On Thursday, I got a chance to go to Taronga Zoo for the first time ever. Taronga is a world-famous zoo, just a ferry's ride away from Sydney, and it very much deserves its reputation. It not only has amazing animals but amazing views, as I joked to Wes when we were walking around:
Come to Taronga Zoo. See our fabulous animals and city views.
It really was a great experience and I'd love to go back in the future.
Now, stick close to me, this is going to be a long one in multiple pieces! Be warned, there are a LOT of photos!
After the first walk-through enclosure, Wes and I back-tracked a bit to find the others. Along the way, we ran into the Clock Garden again and our buddy the peacock, drawing attention to himself yet again.
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| What a ham! |
We looped around a few times before we found the next enclosure that we could walk through. In the mean time, we found the Platypus exhibit and went in eager to see them. The zoo has recently (as in, within the last five years) started breeding their platypuses with a measure of success. They've had several puggles (baby platypus) born in the zoo and one was on display.
None of the adults were out and about, but the baby was rifling through the rocks at the bottom of the tank with gusto. If you have never seen a baby platypus in action, I highly suggest you find somewhere to see one.
They. Are. Adorable.
The next walk-through enclosure was full of Eastern Grey and Red Kangaroos, Swamp and Rock Wallabies and a few other species that we didn't spot, in addition to a few unidentified lizards (Wes thinks they were blue-tongues, I think they were a type of monitor, google says they're Eastern Water Dragons) and an Emu.
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| Eastern Water Dragon |
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| A wild Magpie, right before swallowing a rock. |
Eventually, Wes declared that he was absolutely starving and I was nursing a headache that had started in the Nightlife exhibit, so we decided to seek out the central eatery that we had encountered earlier in the day. The line for the burger joint was pretty long, but the food there sounded more appealing than the other restaurants that were in the same section.
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| We passed the spider monkeys again on the way back. Hungry ourselves, it was funny to watch them chowing down on their mid-day meal. |
We got two beef burgers "with the lot", which included a creamy mustard sauce, lettuce, spinach, tomato, pickled beet and cheese (I removed the lettuce, spinach and tomato from mine). The beet was actually surprisingly good with the burger and I definitely recommend it if you've never tried it. It's not quite on par with avocado on a burger, but it was still very tasty! We also shared a cup of thick french fries, which had an ibis and several seagulls harassing us for leftovers, including one poor bird that was missing a foot.
After we ate, we went walking again, this time past the gorillas. There were at least two juveniles, including one that was still small enough that its mother was carrying it in her arms.
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| Just in case, y'know, someone wants to swim with the gorillas. |
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| Momma had a BIG scrape on her right cheek. |
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| Snacktime! |
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| I think every gorilla exhibit ever has some variation on this sculpture. |
Continuing on down the line, we started to find other primates. In particular, we found the ring-tailed lemurs. I looooove lemurs.
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| They're just so fuzzy! |
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| And photogenic! |
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| Koi in the pond surrounding the island where gibbons live. |
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| Well. One gibbon, anyway. |
At this point, we had to loop around and go backwards again because Wes realized that we'd missed out on the spiders by skipping the kids' trail. As much as he dislikes them, he sure does have an odd fixation on seeing the eight-legged critters behind glass.
Thus, we went back towards the Australian Walkabout and sought out the bugs and spiders and other creepy crawlies living in a cut-out house.
The house was full of little signs and plaques about conservation of energy, water and other resources. The animals shown off were listed as being helpful critters, there to make our world a better place, and included native spiders, insects, fish and so on.
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| Golden orbweaver |
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| Wes says I can expect to see huntsman spiders this large or bigger come summertime. Yay. And yes. That one is alive. |
On the way back to the path (so that we could get ourselves on track), we had to pass the saltwater crocodile pit, where a rather large specimen was basking on the front ramp. He seemed entirely unbothered by all the attention he was garnering and just lay there for quite some time enjoying the sun.
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| Someone didn't proofread. |
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| Why, Granny! What BIG teeth you have! |
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| Baaarely cruising along. |
As the crocodile swam away, he sort of sank into the water and just vanished, like he'd never been there. A woman who was watching with us shuddered and jumped, proclaiming that it was "absolutely chilling" to watch. It really was a bit unnerving, thinking that these guys can move with such stealth in spite of their size.
On the way back to the path, still, we passed several more enclosures full of birds and squirrels from Asia, as well as the old Aquarium building, which is now empty.
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| Lady Amherst's Pheasant, I believe |
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| That's right. 19th July, 1927 |
We also passed by where the seal show was being held. It. Was. Crowded. The entire amphitheater was packed full and people were standing all across the back. We snuck a quick peek in, long enough to see an Australian sea-lion waddling about on a platform, before we moved on to find the bird show.
