lazing around the reception area of Peppers Silo Hotel, getting pampered with pats from visitors. He has become quite the celebrity with his own Instagram and Facebook accounts, and a range of plush toys created in his honour.

My boys loved checking in on Archie whenever we went in or out of the hotel – sometimes he’d be snoozing on his bed in the corner, sometimes he’d be sitting diligently beside the reception staff, and sometimes he’d be cruising the corridor in search of his next pat. We even attempted to take Archie for a walk – guests are allowed to take him out for a stroll.

When he heard the magic word his ears pricked up and his tail started to wag. But as soon as he stepped outside and felt the crisp winter air on his soft fur, his enthusiasm vanished. Even dog treats weren’t enough to get Archie to walk far. But the boys were happy that we’d at least tried, so we took old lazy bones back inside to be closer to the heater.

The hotel – which opened in 2018 after extensive work to transform four abandoned grain silos into luxury accommodation – is an excellent choice for families, not only because it has its own dog, but because it is located right beside Riverbend Park, one of Tassie’s best playgrounds.

During our two-night stay, we visited the park on several occasions, with the boys keen to shoot hoops on the basketball courts and test out every single swing, slide and climbing frame in sight.

The best part was, when they had spent every ounce of energy, it was only a short walk back to our hotel room to relax.

With two queen beds, our fourth-floor room was quiet and comfortable, and offered glimpses of the ever-changing Tamar River, which was shrouded in mist in the mornings and then glowed pink in the evening as the sun set.

It was an easy walk along the foreshore to the Seaport precinct, where joggers and cyclists whizzed past, and cafes and restaurants were buzzing with diners, but we enjoyed meals at the hotel restaurant Grain of the Silos.

My kids are pretty well behaved in a restaurant setting and have generally learnt to sit quietly, use their manners and wait patiently for meals. But they’re still kids – sometimes they wriggle around in their seats, laugh too loudly at each other’s jokes or impatiently demand to know “When is the food coming, I’m starving?’’ as if they haven’t eaten for a week. Still, we felt comfortable at Grain of the Silos, where we dined for dinner and breakfast, and children were well accommodated here, not just with a children’s menu but also in the way staff welcomed and interacted with younger guests.

The restaurant proudly sources 90 per cent of its produce from Tasmania and this is evident in the fresh and flavourful meals it serves to guests, with housemade pumpkin tortellini, a lamb rump with garlic yoghurt and children’s pancakes drizzled with a delectable brown butter sauce among our favourite offerings.

The boys were sad to leave the hotel and before we’d even checked out my youngest was demanding to know: “Can we stay here again? Because I love it.’’ Meanwhile my eldest is already counting down to his eighth birthday in October when he’ll be old enough to sign up for encounters with meerkats and red pandas at Tasmania Zoo. So it looks like we’ll be planning another trip to Launceston then – which will no doubt also include more cuddles with Archie the silo dog.

The author was a guest of Peppers Silo Hotel and Tasmania Zoo.