Did I mention last time that Adrian's hood for his really big zoom lens fell into Sydney Harbour last night? Yep. He was photographing the Bridge, and apparently the hood wasn't completely screwed on to the lens. It banged against the concrete wall near the Opera House, and simply--and slowly--slid into the Harbour. So this morning's projects included posting a blog, eating some breakfast, and trying to track down a new hood before we set out for our actual destination, Taronga Zoo.
This led us further into Sydney's CBD, or Central Business District, than we'd ventured yet. We were headed for Ted's Camera Superstore ("superstore") on Pitt Street. We're not big shoppers, so we didn't know that Pitt is Sydney's main shopping thoroughfare. It's a mix of modern-ish office buildings and a few historic buildings that sort of look as though they're from a Wild West movie set. Throw in the monorail track (reminiscent of Chicago's El), and the overall effect is sort of a movie backlot, trying to be all things to all people. In Thirty Days in Sydney, Peter Carey loathes the CBD and its mishmash of architecture...and especially the monorail. Not being a local, and thus not emotionally invested in Sydney's aesthetics, I found it a bit fascinating, if aesthetically confused.
So Ted's let us down. No hood at all that would fit Adrian's lens, although they did offer to special order it. So, having dragged Ian quite a ways in a fruitless search for the hood, we took a ride on the monorail to make up for it. And since the monorail doesn't go near Circular Quay, we ended up at Darling Harbour, from where we could catch a ferry to the zoo. Darling Harbour used to be a working freight harbor, with warehouses, etc. Now, it's essentially a tourist attraction, with an aquarium, Wildlife World, a maritime museum, an IMAX theater, etc. Adrian was at Darling Harbour 21 years ago, on the day the Darling Harbour extravaganza first opened. It's one of those planned entertainment areas that works in some ways, and not in others. But it was a handy place to buy a combo ticket, with a roundtrip catamaran ride to the zoo, admission and the Sky Safari cable car ride.
By the time we got to the zoo, it was just after 1 pm. Like so many zoos, Taronga Zoo is situated on a steep hillside, so it's quite nice to take the gondola to the top of the hill and make your way down to the ferry wharf at the bottom. On our ride up to the top, we spotted the elephant area, with one of the zoo's newest residents--a baby elephant born just a week ago. Cute doesn't begin to describe it, and of course, Ian was really excited to see that. With just a short amount of time, we focused on the Australian animals. We got to see koalas, and kangaroos, and an emu and a wombat. There's an enclosure with red kangaroos, wallabies and an emu, through which zoo visitors walk, with no fences between the people and the animals, which is great. Instead of staring at them in a pen, you're in their space. Ian really wanted to look at the reptiles, so we spent a creepy 15 minutes or so looking at some really deadly creatures (and some interesting lizards and turtles, too). If you like poisonous snakes, their collection includes a Fierce Snake, an Egyptian cobra, a Western diamondback rattlesnake, and other venomous critters I can't remember, as well as various constrictors. Adrian and I aren't really fans of legless land creatures, but Ian seemed to enjoy it.
We also had a pretty close-up encounter with a native--the lorikeet. About halfway down the hill, the Treetops Cafe has glass walls and a stunning view of Sydney, including the Harbour Bridge and the Opera House. (Adrian thought the lady who worked the counter was quite lucky to look at that view all day!). As we chose an outside table to enjoy the view, we noticed there were lots of technicolor birds licking grains of sugar off the tables. When the lady brought our lunch to us, Ian said they were really pretty. She told us they were lorikeets, and that they really like sugar. Before we knew it, one had taken a peck at Ian's blueberry muffin! They were lovely, but quite pesky, and not at all intimidated by waving hands and such. Nevertheless, we enjoyed our lunch, and wound up our trip to the zoo with a peek at the new baby elephant, and at animals from the Great Southern Seas exhibit. There was a leopard seal and a fur seal, as well as Australia's native Little Penguins, and a Macaroni penguin who had been stranded off course in Australia.
To cap off the trip, we approached Sydney Harbour on the catamaran, just as the sunset turned really spectacular. We found a nice little Italian restaurant in The Rocks (for a change from Ian's favorite "Scottish" restaurant), got a pizza with all of Ian's favorite toppings (ham, olives, cheese), and called it a night. So, although our day got off to an odd start, it turned out pretty well, all the same.
