Today’s adventure begins with a ferry ride to Taronga Zoo. Figuring out the ferry line versus the wharf number got me a little confused, but I still arrived at the zoo (along with a hundred other tourists) for when it opened. From my previous trip, I hadn’t recalled the Sydney harbor being so extensive. I was so jet lagged when I was here for a day 16 years ago. Homes and office buildings dotting the coast, but no beach. Guess that’s why Manly and Bondi are so popular with the residents. They see water all the time, but don’t get to actually go in it.

The zoo was great. It’s clean and the exhibits and directions are clearly marked. I saw a Komodo dragon, a Python, platypus’, giraffes, fennec foxes which were adorable and big ears like Buswell, several bongos, chimps, lots of kangaroos having sex and jumping all around, and I spent a few minutes waiting for the Tasmanian devil to come out of hiding so it was quite a treat to see him.

I’ve seen koalas at two different places in the zoo – there’s an exhibit right when I walked in where you can see the koalas in the distance. And then I did the “koala encounter.” Koalas sleep 20 hours a day and I believe it’s because the chemical properties of the eucalyptus makes them sleepy. But when I did the encounter — wide awake. And the mother koala had a ten month baby with her so most of the time the baby is snuggled up to the mother making the mother look like she has a big puffy stomach. But when I had my five minutes in the koala encounter space, the baby was walking around, trying to climb back on her mother, and also attempted to feed herself some eucalyptus. The koala keeper told me I had the best experience of the week since typically they are sleeping, resting up high, etc.  FaceTime cooperated briefly so Paul and D could join me for the first minute of the encounter. It was awesome and I had to restrain myself from reaching out and touching them. It’s prohibited in the state of New South Wales.

A beautiful ferry trip back to Circular Quay (it’s 82 degrees) and the most delicious, buttery oysters at Sydney Cove Oyster Bar for lunch.