Day 3- Taronga Zoo April 6, 2011

Opera House view from zoo

Another amazing view from the zoo

 Oh my! I have never been to a better zoo before in my life!  Where do I start?  We began our adventure to the Taronga Zoo with a taxi ride to the ferry station at Circular Quay (pronounced "key"). The ferry dropped us off at the bottom of the hill where a bus waited to take us to the entrance to the zoo at the top of the hill.  The first exhibit we saw was the pelicans. Holy moly- they are huge!! Tucker was thrilled. He kept screaming his version of bird over and over.  I was in awe of their size and beauty. We then grabbed a quick bite to eat then headed down the hill to see more animals. We saw giraffes, koalas, a komodo dragon, alligators, lots of frogs and snakes, elephants (including 2 babies), seals, a hippo, ostriches, a bongo, sea lions and a zebra.  One of the sea lions is named Cooper!  There were many others that we did not get to see because the zoo is so large. Missed out on most of the Australian animals like kangaroos, wallabies and wombats.  We will have to see them next time we go.  My favorite by far was the koala bears. They were just hanging out in the trees. One of them was literally passed out in the tree. He reminded me of Manzie when she is out cold.  We also saw a sea lion show.  When they showed the California sea lion the trainer said, "This sea lion has one thing that none of the other sea lions have."  Then she had her bark and said, "An american accent."  Ha ha. The best part--well not better than the animals--we did not have to walk back up the hill!!!  We simply excited the zoo from the bottom of the hill and headed right to the ferry. Now those of you who have spent long days at PDZA know how great that is because the last thing you want to do at the end of a zoo visit is walk back UP to leave.  Brilliant design!  Oh and I should not forget to mention the view from the zoo- check out the pictures above. Gorgeous!

komodo dragon

hippo

giraffe

seals

bongo