Taronga Zoo

Like the big kid I am I love nothing more than gawping at magnificent beasts for an entire day, and yesterday I had the chance to gawp at all sorts of things at Taronga Zoo!
I won't go on too much about it, as I'm sure most of you just want to see pictures of cute and cuddly animals, but my day started with a trip to Circular Quay to meet Christelle before buying our tickets to the zoo. The zoo is really only accessable by ferry and you can buy an inclusive ticket at the ferry terminal for $50.50, which gives you a return ferry ticket, access to the sky safari and entrance to the zoo, which isn't that bad when entrance to the zoo alone would be $44.

Thanks for the topical ad, bus!

A view from the 'sky safari'

So we stepped off the Sky Safari and agreed that a map would be the best thing to find. Upon acquiring a map, Christelle and I noticed a sign that simply stated "Tiger cubs - 10 am to 1 pm" (Christelle asked what a 'cub' is and I replied 'baby tigers, and aww they're so cute a boojieboojiebooboo', we asked the map guy about it and he told us how to get to the big cat area.

We strolled to the area and got there at ten to one only to see the biggest queue ever, so we went back up to the beginning and felt kind of bad that we wouldn't see the tiger cubs. But it didn't really matter because of all the other cute and cuddly animals we were surrounded by,

Aaawwwww...

Aaahhh...

Awwww...

Um... Oh?

Blimey

Not sure you'd want to cuddle this, he's a 'Fierce Snake', the most venomous snake  in the country!

"Hi guyz! I gots money!"

So many animals and things. We did want to see the seal show but were at the wrong end of the zoo, so doing well so far, but the bird show was at 3pm and they're always good. We headed towards the bird show area, determined not to be distracted by anything cute and cuddly for too long...

Like this 3 headed giraffe

Auditioning for The Wizard of Oz

OK, so maybe we did get a little distracted. But we made the bird show with plenty of time to spare and the seats seemed to fill up very early. Then it was time for a few swoops and quick fire photo ops as various birds of different shapes and sizes entertained us for the next 20 minutes.

The show began with the Aboriginal tale of how the birds got their colours before a lucky guy with a great job came out and introduced us to some aerial acrobatics that were performed without the aid of a safety net...

He does this for a living?

We learned about the various skills different birds possess, like the brilliant refexes of the screaming kite, the amazing speed of whichever falcon this was,

as well as how this buzzard uses rocks to break the shells of emu eggs.

Rod Hull must be spinning in his grave

A really good show. Afterwards we wandered up to where the big cat area was and decided to take a look as the queue was much shorter now the cubs were away. But cubs are no match for the awesome majesty of that king of beasts,

Barry Gibb

The next pen featured some Sumatran Tigers, and as luck would have it the group before us were being ushered out just as the stars of the show began to run out. Yes we got to see the cubs, which are kind of important as there are only 400 of these tigers left in the wild, but more importantly, we got to see tiger cubs!

A nice little surprise as we thought we had missed the chance to see them. But our buzz was short lived as we saw the loneliest Kodiak Bear in the world (probably)

Give that bear a hug! I know he's 8 feet tall but just look at him!

I got a couple of ice creams and, because of the sudden onset of depression, Christelle took one of them as we watched the elephants mill about.

Awwwww...

Red Lory... I couldn't find a yellow one to go with it.

Soon after we walked around the 'rainforest trail' and just after that we heard over the loudspeakers that the zoo would close at 5pm, the time then was 4.30... Blast!

Fortunately, Christelle and myself are far too rebellious to adhere 'the man's' rules on closing hours! So we took our time and saw a few of Australia's native wildlife, which was nice as the cacophony of children descended towards the ferry with their parents, giving us time to see the animals in a more relaxed state.

I guess the kids went home, they may have been eaten.

What was that about Rod Hull?

It wasn't a rock, it was a rock wallaby!

At about 5.30 we had a quick look around the nearby beach, as we thought about places to see in the new year. The view wasn't too great but the beach itself was covered in litter, which was a real shame. Still, it was nice to see lots of people trying to cram onto a ferry as we stood on the beach.

After returning to Circular Quay (after messing with some apps on my iPod)
 we had pizza and a beer at the Ship Inn and then walked towards another possible viewing spot for New Year, the same spot I took photos of the harbour at sunset all those months ago.

But my original plan of bringing my own booze was waylaid as the almost Orwellian signs plastered around the area made clear that this was to be host to a law abiding event with no enjoyment of free thoughts allowed!

Oh well, it's better than nothing. So I have a venue for New Year's, so stay tuned for that! I also booked my hostel and transport to Melbourne today so that's another thing done.