Taronga Zoo

Yes, yes.... I know this blog is WAY overdue! And I've got excuses coming out of my wahzooo!!!! I won't bore you with them all. Please just accept my humble apologies for the enormous gap in postings.

So where were we......?

Gosh! I last posted on the Easter Saturday - that's a lifetime ago!!! And I've got SO much to tell you. This may take a while so get yourself a hot cup of tea or coffee and settle in for some more Aussie adventuring!

After two days of chilling out, we decided that Easter Sunday would be a great day to visit Taronga Zoo. We took a train to Circular Quay and then hopped on a ferry to Taronga Zoo.

Scott at Wahroonga Station - on our way to the City

This tree is actually behind Scott in the photo at Wahroonga station. The red stuff around the tree is made of loads of bits of rubber compressed together. Obviously allowing the tree to grow as you can see but without strangling it in tar or concrete. I'm also assuming that this keeps the moisture in the ground. They're really strict about water restrictions here & serious about finding solutions which is great. Alot of the irrigation we've seen (including lawns at our complex) are underground drip systems. Brilliant way of using up some of those old tyres instead of dumping them.

This is a map of our intended trip from Circular Quay to Taronga Zoo.

At Circular Quay. Some "indigenous" people doing as little as possible with the guy (not a full-blooded "abo") at the back actually playing the didgeridoo to a recording of drumming.... Hrm..... me thinks I've seen this before somewhere......

Waiting for the ferry to arrive at Circular Quay

Luna Park under Harbour Bridge from the ferry

A couple of kayakers in front of the Opera House - also taken from the ferry

This is the little lighthouse at Cremorne Point - the yachts in the background are moored in Mosmon bay (left) & Little Sirus Cove (right)

From the ferry looking back towards Sydney & Cremorne Point in the foreground

Taronga Zoo from the ferry. There's a "Sky Safari" going up to the top (left) but we decided to take a bus cos the queue was too long and we wanted to see us some animals!

Taronga Zoo

When we saw this map (click on the map & it'll open a better view in PDF format - you'll need Adobe Acrobat Reader to see it), we decided straight away that we couldn't hope to see all of it in one day (and still enjoy it). So we'll be going back sometime soon.

Scott at the pelican pool

Me at the entrance to the Wild Australia section of the Zoo

Scott with the Kangaroos

This is a Tasmanian Devil. Anyone seen The Princess Bride? Remember the Rodents of Unusual Size? That's what this little oke reminded us of. Probably because his back legs seem to be shorter than his front and his bum & tail kinda go from side to side when he walks. He was fast asleep when we arrived but as soon as he woke up, he just started running around and around and around and across and around and around his enclosure - which was pretty big. He just wouldn't oblige and keep still for a decent photo! He doesn't move fast - but he does keep moving.

Now THIS is a dingo... Nothing spectacular really - just looks like a regular dog.

Scott & the crocs

Oh the Koala's are SO cute - and FUNNY!!! The one below is actually awake and looking around. The one above is slumped over the branch - FAST asleep. Apparently the eucalyptus leaves that they eat are extremely hard / slow to digest so they spend a huge amount of time sleeping and using as little energy as possible. But they just sleep in the funniest positions (see below).

A Komodo Dragon - this is the world's largest lizard (up to 3m - usually about 2,5m long) & also the one that's been known to carry off small children on the Indonesian islands. I saw a documentary where the people build their houses on stilts so that the Komodo's can't scavenge in their houses.

There we go - this is a picture of a house in a fishing village on Miso Island in Indo

Another one of those - just to prove I was there pics!

We came all the way to Sydney, Australia to see African giraffes! They were just being fed here - they have really long blue/black tongues that seem to take on a life of their own when there's food around.

Scott pulling faces at me outside the souvenir shop - he wanted to take a pic of me and I beat him to it with a pic of him!

The top boarding station for the Sky Safari. Notice the stroller (pram) in the foreground. There are stroller parking areas all over the place - this one had a whole stack of personal stuff in still. Just left there. No one takes anything and there aren't any security guards either.

The Indian elephants from the Sky Safari

The view of Sydney Harbour from the Sky Safari

Sadly, our day was ruined when we discovered that we're going to have to let the chauffeur go. We just can't have the hired help using our stuff without asking permission - it's just not cricket!

After seeing the orang-utan from the sky gondola, Scott tried his hand at impersonation...

A bit dark.... but that's me in the gondola above Taronga Zoo

Some Flying Foxes having a snooze in one of the large bird enclosures

Have YOU been hugged by a Koala today???

More photographic evidence against the damn chauffeur!

So, that was our trip to Taronga Zoo! We left just before the gates closed at around 5pm and headed back to Circular Quay for some more adventuring! Catch the next episode next week.... I'll eventually catch up. But for now, I'm going to just write small episodes otherwise the task to catch up is going to be mammoth. Small bites at a time and I'll have it up to date in no time at all! Until next time.....

Mands