Discovering Australia’s Animals at Taronga Zoo

It was our final full day in Sydney, and we decided to go to Taronga Zoo. We had originally planned to take a train up into the Blue Mountains and do some hiking in this well-known region. However, age had caught up with me. After all the walking we had done, especially the Bondi to Coogee walk, my wife convinced me that hiking was probably more than we could handle at this point. She didn’t get much argument from me. So the zoo it was.

But first we went shoe shopping. This had been an ongoing issue for a few days. When we looked at the map of our hotel, we noticed a New Balance shoe outlet just a few blocks away. Since that is one of the better shoe brands for my wide feet, we thought we would shop there. The problem was getting there. For some unknown reason we couldn’t seem to figure out how to get there. The day before we had walked for probably 15 minutes in the exact opposite direction looking for it. The day before that we had also gone in a wrong direction. This day we finally figured it out, found the store, and I bought a new pair of shoes. Now we were ready to visit the zoo.

The zoo is on the other side of Sydney Harbour so we had to take a boat from Circular Quay. When we purchased our tickets, it included all the transportation and admission to the zoo. The boat was fairly large. The trip was not long, and it offered nice views of the ever visible Opera House and the Harbour Bridge.

When we got to the other side, we took a sky train up to the front of the zoo where we entered. The trip above the trees again offered great views, but it was hard to take any really good pictures from our viewpoint.

Once in the park area we began our discovery of some of the unique animals Australia has to offer. Our first stop was the koala house. Everyone wants to see these cute animals, and we were no exception. Unfortunately it turns out they are nocturnal animals. Our arrival in the middle of the day meant they were sleeping in their trees. We could see them sleeping. They didn’t look very comfortable, and it was hard to get a picture through the leaves and shadows. We discovered later a location where you can have a picture taken with a koala. I don’t know if they make the poor koalas stay awake or how that works. Besides being expensive, there were no times available by the time we discovered this so we have no such picture. However, we did manage to take a photo of a koala in the picture-taking area who looks sort of awake.

After seeing the koalas, we went into a night building where there were a number of animals and bugs who are busy at night. Here they apparently reverse the night and day so they are active when visitors come in, but taking pictures was not really possible with the light conditions. There were definitely some creepy crawlers here.

We were now off to see two large animals, kangaroos and an emu. Quite surprisingly we walked right into the areas where these animals were living. There is a path to follow, but there is nothing between you and the animals. We saw some larger kangaroos as well as a smaller one called a joey. The emu didn’t look very friendly. Its beady eyes seemed to drill right at you. There was one zookeeper feeding the emu, but otherwise we were just there with some other guests and the animals.

Outside the area where the kangaroos were, was an enclosure for this wombat who was pretty active during our visit. There was also an indoor area with a water tank for a platypus. He was also pretty active making it impossible to get a clear photo as he swam around.

Next we wandered through an enclosed area that had some birds from the region. They were a little hard to find so it was not the most interesting part of the zoo for us, but it was a quiet and relaxing place.

Leaving the bird zone, we meandered down to see the giraffes. The zookeepers were just feeding them, putting up branches with leaves for them to eat. They are such majestic creatures.

Next to the giraffe area is the old elephant pavilion where they had kept elephants earlier in time before zoos tried to provide a more natural environment for their animals. The building has an Indian style of architecture and is actually an interesting building. There are information signs inside telling about the pavilion and how the treatment of the elephants has changed over the years.

Continuing on down we passed by a restaurant. The restaurant was closing down, but we could tell the view from inside was wonderful. I asked if I could go in and take some pictures, and they agreed. Another great view of the Sydney area. It seemed we had taken enough on our first day in Sydney, but it really is hard to ignore this view.

We now headed to the children’s zoo. Of course we are not children, but there is a section in it with native animals. Since seeing Australian animals was our purpose for coming here, we thought we would check it out. There were kangaroos and an emu again, but we did discover a new animal we had never heard of before, a quokka. It looks like a large rat but is actually a wallaby. Apparently taking selfies with them is a thing in Australia.

After our tour of the children’s area we continued walking and found another place with a great view of the bay. We thought we would try a selfie. This in not something we have been very good at doing. The selfie did not turn out as the background was totally blown out. Here’s what the background should have looked like. Yes, it’s another view of Sydney, but the truth is, it is so beautiful with the water it’s hard to ignore.

By this time we were starting to tire out. We found out way over to a food court where we had some ice cream to help revive us. This turned out to be near the elephants who were having some fun with water.

We had not seen all the zoo at this point, but we had seen what we came to see so we decided to call it a day. We checked out the gift shop, bought a couple of things to support the work of the zoo, and then left. While there is a lower gate you can exit out to the boat dock, we took the sky train back.

When we got down to the boat dock, a boat was just leaving, but there were still quite a few people left on the dock with more people coming. The end-of-the-afternoon crowd wanting to go back was getting pretty large. We wondered if we were going to get back on the next boat, but when it came, we managed to make our way onboard.

Back at Circular Quay we determined we would try to go to Paddy’s market which had been closed when we went on Tuesday. We took the subway back to the closest station and walked over. When we arrived at the corner, there was an entrance. We went in and up some stairs and looked around in confusion. This looked more like a regular mall with escalators going up a few flights. This was not what we had expected. We wandered around a bit wondering where this market was. Finally we went outside and walked down a bit and sure enough the market was below the mall.

Paddy’s market was quite different from the Victoria Market in Melbourne. The aisles were much narrower, and the stalls were smaller and stuffed full of things. It was near closing time by this point so we looked at a few things, but didn’t buy anything. It would have been good to have had more time there.

After leaving the market we went back upstairs to the mall to get something to eat in the food court area. We ended up getting some cheap Chinese food which was not all that great. It was overcooked sitting in the warming trays, but it gave us some nourishment.

On our way back to our hotel we stopped and talked with the attendant at the subway. Our concern was our Opal cards would be a bit short going to the airport in the morning on the subway. However, it seemed the only amount we could add was a minimum of ten dollars which would mean leaving about eight dollars on our card when we left. He told us not to worry. They wouldn’t stop us for being a bit short. We would just owe it the next time we added to our cards. So we didn’t worry and made our way to the airport in the morning without a problem.

The airport check in was mostly self service, but we had a bit of an issue with our suitcase so had to get some help. Finally we were on our way for our 14 hour fight back to the U.S. Our Australia adventure was over. However, we know that if at all possible, we will be back. There is still so much of this country to see. It’s a huge land, and two cities and ten days doesn’t do it justice. We look forward to our return.

We would love to hear what you have thought about our Australian story. Comments are always appreciated.

Credit: The photo “Departure Sign” was taken by Silvette Lee