Australia Day 13: Taronga Zoo

The Pullman in Sydney is a high-rise building with 22 floors. Breakfast is located on the first floor (in the US we would call it the second floor) with the lobby on the ground floor. We are hopeful that this breakfast will be at least as good as the the Pullman in Brisbane but the selection is definitely smaller. We conclude that for this trip the Brisbane Pullman breakfast was the best!

This is the first time we've seen tater tots for hash browns

Chicken sausage and bacon

The apricot-looking fruit on the left had a leathery texture that was rather unpleasant and had almost no flavor. The Dragon Fruit (top middle) is really bland too.

I like the names Coco Pops and Rice Bubbles

We still find plenty to enjoy so we leave satisfied and ready to start our day.

We take the #333 bus down to the Circular Quay (pronounced circular key) which is the main ferry terminal in Sydney Harbor. There are five wharfs that have boats docking on either side of each dock and a constant stream of boats going in and out.

Interesting road sign

We get there around 15 minutes before the boat will leave. We head to the dock my phone is directing us to and learn that is a dock for a private ferry and not part of the public transport. We rush over to the right dock and get on the public ferry just before they pull away.

Here is a view of the Circular Quay as we pull away

We sit on a bench that is along the outside of the boat, as the temperature feels just perfect. The boat backs up and then turns around. We now have a great view of the Sydney Opera House as we pull away and head for the Taronga Zoo.  

The boat ride only takes 15 minutes. This is a dedicated ferry that goes back and forth to the zoo only. Because of this we don't have to tap off when we dock at the other side as they just charge a one way fare when you tap on in either direction. 

The zoo is built on a hill with the entrance at the top. You work your way down towards the exit close to the ferry landing. There is one free shuttle that takes people to the top and there are also public buses. We climb on the free shuttle but there's standing room only at this point. Thankfully it's only a 5 minute ride to the top.

When we get to the ticket booth we discover their ticketing software is down. I try to purchase tickets online but that is also down. They tell us their IT is working on it and to please give them 20-30 minutes. We look at the gift shop to kill some time and every few minutes I try the tickets online in case the system comes up.

It takes 45 minutes for them to finally get a single register to work, then a little longer as I wait my turn in line. They do give us the online price which is a better deal. If I had known that I would have bought my tickets the night before, unfortunately we've had to waste an hour of our day before we even get in.

The kids would really like to see some quokkas which I had read they have at this zoo. However I'm confused because I don't see them listed on the zoo maps provided.

We head towards the kangaroos and koalas figuring they must be with the Australian animals. We go through that area kind of quickly as we've seen lots of kangaroos, emus, wallaby's and koalas by this point in our trip. But we still don't see any quokkas.

Wallaby

Emu behind us

This was the first time seeing koalas in actual trees instead of propped up branches with little buckets of eucalyptus branches to eat. They were busy doing what koalas do best...sleeping.

Next we go into a nocturnal animals area. It's harder to take pictures as you can't use a flash, so only when the animals are holding still for a few moments can you capture them.

Hopping Mouse. These little guys have the ability to survive without drinking water (if needed) by getting moisture from their food. They can jump 3-4 meters in a single bound! That's between 10-13 feet!

Greater Bilby. These are another marsupial, but they live in the desert and burrow into the ground. Because of this they have a rear facing pouch so that they don't get dirt or debris in their pouch as they burrow or hunt.

Just a short distance further is a big building called Amphibian & Reptile Experience. This houses more than just Australian animals though. We find it amusing that we traveled to Australia half-way across the world, and we find a Diamondback Rattlesnake and Gila Monster, which are both found in the desert just a couple hundred feet from our house.

Gila monster. These guys are native to the desert we live in. They are one of the few venomous lizards in the world.

Diamondback rattlesnake. This guy looks to be a pretty big one, they typically don't get bigger than 5', but the largest ever recorded was 8'. Unlike most snakes they give birth to live young.

The above 2 pictures are of a Shingleback Skink. Their tail looks almost the same as their head, and they can rotate their feet around 180 degrees so they can walk backwards but make it look like they are walking forward and even bob their tail, as a way to confuse predators. Although these guys live alone throughout the year, they will find a mate, and mate for life, coming together for a couple weeks a year.

Rhinoceros iguana. These guys have the ability to shift their color from gray or brown to a darker or lighter shade to help them soak up more sun, or cool off.

These are Indian star tortoises, they are native to India, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka. They have the unique ability to right themselves if they get flipped upside-down.

  

There is a playground just outside the building that the kids want to play on, so Nate and I rest on a bench while they play. I realize right behind us is the Capybara pen and they come over to play in the water which is rather entertaining.

Capybaras are actually the worlds largest rodents, and they are huge! They are considered semi-aquatic and have webbed feet. They typically live in herds of 10 - 40. Like all rodents their front teeth are constantly growing, so they have to keep chewing on plants and bark to keep them short.

We then headed for the main theater which is going to have a talk on Aussie animals. We have to wait 10+ mins for the doors to open. Once inside we find benches and comfortable cushions on the floor and AC, which felt great.

Ready to relax...I mean listen to an animal talk.

The kids sit up front and get to observe an echidna named Larry. They can burrow over 2 meters underground and are very strong and have a great memory. Larry figured out a few days ago how to pop the glass barriers out on their frame, and so as soon as they put him in the pen, he went straight for the spot, and was persistent about trying again. They put a large rock up against the frame, but about 15 minutes later he had knocked the rock off and started pushing out the plexiglass.

They decide to talk about him first so the can put him away in a different kind of pen. Larry reminds me of a porcupine, but they aren't quite the same. They are an egg laying mammal, which is unique to echidnas and the duck-billed platypus.

