First full day in Sydney

We had a good sleep at our AirBnB, and it was nice to have a simple breakfast from grocery store supplies. We headed out for a stroll towards Circular Quay, and wended our way through Hyde Park. 

For autumn, the weather was very pleasant at about 16C. 

At Circular Quay we hopped on the public ferry to Taronga Zoo. It’s such an awesome view! We passed right by the Sydney Harbour bridge (try and spot the climbers on top!), the opera house, and I spotted a military facility as well. There was a huge cruise ship, too. 










While I don’t normally like zoos, this seemed like our best way to see a whole bunch of Australian creatures. And what a setting! It was very nicely treed and had lovely winding paths throughout. 

One of the first birds we encountered was a pair of pelicans. Apparently, opening your mouth wide at them provokes them. I was terrified!


These brush turkeys were roaming free everywhere:


Quokka:

Tasmanian Devil:

Dingo:

Koalas:

Cuties:

Josephine was thrilled in the reptile house:

Capybara:


It was another big walking day, and the sun was setting just as we got back to our apartment at 5:30. 


After another grocery store dinner, we headed to the roof for a hot tub and swim. What a day!

Popular posts from this blog

Cultural Thoughts

Image
Turkey: Istanbul was a culturally varied, welcoming place. At restaurants, the hustle performed by the servers waiting at the street was intense. Everyone wanted your business! At our first restaurant, the server proclaimed that he loved Canada and that his girlfriend was from there, but he couldn’t name the city she was from. 😂 Other vendors played a similar game, trying to engage you in conversation. The easiest approach was to ignore them, unfortunately.  Most places tell you not to flush toilet paper, but to instead put it in a small waste bin. Smoking is MUCH more common than at home, and we are very unused to smoke at restaurants.  Lots of seagulls and hooded crows were to be seen around town.  Greece : The restaurant service flow was a little different from in North America. When we were done our main courses, we had to signal the server that we wanted the bill. They simply wouldn’t bring it until asked! Once we asked, though, we would often get a small dessert, f...
Read more

Whirlwind Melbourne

Image
After a lovely sleep (well, I woke at 5:30, but that’s just me), we headed out to explore a bit of Melbourne. Breakfast was at a tiny coffee shop and the girls loved their hot chocolate.  The cafe was in a narrow alley typical of the Melbourne CBD.  It must have been some breakfast to make a sign about it! Next up was the National Gallery of Victoria. It was free! Unfortunately everyone was tired at this point.  But Isabelle still managed to climb a tree! Poor JL.  Such a pretty city: Then it was back to the airport! We had a TON of time to kill, first at the Singapore Airlines lounge. They close in between flights, so we snuck a few minutes in the Air New Zealand lounge: Once boarded, the girls slept pretty much right away while JL and I had our preselected meals. I had a lovely barramundi.  We’ve now arrived in Singapore and are waiting to board our flight to London. This one’s a monster 13.5 hour flight! See you on the other side. 
Read more

Second Day in Wellington

Image
After another lovely breakfast, we took a walk up Mount Victoria to find a couple of the Lord of the Rings filming locations: Next up was a visit to the Weta Workshop where they make special effects for lots of movies. Unfortunately, photos inside were forbidden, but it was really cool to handle actual prop swords and helmets used in the films.  Watch out, JL!!!
Read more