This Place Is A Zoo

Tuesday, our last full day in Sydney, Maddy had class at 1pm, so we made plans to meet up afterwards.  Carol and I headed down to Circular Quay, where we got a quick breakfast and then hopped on the ferry to the Taronga Zoo, which is located across Sydney Harbour in Mosman.

We had covered nearly all of the top ten things to do in Sydney, according to a book that was left in Maddy’s dorm by the Americans who had stayed there the previous semester.  One of the few things we hadn’t done was the Taronga Zoo.  Carol and I wanted to see some of Australia’s quintessential wildlife, and figured the zoo would be a good way to spend the morning.

This is the largest pelican I've ever seen!

From the zoo.

Platypus

I thought this was a quokka,

but it's not.  Anyone know?

Wallabies!  A portent of our future.

After taking the ferry over, we took the gondola up to the top of the hill at the zoo, and proceeded to work our way back down to the ferry.  (We’re not dummies – in this heat, it made more sense to take the easy way up instead of the hard way.)  In the gondola car, we met an English couple who were visiting their two daughters in Australia and quite enjoying their trip.

We hit the Australian animals section, figuring we could see the other animals in any zoo – or, as it were, when we went on safari in Africa in 2013 with Julia.

It was too hot for the kangaroos but not the emus

The aviary was underwhelming – it was hard to spot the birds with the sun at a bad angle.  But, after that, the zoo got much better.  We walked through a section with kangaroos, wallabies, emu, and other creatures who were lounging and sleeping.  But, it was pretty neat because we and they were not separated by fences.  At one point, just before we left the Australian walkabout section, an emu powered right past Carol.

We also saw koalas, platypus, and walked through a great building full of creatures of the Australian bush night.  Later we spotted a tree kangaroo, walked past quokkas, more kangaroos, and through the Tasmanian Devil section.  Tazzies are endangered, so the zoo is working to both protect and breed them.

Of course, you can’t talk about Tasmanian Devils without thinking of this guy, and even the zoo video had a couple of appearances by Taz.

It was so hot even the elephants were

throwing dirt on themselves to cool off.

After a break by the elephant section for a snack, we walked past the penguins and seal sections, where we were especially entertained by the little penguins zipping through the water.  After seeing around 100 New Zealand fur seals in the wild, seeing two sleeping in the zoo wasn’t that interesting.

A view of the Opera House from the zoo.

We ferried back, and went back to Campbell’s Cove for lunch.  Instead of going Wolfies, we went two buildings further and had Chinese at the Imperial Peking Harbourside.  It’s probably the most expensive Chinese restaurant we’ve ever eaten at, but that’s what happens when you get a clear view of the Opera House and the harbor.