This led us further into Sydney's CBD, or Central Business District, than we'd ventured yet. We were headed for Ted's Camera Superstore ("superstore") on Pitt Street. We're not big shoppers, so we didn't know that Pitt is Sydney's main shopping thoroughfare. It's a mix of modern-ish office buildings and a few historic buildings that sort of look as though they're from a Wild West movie set. Throw in the monorail track (reminiscent of Chicago's El), and the overall effect is sort of a movie backlot, trying to be all things to all people. In Thirty Days in Sydney, Peter Carey loathes the CBD and its mishmash of architecture...and especially the monorail. Not being a local, and thus not emotionally invested in Sydney's aesthetics, I found it a bit fascinating, if aesthetically confused.
So Ted's let us down. No hood at all that would fit Adrian's lens, although they did offer to special order it. So, having dragged Ian quite a ways in a fruitless search for the hood, we took a ride on the monorail to make up for it. And since the monorail doesn't go near Circular Quay, we ended up at Darling Harbour, from where we could catch a ferry to the zoo. Darling Harbour used to be a working freight harbor, with warehouses, etc. Now, it's essentially a tourist attraction, with an aquarium, Wildlife World, a maritime museum, an IMAX theater, etc. Adrian was at Darling Harbour 21 years ago, on the day the Darling Harbour extravaganza first opened. It's one of those planned entertainment areas that works in some ways, and not in others. But it was a handy place to buy a combo ticket, with a roundtrip catamaran ride to the zoo, admission and the Sky Safari cable car ride.
By the time we got to the zoo, it was just after 1 pm. Like so many zoos, Taronga Zoo is situated on a steep hillside, so it's quite nice to take the gondola to the top of the hill and make your way down to the ferry wharf at the bottom. On our ride up to the top, we spotted the elephant area, with one of the zoo's newest residents--a baby elephant born just a week ago. Cute doesn't begin to describe it, and of course, Ian was really excited to see that. With just a short amount of time, we focused on the Australian animals. We got to see koalas, and kangaroos, and an emu and a wombat. There's an enclosure with red kangaroos, wallabies and an emu, through which zoo visitors walk, with no fences between the people and the animals, which is great. Instead of staring at them in a pen, you're in their space. Ian really wanted to look at the reptiles, so we spent a creepy 15 minutes or so looking at some really deadly creatures (and some interesting lizards and turtles, too). If you like poisonous snakes, their collection includes a Fierce Snake, an Egyptian cobra, a Western diamondback rattlesnake, and other venomous critters I can't remember, as well as various constrictors. Adrian and I aren't really fans of legless land creatures, but Ian seemed to enjoy it.
We also had a pretty close-up encounter with a native--the lorikeet. About halfway down the hill, the Treetops Cafe has glass walls and a stunning view of Sydney, including the Harbour Bridge and the Opera House. (Adrian thought the lady who worked the counter was quite lucky to look at that view all day!). As we chose an outside table to enjoy the view, we noticed there were lots of technicolor birds licking grains of sugar off the tables. When the lady brought our lunch to us, Ian said they were really pretty. She told us they were lorikeets, and that they really like sugar. Before we knew it, one had taken a peck at Ian's blueberry muffin! They were lovely, but quite pesky, and not at all intimidated by waving hands and such. Nevertheless, we enjoyed our lunch, and wound up our trip to the zoo with a peek at the new baby elephant, and at animals from the Great Southern Seas exhibit. There was a leopard seal and a fur seal, as well as Australia's native Little Penguins, and a Macaroni penguin who had been stranded off course in Australia.
To cap off the trip, we approached Sydney Harbour on the catamaran, just as the sunset turned really spectacular. We found a nice little Italian restaurant in The Rocks (for a change from Ian's favorite "Scottish" restaurant), got a pizza with all of Ian's favorite toppings (ham, olives, cheese), and called it a night. So, although our day got off to an odd start, it turned out pretty well, all the same.
Ian's Favorite Thing of the Day: The ferry ride and seeing the cobra
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