Sydney. 6:30AM. We are hard alongside the dock at Circular Quay – we came in earlier than our scheduled 9:30 arrival, because as we found out, you can either come in before 6:30 or after 9:30 because of the ferry traffic. So guess the Captain put the pedal to the metal to get us here early. Nice little bonus as the early arrival gives us more time to explore!
Since we’ve been here before and pretty much covered the city, our plans for this trip are to explore the outer areas of the harbor on the hop off hop on (HOHO) ferry for one day and for the other day - go to the famous Manly beach on the North Head and bike around. The weather will play a big part in our decision of what to do when – and since there is an enormous cloud bank coming over Sydney – we’re thinking HOHO today where at least we can be inside the ferry if it rains.
We grab a quick breakfast and then hop off the ship and head to the ferry stations to scope out our options. As we are deciding, it starts to mist a bit, then it turns into a little heavier sprinkle. So we decide to head to McDonalds (horrors) to grab onto their free wi-fi in order to catch up on some work. Sadly, after spending way too much money on cappuccino there, we find that the internet is slower than slow and we can’t get anything accomplished. Crud.
It’s really starting to rain now, so we are thinking about maybe even ditching this whole idea and getting back on the ship. But we spy a Starbucks (double horrors!) and we head there in hopes we can get some internet connection. Hurray! Filter coffee and internet! And we still have codes left for about 45 minutes! Will have to see if they work in other Starbucks later. So – work handled, it appears that the rain is abating. Ok – we’re off!
We decide to take the HOHO to the zoo and do that first, then wander around the Sydney Harbor and bay in the afternoon. Captain Cook’s ferry service has a combo ticket that gives you the HOHO almost free – and when we buy them, the sweet ticket agent gives us a 15% discount (we actually found a coupon for it later in one of the tourist books – so it was very nice of her to do that without the coupon).
The ferry leaves at 9:45 and we’ll be at the zoo a little after 10:00. Perfect. We hop on (ha ha) and head to the back of the ferry to get the best views –and start our picture taking. The first opportunities we’ve had to take some great shots of the Opera House and the bridge, relatively unobstructed. There are also some great skyline views from the water. And you can see the clearing clouds, which actually make for a neat contrasting background.
First stop on the ferry is the island of Fort Denison, which was originally a penal colony for hardened criminals, and given the nickname “Pinchgut”, because life was so hard on the island, the prisoners lost weight and had to pull their belts tighter, i.e., pinch their gut. Converted to a fort in the 1800’s, I believe the narrator told us their cannons never saw action and that the fort is now a national monument/park with a restaurant (where it was sold out months in advance at $1000 pp for the New Years Eve fireworks celebration). It’s teeny and cool sitting out in the middle of the water like it is – can’t imagine this little place protecting all of Sydney Harbor!
Next stop is the Taronga zoo. We hop off 
and head up to the gondola that takes us up the main entrance.
The zoo is an incredibly beautiful setting for all the wild animals – both endemic and non-native. Wide walkways lead you from the top of the zoo (the main entrance), all the way down the hillside to end up at the lower entrance where we catch the ferry. There are some steep spots, but generally, the inclines are gradual, and the downslopes wind around so you don’t notice them on your calves so much!
We’re so glad we came here – it’s probably our only opportunity to see Australian wildlife on this trip – and even if it’s not truly in the wild – it’s still great to watch the little Koalas in their habitat eating (and fighting! Wow – they were pretty vicious!)…
…and even the reptiles were pretty wild. Australia has 3 of the most poisonous snakes in the world and lots of other nasty, evil creatures. We say a white lipped frog (not nasty, but still), a gila monster (well, ok, so that’s from the States) and these other lizards and snakes and reptilian monsters…..
Alrighty – we’re out of there. But hey, right outside the reptile house are some great views of the city…so sort of makes it worthwhile…
We take the circular route around the African Safari to see the chimps. sheep, bongos (those weird striped and horned goat like creatures), zebras, bizarre birds – and of course giraffes. A giraffe with the Sydney skyline in the background – how cool is that?
We won’t bore you with all the animal photos (basically because we have to cut down on the photos – uploading is a nightmare with all the pix – and really – you’ve seen them all before, so we’ll just upload the unusual ones – like this really weird looking bird!).
And at virtually every turn, there are more great cityscapes. We don’t know what’s better – the animals or the view!
Now onto the main event – the Australian walkabout. This area is great, because there are two sections of park where you actually walk through the exhibit with the animals scurrying around you. The first is the platypus pond – where we don’t actually see any platypus, but we do walk right into a wallaby sitting on a stone not 2 feet from us!
There were also miscellaneous birds hopping around and echnids (I think that’s the right spelling – sort of like a multi-color porcupine)…
…and of course, the Tassies. The little Tasmanian Devils which are close to extinction because of this awful contagious cancer. It grows on their faces and throats and keeps them from eating, and eventually can suffocate them. The population is in such dire straights that they are now protected and the Taronga zoo, as well as another zoo in Tasmania, are breeding the Tassies and then trying to insert them back into the wild – in areas where the cancer hasn’t been found yet. The pictures are grotesque – didn’t even take any pictures of the pictures to show you – because it’s too awful to look at! But – we were lucky enough to see the one Tassie they have at the zoo. She was a little shy, but eventually came out of her nest and showed herself…
They are quite little – and sort of scary looking! And when you watch videos of them, they are like little whirling dervishes – causing destruction in their wake. Sort of cute, but sort of scary all the same!
So, onward with our walkabout and we come finally to the kangaroo area. Here we are met by a great emu – yep – right there 2 feet from us as we walk in the door!
Talk about tame! The roo’s and wallabies aren’t quite as friendly – they keep to themselves at the edge of the preserve, but its still fun to be walking around watching them in this close proximity.
We’re pretty much done with the important stuff. Sadly, we didn’t see any wombats, but pretty much covered everything else. We want to catch the 12:15 ferry to Watson’s Bay for lunch, so we head off down the path to the lower ferry station. On the way we catch a male elephant’s performance for a few minutes…
…then its more scenic views – we just can’t get enough of the Sydney skyline…
…then onto the ferry we go and head to Watson’s Bay.
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