When an echidna is pregnant they put the soft shelled egg in a pouch on their belly to incubate it. It takes about 10 days for the baby, known as a puggle, to be born. Then it will stay in the pouch for another couple of months, where it laps up it's mother's milk that is secreted through special hair patches in the mother's pouch.

They have long sticky tongues that they can use to eat ants, termites, and worms, and they use electroreceptors in their snout to find their prey as they have poor eyesight. They have strong front legs with powerful claws that allow them to rip into termite mounds and burrow into the ground.

They tell us that these are one of the only creatures that will survive bush fires, as they can burrow up to 2 meters down and enter a hibernation like state, allowing them to conserve energy, and wait out the fire to pass.

Next they tell us about the Shingle back lizard, like the one we saw earlier.

After the show is over we head through the African area seeing giraffes, zebra, lions, tigers, etc.

Nice view of Sydney from the zoo

Lots of chimps on this tower

Kailey with some Fennec Fox ears. They had an exhibit there, but we didn't see any of the foxes, so they must have been sleeping away where they couldn't be seen.

It is finally time to get some lunch. They have a large cafeteria with pre-made food you can grab out of heated shelves. We grab a few things to share, a chicken strip basket and a little pizza plus a raspberry Fanta slushy. The slushy tastes very good in the heat!

We want to make it to a seal show at 1 pm so we head there next. Once there we find the 1pm has been cancelled and the next show is at 2 pm. We kill some time trying to look at the penguins, but they seem to be hiding away too. Eventually we go back up to stand in a long line for the seal show.

Tasmanian flax-lily

Popcorn senna is part of the legume family, but don't eat it's bean like seeds, as it's poisonous (like many things in Australia)

At the seal show we get to sit about 5 rows up at the edge of the splash zone. The seals are lots of fun to watch and very graceful. They start the show with a small seal, gliding around and in and out of the water. Then everyone is amazed when the much larger California Sea lion comes out, as he is huge compared to the first smaller seal.

I'm thankful we got a seat in the shade!

This guy has scars from a shark bite that he had when they rescued him

This guy is showing off his whiskers, which are highly sensitive, and they can use them to help navigate, and locate prey.

This guy is showing how strong he is, by lifting his body up with just his flippers

Both the small seal and much larger sea lions could make this jump.

They have 3-4 sea lions come out and perform different tricks like porpoising in the water, diving off of one of the cliffs into the tank, and towards the end they have them jump up and touch a ball that is hanging 7-8 feet above the water.

After the show we rush to see if the penguins are there as Landon really wants to see them. There had been a sign to check back between 2:30-3 I'm guessing it's the time they feed them.

There are a bunch swimming around when we get there, so Landon is happy. Penguins are another of his favorite animals. Australia and New Zealand are actually home to the Little Penguin. They dive for food during the day and return to their burrows on shore around dusk. They live on the southern side of Australia where it's colder.

After exiting the penguin area we head up the Rainforest Trail, where they have a variety of animals and birds.

Red panda

Pygmy hippo. They have tiny mucus glands on their skin that excrete a pink goo that acts as a sunscreen and moisturizer. 

We found an even better view of the city down a trail at the zoo

Don't you know a Bongo when you see one!

Lady Amherst's Pheasant

Wompoo Fruit Dove is a type of pigeon. It's found in the rainforest on Australia and New Guinea.

Forest Kingfisher

Double-eyed Fig-parrot

After we are done in the aviary the kids want to go see the tiger we missed earlier. My feet are still killing me with my blisters on my toes, so I go to find a place to sit down. Nate takes the kids down to the exhibit. He says it is really cool, because you walk into an airplane and then out the other side and it looks like you're in Thailand.

The kids inside a jeep built into the exhibit, while the tiger (close-up picture below) is sleeping above them on the roof!

Bird of Paradise flower

One last thing we have to do before we can leave... we still need to find the quokkas. I turn to my phone and Google it, and it claims they are in an area labeled Aussie bush. It takes us around 10 minutes to walk there. We are happy to find them awake this time and even hopping about being active.

Quokka at last!

Here is an echidna in an exhibit near the quokka

Finally we make the long trek back to the lower exit. In the lower gift shop that you exit through I see a ferry schedule and the next ferry is leaving in 5 minutes, so we basically run down the hill and get there just before they pull away.

The ferry is quite full but we find enough open seats where we can sit on the top deck and enjoy the views.

We found "Friendship" is a ferry, which is not the same as a Friendship Fairy.

We decide to go to a well-reviewed place called Burger Bros that is a couple stops beyond where we normally get off the 333 bus. We were the only ones there at the time, which was a little surprising for 5 PM. They made our food fresh and it was quite tasty. Even Kailey ate a huge burger and we didn't expect her to eat half of it!

The Mountain Dew in Australia is labeled "Energized". Before 2012 it was caffeine free, due to a law prohibiting caffeine in non-cola drinks.

Kailey really wants to go back to Bondi Beach despite her sore feet. There is no way I can go. I have blisters on about half my toes now and it hurts with every step I take. I tell them they can go without me. They agree to go, but tell me I should relax, which I gladly oblige.

I work on checking into our flight home and on catching up on my blog notes for the day.

Nate and the kids take the 333 bus back down to Bondi Beach, and the kids have fun playing in the sand, and trying to make a sand castle without a bucket or shovel.

They walked down the beach to an earlier bus stop to find some room before the bus got full.

Nate starts talking to one of the locals that torn an ACL and Kailey says "Dad, I think we missed our stop" ..oops. They are able to get off one stop later, which isn't much further of a walk. They walk across Hyde Park by the Anzac Memorial.

Our room is the top floor, the room with lights on just to the right of the middle.

Time for one last sleep in Australia...tomorrow we head for home!