Sydney Zoo

View from Sydney Zoo

Our weekend at the Sydney Zoo.

I am not a Zoo fan.  I really hate to see animals kept in small confined spaces.  The only deviation from this is if the animals can not live out in the wild due to injury or if they were born in captivity.  As far as zoos go...I really like the Sydney Zoo.  They have keeper talks and in all of them they talk about the need for conservation activities for the animals native environment and ask for support for conservation efforts.






We really enjoyed ourselves.  The first day we listened to the keeper talks and went to the shows.  I was surprised that there was a decent amount of the zoo that we had not seen by the end of the day (zoo closes at 5pm).  The tickets are not cheap but it includes an optional gondola ride up the hill and all of the talks an shows.  The only thing not included is feeding/holding an animal.  Animal Encounters (as they call them) cost extra but the pictures that I saw were well done.

My favorite show was the Free Flight Bird Show.  I was impressed (we even caught the show again the next day).  The show is complete with wedge eagle and an owl...it was impressive.  The end is set to music and has different groups of birds sweeping past.  I don't know how you could walk away from there and not love nature and be at peace.  Be careful for the stroller parking area after the show...it is a dangerous area especially if you are still reveling in the tranquility of your thoughts.   The seal show was also fun.

We spent time looking at the giraffes, Big Cats and the elephants.  The giraffes were fun to watch while they were feeding because they have LONG purple tongues that are quite versatile.  We caught the cats awake as it was feeding time.  They are beautiful animals.  It is amazing how many things I saw the tigers do that my kitty at home does.  The zoo has three young (less than 3 years old) elephants which were a hoot to watch them interact with each other and their environment.  It was nice to take our time as we has 2 full days with our pass.

The next day we spent time around the Australia animals including wombats, koala, emu, kangaroo, platapus and my favorite....the gliders.

We saw little feather-tail gliders that were smaller than mice but were a glider and scurried around flinging themselves from branch to branch and even ran across the glass.  We spent 2 hours alone watching the gliders, potoroos, echidnas, and other nocturnal animals.





The reptile/amphibian section was small but good and there were tons of places to walk through and see birds. I did feel bad for the condor that did not have room to fly...I guess it would be hard with a bird so big.  I hope they are happy.

The day ended with the most relaxing way to end of day.  They have a walkway below the penguin area.  We went down and leaned against a railing and watched fairy penguins swim over us.  They are amazing to see but being able to watch from below was a rare treat.  The pool extends along and the fiberglass allows you to see them up close.  They really are a iridescent blue color (hence the name Blue Penguin).

On the way to the ferry we also saw the Red Panda.  The Red Panda has all of the best things from bears and raccoons. They are adorable!!

We enjoyed the Zoo...we took the ferry back to Circular Quay and watched the sunset.  Pretty day.

Sydney Apartment

View from Circular Quay, Sydney

Apartment hunting in Sydney is a bit different than anything I have experienced in any of the other countries I have lived.  The real estate agents show an apartment by appointment but try and get you to come to the scheduled showing (normally on Saturday).  This is all normal.  The difference is that the scheduled showings are 20-30 minutes...yep that is correct...20-30 min to get in and see the place.  Some of the showings were a mad house with people waiting outside and all rushing in at once.  Then they race to the next appointment in the next part of the city and hopefully you have a car or public transit on your side. We ran around one Saturday and luckily found 2 great places.

The other challenge was getting the money down to Sydney in Australian Dollars.  We learned by living in Europe but it takes time.  You can ATM it for a while but most US ATMs charge you a Visa/MC charge of 1-3% on top of the exchange rate (which some banks do not tell you about) and you have to watch what the different charges.  Some banks are pretty good about the fees but it takes lots of looking.  All wire transfers take time.  So you have to balance amount and time.  Luckily in Australia, it is easy to set up a bank account.  We found that XE was a great way to transfer money down...again...just takes time.  You book in a rate and that is the exchange rate (no extra fees)...then it is just a waiting game for them to get the money out of your account, hold it and deposit it into your other account in the local currency.  The good thing is that you know exactly what you are going to get.

Anyway...once the money arrived.  We were able to move in.  The view from our apartment is amazing.  I had never visited North Sydney when visiting but there are fabulous views of Sydney Harbour and the Harbour Bridge / Opera House from McMahon's Point (Harbour spelled the Australian way).

Getting to Sydney - Europe to Vancouver to...

This is my first try at this.  As a request from Matthew...I am going to keep him informed about my travels by Blogging...I guess...welcome to the crazy internet world for me.  I don't know why anyone would be interested in my thoughts on travel experiences...but a promise is a promise.

Brussels Grand Place at Night

Matthew and I have now settled in much more.  We came down to Sydney with Google - Matthew switched teams and found that he could really help a team that supports the stuff that he use to work on...the team is in Australia.  It was not a pleasant transition (again (moving internationally with Google is quite painful)) but after all of the craziness... we moved down to Sydney for a 6 month assignment.  Personally, I had quite a transition with a double international move - first from Brussels where I had been on assignment since Jan 2, 2011 and then to Sydney separated by 10 days in the US (split between KC and SF).

It was a very difficult decision but I decided to work only part time while down here and do some traveling and unwinding while here as the last 2 projects and the international moves have taken quite a toll on me.

The Nederlands Tulips in Spring

Brussels was tough.  It is not anywhere close to a favorite European city...I would not chose to go back...there are much nicer places in Belgium (of course I did not really choose to go there in the first place).  There are some advantages to being in Europe in the spring time and I traveled every weekend while I was there.  Anyway...I plan on relaying travel stories from Europe in this as well (as I was really bad about writing them down).

Vancouver Bridge

Our adventure to Sydney started with our flight down.  Our ticket was San Fransisco to Vancouver and then Vancouver to Sydney.  We did this because it was a significantly cheaper ticket.  Since we had to fly to Vancouver, we decided to plan in an extended layover so that we could explore the city.  Thanks to United/Air Canada checking our bags straight through! 

I was underwhelmed.  The airport was incredible.  People were so friendly and helpful.  We stored our bags easily at the airport.  A day ticket on the public transit for both of us was less than half of what I expected the taxi ride to be AND there is a train at the airport that took us straight into the city.  It was SO nice and easy.  Highly recommend the train.  My research never mentioned this option and it was BY FAR the best to get to and from the Vancouver airport to downtown.

Stanley Park Rose Garden (with tulips)

 The Gastown was meant to be the historic area.  It was...well....after walking though, I wondered if we had seen any of the "great" part.  The walk from Gastown to Chinatown was scary...I found myself clutching my purse to my chest and wondering if the strap was going to be cut from behind if I was not clutching it.  We decided to go back to the water.  The seawalk along the water to Stanley Park was nice.  The mountains and water make for nice scenery but there are much prettier places to see water and mountains.     
Stanley Park is kind of fun.  We walked around quite a bit.  Saw the totem poles, to my disappointment, they are only replicas that have been made in my lifetime.  I did like the pictures of real ones that were used as inspiration.  It was a nice place to walk around.


My favorite thing about Vancouver was the airport and how friendly people were there.  The train is defiantly the way to get to and from the airport!  But the day pass and it is Way cheaper.