Today went went to Taronga Zoo, a world-class zoo on the shores of Sydney Harbor with a stunning view of downtown and the Opera House. The zoo is very large, with more than 2600 animals on 51 acres.
After a few days of rain, the weather today is fantastic, with blue skies and puffy white clouds. This might explain why the crowds at the zoo were huge. Bill and Katrina said they’d never seen so many people there, and they go quite frequently. We had to stand in line for a half an hour to buy our tickets. Luckily, while we were queuing up, a lady gave us free tickets for the kids so we only had to pay for the adults (AUS$ 41 per person, about US$ 36).
The first display we saw were koala bears, all asleep of course (they seem to sleep a lot and pretty much do everything in slow motion). They looked just as cuddly as the pictures we’d seen, although judging from their claws, they’re probably anything but cuddly.
Next came a display of wallabies, emus and kangaroos. Talk about icons of Australian wildlife! I had to pinch myself a few times—hard to believe I’m actually here in Sydney and not dreaming this!
The girls even got to pet a baby wallaby:
Since Laura is such a huge hedgehog fan, she was very excited to see a pair of echidnas. They look a lot like hedgehogs, quills and all, but are actually relatives of the platypus. Platypus and echidnas are the only mammals that lay eggs (both are Australian natives). It was hard to photograph the echidnas because they were moving so quickly and there were lots of rocks in their enclosure behind which they were hiding. But Laura wanted me to include this photo, so here it is.
We also saw the usual zoo animals, like elephants, tigers, seals, etc. but they weren’t that different from what we have in our zoos.
The animals weren’t the only attraction. In fact, the vegetation was every bit as stunning. I saw a lot of plants that I’ve been trying to grow in Davis for years, with limited success because of their lack of cold hardiness. Here they are the thriving because the Sydney climate is very close to their native environment. Very large shell gingers, all in bloom. Hedychias. Ferns. And of course bamboos (mostly Bambusa vulgaris ‘Vitatta’ but also Bambusa multiplex and Phyllostachys nigra).
The icing on the cake were the views. Taronga Zoo is located on the North Shore, on a hill overlooking Sydney Harbor. The views across the harbor to downtown and the Opera House are stunning.
After an exhausting half day at Taronga Zoo we went back to the Ellises, then to the shops to replenish the larder, and now we’re sitting here drinking wine (a wonderful sauvignon blanc and semillon blend from the Margaret River) and planning our outings for the next few days. Could life be any better?
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