Thursday, May 04, 2017

Squires Down Under - Sydney Day 2

Day 4 - Sydney - November 15, 2017

Today was a zoo day.


Happily watching some kids show on TV.  There were a lot of shows that we were familiar with, although we really got into a dart tournament that was going on.  We watched it for a bit each evening.


We walked from our hotel to the Circular Quay, which is where all of the water taxis dock downtown.


We stopped by a small cafe in an office building on the way to grab some breakfast.




There was a big cruise ship docked by the Harbor Bridge.  I bet that's a pretty fun cruise.  It probably hits a few cities along the Australian Coast.


The zoo is on the other side of the harbor, so we took a water taxi. Another benefit were the great views of the Opera House and Harbor Bridge.





Welcome to Taronga Zoo.



The zoo is set on a hill.  There is a gondola down near the boat dock that takes you to the entrance at the top of the zoo, then you can wind your way down the zoo back to the ferry.  It was a nice setup.


What kid can resist a headshot as an animal?





Our first koala.


This is the world's most venemous snake, the Inland Taipan. It's venom from a single bite can kill more than 200,000 mice.  Of course it is native to Australia, but contact with humans is not common as they live deep in the outback.


The giraffes have one of the best views in the zoo.  If you look closely you can see both the Opera House and Harbor Bridge.


Wild turkeys?


Mountain goats standing along a tipped tree trunk.


Another view of the city and some bighorn sheep or something.


Lemurs.


Aloe trees?


Look closely at Kate's teeth.  This is one of the last pictures with her full set.


A cassowary.


Another pic with the Cassowary, but he's hiding a bit.


This is my kind of bird-watching. It's so much easier when they stand on the signs that identify them. Thank you Mr. Double-Eyed Fig Parrot!


Lyla is just the right size to be a swamp wallaby.


Ada the Red Kangaroo.


Somebody, or something threw up.  This kangaroo had no problems eating it.


Of all the kangaroos to get a picture with we chose this one.


Emu. You can see Kate holding some tissues up to her mouth.  We were in a quiet, dark area looking at nocturnal animals when I accidentally bumped her loose tooth and it came out.  If we had been somewhere where she could have screamed at me she probably would have. It was the perfect place to finally knock her tooth out.  It had only been hanging on by a bit for the last few days. She was still mad at me.


Koala.  We also saw platypus, but as they are nocturnal they're kept in nighttime conditions.


Chocolate cupcakes.  Mostly to cheer Kate up.



She still wasn't too happy with me.


Piggies.


Ada and Lyla playing in the water.



Another koala.


You can just make out the Harbor Bridge and Opera House.


The elephant was having fun carrying the tree trunk around.


Gorillas.


Eating a pear.


These girls all love elephants.


In the rowboat.


We made our way back down the hill to the ferry terminal and grabbed our ride back to the city.



Poor Kate was suffering from a terrible headache for most of the afternoon.  She was pretty miserable and feeling nauseous. We grabbed a taxi at the Circular Quay to get us back to the hotel, then spent the rest of the evening resting, sleeping and watching darts and the British quiz show The Chase.

Tomorrow: More sights in Sydney.

1 comment:

Clark said...

Your "wild turkeys" are actually Guineafowl. They look like helmeted guineafowl to be more specific, if my "zoom and enhance" computer skills are working right. We have a bunch of these that wander around our zoo, too.