Sydney - Day 3 - the ZOO!

Thursday Jan 13 consisted of one of my favourite things....visiting the ZOO!!  I checked out Sydney's largest zoo, Taronga. I had to ferry across the Sydney harbour - which is just gorgeous! - in order to get to the zoo.

 The Sydney Opera House - a beautiful day for photos, nice blue sky

 The Sydney Harbour Bridge - the ferry passing in front is the same one I took. 

 The Sydney Skyline from the harbour

 Penguins!  These guys were very active and swimming very quickly and gracefully. I would later see one in the wild at Bondi beach chasing some fish!

Leopard Seals - these guys live in the Antarctic oceans and mainly feed on seals. Suppose to be ferocious predators. 

 Pelicans - one is trying to clean his feathers, I don't know how they manage with a beak that big!

The Giraffes were active and had two zebras as friends.  Its interesting to notice how close the city is to the zoo. 

 I arrived just in time for the elephant show, had to push my way through several young children and people with strollers ;)  They are saying hello!

Hold on to my tail!  You don't want to get lost. 

They performed a ton of different tricks, this big female is rock climbing!  They also played soccer, moved some logs around, and played rugby. 

Pygmy Hippo

 Siberian Tiger

Rhinoceros Iguana   

Indian Star Tortoise enjoying a snack. 

Cassowary  -  they have a very long and sharp middle toe nail. They usually aim for the chest and can easily break a human sternum and penetrate the heart

Petting Zoo!  I met some very nice sheep, pigs, turkeys, goats, rabbits and ducks.  But these were y favourite!  Crazy feathery chickens!  This white one is called a silkie.

This photo and the next comprise the sexuality portion of the trip. Gorilla side boob! 

Red kangaroo.  I think its clear...he's a male 

 Northern Quoll - a small carnivorous marsupial

 Sugar glider

Greater Stick-Nest Rat - its a rat, but its hops around like a kangaroo! The other day, I saw rats running in trees...crazy 

Koala Bear - These guys were so cute!  Busy eating some eucalyptus leaves.

On my way back from the zoo I wondered in to Royal Botanical Gardens in the heart of Sydney.  A huge expanse of tropical plants from around the world.  

This tree just looked to irresistible - it had to be climbed! 

Thankfully my camera has an automatic timer function :) 

After I finished swinging from the veins I climbed into the base of the tree and just relaxed for a while.  A small boy and his grandma walked by and asked me how I got up there. I told them it wasn't hard, you just grab a vein and jump up!  So the young boy wanted to join me!  I helped him into the tree, the whole time his grandma is saying "now, don't tell your mother about this".

 Flying Foxes (very large fruit bats) are very common in Sydney, they are like crows.  During the day they roost together in huge groups in the tops of trees and at dusk they cover the skies looking for fruit trees. So cool!

A large pond in the center with lots of fish and freshwater eels! 

These birds are also all over the city.  

An interesting new leaf that is just sprouting.

 This tree is so large it has to be held up by cables.

I finished off the day with some more bacon and bean pasta and readied myself for the Sydney Aquarium!