On our last day in Sydney we took the ferry tour from Darling Harbour, where we were staying, all around the harbour. We passed under the magnificent Harbour Bridge, viewed the Sydney Opera House on three sides and then decided to get off the ferry at the Taronga Zoo. Wise choice. It is an amazing zoo with a huge section devoted to Wild Australia. I had my thrill of a lifetime - I finally have seen a real, live PLATAPUS.. They are such funny creatures. It looks like someone was playing a joke on the animal world and forgot to remove the masks. Webbed feet, a long, slender body with the softest fur, a duck bill. He lives both out of water and in the water, using his duck bill to scavenge in the creek beds for grubs and cray fish. And they are lightening fast. I tried to get a picture of him but he was just too fast for my camera to pick up. In the pictures, all you see is one big blur where this little animal darts around. You cannot use a flash because you could blind him. Very sensitive eyes because they are nocturnal.
After this thrill, we were watching a koala in a tree and it looked like the belly area was moving. Yup, it was and momma was holding the cutest little baby who was a bit rambuctous and wanted to see the world. One minute you would see this little ball of grey fluff peeking out from under the momma's leg, she would grab him and put him in his place then the next time you see him, he is peeking out from under her arm. This went on for several minutes until Momma got tired of the fooling around and decided to change trees. Baby hung on for dear life to Momma's belly area. Ok, now I want a pet koala!!!!
By time we finished o0hing and awing over all the Australian animals, we made our way back to the wharf and got on the ferry to continue our trip around the Harbour. It is huge. We stayed with the ferry until we were back almost to our hotel and decided to get off and find some dinner. It gets dark here around 5:30 - 6pm. and it gets cold. We are in the middle of winter! We discovered a beautiful park all along both sides of the Cockle Bay area of the Harbour so we just walked. We found a wonderful mall and took a cruise through there. Some stores were worthwhile and others we did not even look in. We did find a cafe and sat down to have some dinner. Did I mention that the meals here in Australia are outrageously priced? Our meal of one piece of lasagne, one order of veal which was smothered in mushroom sauce with mashed potatoes. All of this was totally tasteless and cost over $50.00 Aus and that is just for fast food. A decent meal would be over the moon! Back to the hotel to pack up and be ready for the alarm to go off at 4:21 AM so we can be ready to get our taxi to the railway station to get on the train at 6:58 am. The train station is a brief 5 minutes away and we sat in there, freezing our butts off, until the train rolled into the station at 6:45 am.
Canberra is the seat of government in Australia. It is a planned city with lots of wide road space and there do not seem to be traffic jams.
We arrived on Aug 6th via train. This is a wonderful experience. We saw the countryside and lots of kangaroo mobs! Yes, that is what a herd of kangaroos is called. They blend in with the landscape and if they did not move, you would be challenged to see them. A very powerful animal. April's brother Paul and his lovely wife, Sarah, have been our tour guides and we have had the tour circumventing Canberra. That was a long journey, perhaps 45 minutes!!!! Today we went to the natural museum. What a treat. First of all, it is free and secondly, the architecture is amazing. The exhibits are fun and easy to follow with lots of pictures, actual objects and some hands-on.
I am off to bed. A long day coming up. And I think, if it stops raining, that we are to be treated to a bar be que of kangaroo burgers. I will let you know how this tastes.
Till the next catch up of our great big adventure, take care. Nancy & April
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