The Zoo and The Tower

Today was Zoo day, over the otehr side of the harbour at Taronga. We already had zoo tickets courtesy of the visitor card we had purchased, so headed for the ferry terminal at Circular Quay. No family deals today so return ferry cost $30 - children after the first one do travel free in family groups. The ferry was due in 6 or 7 minutes and we waited with various school groups on their way over. The journey took about 12 minutes and gave good views of bridge and Opera House. There is a gondola that takes you from the harbour entrance to the main entrance but this was closed for maintenance (think Sam was relieved) so rather than take the bus round to the other entrance we just went in on this side of the Zoo.

The first enclosure we came acorss was the Red Pandas - bit early and cool for them maybe as no sign so we moved on to the seal and penguin area. They had Little Blue penguins, cute as ever and various seals including NZ fur we had seen in the wild and sea lions. We found out that they are all seals, even sea lions, just a different sub set. From here we followed the path round via some amusing Gibbons hanging in the sun and arrived at the Sub bear enclosure. The bears had been rescued from poachers and still paced nervously remembering their traumatic start to life. A quick drink then the African elephants (female enclosure, the male was in a separate enclosure) and we caught the tail end of the seal show in the 1,00 seater seal theatre. It finished with a huge seal doing a back spin, splashing the front few rows.

The Gorilla house was next to the seal theatre and despite the crowds coming from the show we got a good view of a really cute little baby gorilla running around with his mum. He had alittle slide and toys to play with - very cute.

The kids were keen to do the high ropes experience, but first we went via the Australian walk as I wanted to see Koalas. The first enclosure was interesting - a free walk area through the cage with some lizards and also rock Kangaroos. One was just inside the door up on the wall and periodically you could see her baby peeking out of the pouch. Nex t up we saw a Tasmanian Devil. Never seen one before and they do look a bit scary and the keeper explained that when feeding in packs they make a terrible noise so you could see why the early settlers thought there were devils out int eh darkness. The Taz cartoon character with his spins was based on a single devil kept alone in captivity which probably turned in circles out of frustration - it's not normal behaviour for them. We were lucky to see them as they are shy and typically nocturnal.

Next was the platypus house - one was swimming in the reeds and occasionally pooped out to swim the length of the tank - again first time I had seen one of these odd creatures. Then some Kangaroos, though seen plenty before, and on to the Koalas. On was sitting very high up in a tree. To get a closer experience we paid to go into the enclosure for 5 minutes or so with the keeper and see some close at hand and get some pictures. One was quite active, the keeper explaining she was eating some new eucalyptus he had just put out and would son go back to there more normal sleeping state. This one had a baby in its pouch, born after less than a week but then in the pouch for several months. The other koala was sleeping. They have 19 in the Zoo and they are a protected species in NSW. To the kids delight she did a big wee and poo just before we left. The keeper said there were a few in other countries but not many as it was tough to source the Eucalyptus they eat. Our picture came out very well and Koala seen we headed for the High Ropes.

Unfortunately the age curse struck again - you needed to be 10. Ed was quite upset as he had been very excited about doing this. Tash and I went to see about her doing it, but 10-16's had to have an adult doing it with them. I didn't fancy it and whilst an instructor could be hired to go it all seemed too much given Ed's disappointment. So we said no and vowed to go to a Go Ape in the UK at some point soon.

Back to animals then and the reptile area, some big snakes, Komodo dragon and crocodiles and turtles. Then lunchtime, via the Giraffe enclosure, where I got the classic shot of foreground giraffe, background opera house and bridge.

There was some flagging after lunch especially from the girls, but as ever Ed was keen to see everything so we went via the Chimpanzees to see the Zebras and the Bongo - always my favourite as allows endless Um Bongo and Congo jokes - lost on the kids. Tash didn't see what the Bongo fuss was about and appeared to upset the Bongo with this attitude - he was giving her some very hard stares.

Mountain goats perched precariously on their rocky enclosure, then the last big animals were the lions. The tigers are having a new enclosure built so couldn't be seen. Done with animals we headed back to the exit near the ferry, passing the Red Pandas who were now out and about, although fast asleep in a tree - typical pandas.

The ferry ride back was uneventful and from there we headed to the Skytower (Sydney Eye Tower as its now branded). Our tickets covered entry, but when we got there we saw a video of the Skywalk which was not at all as scary as the Auckland one and just involved standing on some glass floored platforms, always with rails and walls around. Minimum age was 8, so we had to do it just to allow Ed to. We got a good discount with the iventure cards (Sam obviously didn't want to do it) and headed in. There were some models and puzzles on the way through to a 4d cinema - wind and wanter providing the 4th dimension. Then off up in the lift. We got soem good views in daylight and as the sun went down and by the time of our walk (6pm) it was dark and so we got a different dimension on it.

We had to take off loose items and put on jump suits - Ed had some trouble getting his on, but we made it. We had to be breathalysed and metal detectored again (seemed overkill for this compared to the Bridgeclimb Harnesses were fitted, we were clipped onto a rail and out we went. We followed a walkway around the tower to the first platform with glass floor, the edge sticking out over the street below - the inner side was still over the building so anyone fearful of heights could remain off the glass or at least not over a big drop. We were encouraged to bounce up and down and could feel the whole platform moving! For some reason I felt happier with a hand touching the railings, even though everything was solid and we were tied on. Our guide told us a few fcts about what we could see and then attempted to take some photos of us. Eventually she got things working, though as we would discover at the end, only partially and we were sold the pictures at a knock down rate as the flash hadn't made things bright enough - still pretty spectacular pics though.

It was very windy on this side and we moved around to stand under the large Westfield sign - encouraged to reach up and touch it as it cost $3m. The round the other side to a second platform with just a narrow glass floor right at the edge of the building. Once everyone was on there was a noise and we started moving out. Our guide tried to create some panic by saying she didn't know what was happening and it had never happened before - somewhat believable given the chaos with the camera earlier. So we were now right over the edge of the building on a glass floor with only Market Street about 260m below (we were pretty much twice as high as the bridge here and higher than my jump in auckland (though the Auckland tower has a bigger mast making it higher in total). More jumping on the platform then it was time to go in (last fact was about the length of ropes helping support the tower and the large water tank in the roof that helped to counter any sway.

Back inside we bought photos and souvenirs and headed back for some more room service in the hotel - our last night of the trip.Read more