Everyone talks about Sydney's amazing Taronga a Zoo -- and don't get me wrong -- I definitely want to check it out. However, G made a good point when we first got here. World class zoo's tend to be somewhat similar, showcasing amazing animals from around the globe that are interesting and exciting to the people living in that city. What we wanted to see right away is what is cool, exciting, and different about Australia, so we made Wildlife World our first zoological stop.
Wildlife World is a a fairly new attraction in Sydney as it opened in 2006. Their goals are to showcase, conserve, and provide a storyline for Australia's fauna. It's located right downtown in Darling Harbor, right next to Aquarium, so it's extremely convenient to get to. It's a really a great, compact structure with three floors and walkway that leads you through the various types of habitats found in Australia. There are all kinds of lectures and programs throughout the day, however, we arrived at around 2:45 and had missed out on most of the scheduled events. (We had a pamphlet with out-of-date info stating that the place closes late in the evening. They now close at 6 p.m.)
Kate, G and I, however, were determined to pet a koala, so we booked it up to the roof level to catch the tail end of the koala feeding and petting session. Luckily, when our turn finally came to meet the koalas, the docent was nice enough to talk to us a bit about their habits and answer questions. Interestingly, they designate only one koala a day to be the petting koala. Despite looking like sleepy teddy bears that are ready to snuggle, it turns out they really only want to snuggle with their chosen tree branch and don't really want to be touched. Our docent comments that often the koalas seem to know whose turn it is be petted that day and the chosen koala will scramble up to the highest tree branch they can find. Today's designated koala has done precisely this, but the docent is nice enough to quickly and slyly pet the one that is being the most social that day, Molly. He tolerates us quite nicely as we take millions of pictures with him and pet his paw.
The interesting thing to me about koalas is that evolution should be against these guys in every way. They eat pretty much only eucalyptus, which is actually slightly poisonous to them. They're not even born with the ability to break it all down and cope with poison. They acquire the bacteria their gut needs to process the poison from a pap produced by their mothers -- i.e. a koala's first solid meal is it's mommy's poop. Beyond this, because eucalyptus is so nutrient poor and takes so much energy to digest, they sleep like 22 hours a day and have developed very small brains to use less energy. However, because they're tree-dwellers that have no natural predators, they're totally free to be sleepy little leaf munchers. Of course when you see them, all you really think is, "AWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW! I want one!!!!"
This gal is called a cassowary. She hypnotized us will all of her crazy running. As you can see, she was moving so much, G couldn't get a picture of her that wasn't blurry. Still, you can make out the casque on the top of her head.
We fall completely in love with the wombats. They're like the adorable cousins of ROUS's!!!
Kate becomes a tree person - although she's far more rabid than I would have imagined tree people could be.
We spend a long time observing the kangaroos.
Shredder is the biggest guy in the mob.
This guy -- we think his name is Mervin -- is a total ham. He positions himself close to the edge of the pen and seems to pose as soon as G pulls out his camera.
Nothing quite like a good tummy scratch!
When you see all the Aussie animals together in one place, you see really quickly just how different the wildlife on this continent actually is. Most of the animals here aren't found anywhere else, and they tend to have very different habits. More animals are nocturnal than not. There aren't any large predators, but there are tons of small, deadly creatures. The most venomous just-about-anything is located here. Actually, right now Wildlife World's main attraction is their Dangerous & Deadly trail.
However, they also do a good job of providing educational info through out explaining that while there are many dangerous creatures, they rarely attack humans unless provoked and are historically responsible for very few deaths -- usually in the single digits for most of the snakes and spiders. I can't tell you how many people warned me about poisonous spiders -- our friend Katy, who is a doctor, actually told us all about a lecture she gave on the subject. It's good to know that the chances of actually getting mortally bitten are very, very slim.
I have since found this site, Dust Echoes, that has some lovely animated dreamtime stories.
We wander around until 6, at which point we're surprised to find out they're closing. (Fie! Lead astray by the faulty pamphlet!) However, we've made it most of the way through, and the staff member who comes to let us know is nice enough to let us finish making our way through the last bits of the spider exhibit. Three hours is actually a pretty decent amount of time with which to explore this place.
By now we're pretty hungry. Outside is Darling Harbor, which is a tourist and commercial center and there are loads of places to eat. Amazingly, we find a reasonable priced place right away called Pontoon Bar.
This place is part restaurant, part sports bar, part club. This makes for a very interesting mix of people -- at least at around 6:30 on a Saturday. There are tourists of all ages, guys watching sports on the big screen, and girls in miniskirts starting to pre-game for a Saturday night out. Great people watching. That said they have a full menu of serviceable selections for about $10. I opt for a kebab plate with chips and Greek salad. It's nothing out of the ordinary, but definitely hits the spot. It's certainly better than I would have expected for such a touristy area at that price.
Full and happy, Kate, G, and I head for home. Further exploration of the Darling Harbor Area is to be continued. We'll be back very soon to explore the aquarium.
In the meantime, enjoy a slideshow of some of G'd pics.
No comments:
Post a Comment