March 4 - A Zoo by any other name...

Slept in. A well deserved rest indeed after two fully charged days. But, no rest for the weary. It's impossible to just sit around when there's so much to do and see and you know your time is limited.

Today's target was the Toranga Zoo situated on the north harbor shore about 15 minutes by ferry from the Quay. I like zoos somewhat but even if the Toranga was bust, it would at least be another opportunity to get out on the water -- not sure that could ever be commonplace or boring.

Toranga is situated on a slope adjacent to the water and the entrance leads to a cable car gondola thingy to take you about 1500 meters to the top where you begin to wind yourself through a series of paths with animal exhibits. The animal collection was a bit disappointing except for the opportunity to see a few native species that we felt like were in their own neighborhood. The best part was a large enclosure with roos, wallabies, and wombats free to walk amongst us. Well, mostly they just sat there and watched us walk thru. Who was on exhibit here??? It was nice seeing them upclose nevertheless. One of the other nice things about the zoo was the frequent vistas back towards Sydney -- several even had well situated benches where one could look at an exhibit -- say, a giraffe -- enjoy a rest and soak in the sweeping view.


Ferry back to CQ meandered in and out of a few small inlets stopping much like a local bus would to pick up a few locals making their way into Sydney. We were on a Sunday schedule so there were few non-tourists on the ferry. But, I'm sure on a weekday there would be dozens of city bound workers making their way from their homes and condos to their desks.