To find the right trail to get to the bird show, we passed several more enclosures and animals worth noting. Among them were the Asian Elephants (and the new baby that they have on display). We also got to see the Elephant Shrine, but I didn't get any photos of it, unfortunately. We did, however, see the elephant barn where they keep a replica of the saddles used in the past to give elephant rides.
Outside of this "barn" is a small, ceremonial shrine to spirits long-gone, complete with offerings.
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| You can't tell in the photo, but some lackwit took a bite out of the top apple. |
Ironically, to get to the bird show, we passed more birds by going through the Rainforest Trail. There were quite a few aviaries to walk through before we reached our destination, as well as a few more open-air enclosures.
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| Very hard to photograph, a Golden Pheasant from China. |
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| Yum! Mealworms! |
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| Let's try that again, without the snack, yes? |
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| Spotty deer, found only in and around India. Oh. And chickens! |
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| We also found several Binturong/Bearcat enclosures. |
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| Oh. And chickens. Did I mention the chickens? |
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| And |
Finally, we made it to the bird show's location.
Wes had been saying all day that we had to see the bird show; no "ifs", "ands" or "buts" to be had about it. We were some of the first people to get to the amphitheater and get seated, but a crowd slowly filled in around us. The amphitheater looks out over an amazing view of the harbor. It's really quite stunning!
As we sat waiting, music came on over the loudspeakers, interspersed with the calls of native birds. The show didn't announce itself as beginning at that point, but let the anticipation build. Instead of having the host come out and start things up, the show got going with a bit of flare.
A dove swooped out over the crowd, circled around to the back and unfurled a banner announcing the show's title. When the dove had disappeared off stage, a voice came on over the loudspeaker, telling of the Aboriginal story from the Dreamtime, or the beginning of the world. It told of how all the birds used to be black, but that one small bird punctured his foot on a splinter and that it caused a many-colored blister to form. All of the other birds rushed to help him, except for the crow. One of the birds popped the blister to ease his pain and from the blister, all of the birds gained color, except for the crow who had not wanted to help his smaller cousin.
After this brief introduction (and with many swooping cockatoos, doves and scurrying chickens), the show's host came out and introduced herself and the show, to a very lukewarm reaction. Earlier in the day, Wes had commented on the fact that mine was the only American accent he'd heard all day, when the trainer suddenly called out into the crowd:
"Now, I know y'all can do better than that! How're y'all doing this afternoon?!"
I turned to him and just smiled.
The bird show was incredibly well coordinated and one of the best I've ever seen. They showed off many native species in flight and up close, including Galahs, Sulphur Crested Cockatoos, Major Mitchell's Cockatoos, Red-tailed Black Cockatoos, Short-billed Black Cockatoos, a Brolga, a Barn Owl, the Australian Hobby, a Black-breasted Buzzard and more.
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| Billy, a female Brolga |
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| The barking owl, whose name I cannot remember. |
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| Striker, the Black-breasted Buzzard (And her plaster emu egg) |
Many of the birds flew so closely that you could feel their wings against your hair or face. Because they moved so quickly, I didn't get too many photos, but the experience itself is one I won't easily forget. The barking owl came very, very close to us on his flights up and down the amphitheater and actually brushed against Wes's face and the camera on one pass.
The finale of the show was absolutely amazing, with cockatoos, galahs and doves flying in giant rings over the amphitheater. It really is amazing to see how well-trained the birds in the show are.
At this point, my head was a horrible, aching mess, so we made one last pass to see the big cats and the Great Southern Oceans display and that was it. Sadly, not many of either were presently on display. The lions were hiding near the back of their enclosure, but I manage to get a few shots of the tiger (while he was digging a latrine, no less).
The rest of the enclosures we passed seemed pretty randomly placed. There didn't seem to be a reason for them to be grouped together, but we enjoyed them anyway!
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| You'd never know what his back end was up to! |
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| "Wanna play?" |
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| "You do?!" |
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| Madame snow leopard does not. |
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| This little meercat was missing his tail. Poor thing! |
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| Standing sentry duty. |
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| Sopping wet otter butts (supposedly from Thailand!) |
Because the penguins are in the middle of their breeding season, they were tucked away in their nesting boxes out of view and the seals' exhibits were mostly under renovations. We did spot the leopard seal (who was hiding from camera view behind the wall) and Miya, one of the Australian Sea-lions, but the others were not on display.
So in the end, we made it through the entire zoo and saw pretty much everything that was on display for the day. We didn't get to see a few things (like the red pandas, booooo), but overall it was an amazing experience and I really, really want to go back in the future (hopefully next time without the headache).
