Taronga Zoo

                SIKE!!  Classes may have started yesterday, but I don’t have any scheduled on Thursday!  And I bet you thought I would be deep in my studies right now.  Ha.  No, I’m doing something much more predictable.  I went to the zoo.

                No, a different zoo this time.

                Really!  I swear, I do things other than go to zoos.  Sometimes.

                This one is the biggest baddest zoo in the area, called Taronga, in the northern part of Sydney.  I once again led this expedition because I’m apparently the biggest animal nerd in the House.  So I got my group of three together and we set off after their morning classes!

                The trip was not as far as to Featherdale a few days ago, and was much prettier.  We took a bus to Circular Quay in Sydney, then took a ferry to the zoo.  Before you look at these photos, just let me remind you that these were taken from what is technically public transportation.  This is cheap and easy for anyone to use.

                The views from this thing are just amazing.  It felt like we were on a paid tourist cruise.  Some people ride this thing to work, which I’m adding to my newly written set of goals, which now consist of:

1.        Live around Sydney
2.       Take the ferry to work
3.        Probably work at Taronga Zoo

                Yeah, Taronga is awesome.  It’s situated basically in the jungle on a huge hill across the harbor from the main hub of Sydney, meaning you get beautiful ocean/skyline views like these all over the park.

                The entire zoo is just beautiful all over.  The exhibits were really well designed—enough so that we could actually locate and see 90% of the animals in action, which is kind of hard in mid-summer heat, when everything wants to hide.  The animals were also amazing, since so many of them were so different than the animals I’m used to at home.  Some of them are only allowed at very select zoos worldwide, like koalas and certain birds!

                Some of the notable exhibits we visited included:

• ·         The “seal walk,” which was a bridge over a huge pool where seals and sea lions did water acrobatics beneath us.
• ·         “Australia nightlife,” which was a dark, quiet building that housed nocturnal Australian animals, and made it easier to see them active by being very dark.
• ·         The chimpanzee exhibit, where I think we witness an ape coup d’état of sorts.  The chimps were all going about their business, when suddenly one started screaming, and the whole population sprang into action.  There was a lot of running and fighting and monkey yelling, but we never figured out what caused it all.  It was kind of scary to see, actually.  We were kind of afraid they would try to break out.
• ·         Several aviaries, which allowed us to walk through an open enclosure where all kinds of colorful birds flew all around us.
• ·         The spider exhibit, which allowed us three American girls to face our fears of enormous Australian arachnids. 
• ·         The midday seal show, which showcased a lot of things I had no idea sea lions could even do, like this:

• ·         And of course, the free-roaming kangaroo/wallaby/emu walk, where the animals could come right up and hang out with us!

                We stayed at the zoo for over 5 hours, which made for a really long day of walking around in the heat.  We left completely exhausted and saturated with sunscreen and sweat, but it was 100% totally worth it.

                Tonight, I’m writing this from the newly installed hammock in our courtyard.  I know, as if life couldn’t get any better, I can hang out on this beautiful night in this beautiful weather on a hammock under the stars and the plants, while still within the safety of my building. 

                I really don’t ever want to leave.