Day 3 started like day 2, except today we went to the exercise room and not the pool. My hate for stationary bikes continues, and I almost fainted from running. No worries though I was fine after breakfast. Again I had a bowl of cereal in the room and then a ham and cheese croissant on the train.
We had to head back to Circular Quay again and Ina got a Chicken Souvlaki Skewer. I had a bite and do to some miss communication I now have a small cut on one edge of my mouth. We took a ferry over to the zoo. I took just a few pictures of the Opera House this time. I also took a shot of what must be a naval ship yard. We saw a big (read medium by comparison to our naval ships) ship come into the harbor the previous day.
At the zoo, www.zoo.nsw.gov.au , we had three options for entry, take a bus to the top gate, enter at the low gate, or take the sky safari. Naturally we took the free sky safari, which involved a six person gondola ride over the zoo. You get to fly right over the female elephants ( and two babies) as well as some chimps. Ina wanted to see everything in the zoo, with the exception of some of the birds. One of our first stops was native Australian animals.
We were about to enter the Duck Billed Platypus building when we saw a cute Wombat. We went to the edge of the exhibit, about a 3 ft tall wall, and peaked in. The Wombat, Ina named Bubba, proceeded to walk right over to us and stand up against the wall. Its head was literally 4 inches below the wall and starring right at us.
We didn’t end up seeing any platypus, although we saw one at the aquarium (the picture is pretty bad because he was swimming and it was low light). I have learned some things about the platypus. The males have a venomous claw on their front feet, so they are extremely dangerous. Also they make me question evolution, a mammal with a bill, that lays eggs, swims and digs, and has a venomous claw. The shark eggs I saw the day before also confused me, they have spirals on the outside, like a corkscrew so they can be wedged into rocks.
Next up were the Koalas. Of course they were adorable, and watching them walk around melted your heart. For only $20 (for up to four people) we could have fed and held them and had pictures taken.
They shared a habitat with an echidna.
Right next to this was a double set of doors. Once through the doors there were signs saying to stay on the path. Why do you need to stay on the path? Because there are wallabies and kangaroos walking around off the path. There was nothing stopping them from walking across the path.
In fact a Zoo volunteer was standing by a wallaby that was sunning itself next to the path. The volunteer asked if we wanted to pet it. What kind of stupid question is that, do you want to pet a wallaby? Of course I want to pet a wallaby:
Those were the highlights of the visit, otherwise it is your standard zoo that overlooks Sydney harbor. A tiger did hop up onto a platform and point for everyone, Ina decided it she were a zoo animal she would Vogue all day. There was also a pygmy hippo that was interesting.
After the zoo we went to Bondi Beach, the world famous surfing beach. I will be learning how to surf tomorrow at Manly beach, but Bondi was a must see. Of course it is in the upper 50’s by the time we make it to the beach so it did not feel like surfing weather. There was a walkway that goes along the coast line. Just like the zoo there are limited safety barriers. In fact the only railings are put up when there is a drop off right next to the path, if there is more rock then a drop off there is no railing. It was pretty cool. The is also the Bondi Icebergs club. It is has a swimming pool built right next to the crashing waves, a rock pool apparently.. It is salt water and gains and loses water with each wave crashing into it.
We went to a small seafood place for dinner. Ina had some fresh prawn while I opted for the calamari. I still have not eaten anything unique to Australia, but the Vegemite is in the hotel room.
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