Day 4?

Well, sorry about that.  I was quite jetlagged.  I traveled close to 20,000 miles in a week and it caught up with me.  I've been up since 5:45am.  Anyhoo, onto the story...



View from zoo.

 Well, Wednesday we went to the aquarium. Not sure that I put up pics yet. I'm writing on notepad on my last flight home so that I can write about things before I forget them. And let's be honest, some thing are already lost to the ether.

Frickin' tiger would NOT stop moving.

Liz and I took a bus to downtown Sydney. What a stunning place that downtown Sydney. It's busy and crazy but there's still a sense of decorum. Anyway, we were hungry and hit a food court. I took the wrong escalator up (not hard to do) and we ended up in a department store. Now, Liz had told me that I was crazy for shopping in Sydney because it is freakishly expensive. Anyway, of course, I am there during a crazy two day, inventory sale. Cha-ching!

The giraffes were so cute.  I can't believe they can bend their necks like that without breaking them!

After doing some damage we head to the Sydney Aquarium. omg How much fun was that? Bear in mind that it's summer vacation in North America but it's winter break in Sydney so there were a lot of kids around. (fist shake) First up were the platypi. OMG Liz said she's never seen them so active. We watched one catch a prawn and eat it. Then I don't know, we wandered around. There's a thing called a dugong that's a lot like a manatee. Liz thought we wouldn't see it but of course, it came right up and did a little roll in front of us. Amazing. This is in one of the underwater tube/tank things.

Then we hit a small gift shop. The most stoned person in the world works at that gift shop and that's all I'll say. She was very sweet but her short term memory makes me look sharp. I found some great stuff and on we went.

The giraffe swooped down to get her carrot.  That's me laughing because she didn't kill me with a head butt.  The keeper is freaking out next to me.  Ninja.

Are you sensing a theme? So then it was the shark tank thing. I think my feet were hurting by then. So then I think we headed home to get ready for dinner with Jo and Lynn. I'd met Jo a few years ago when she was travelling with Liz down from NYC. She's good people. Lynn is my long lost sister from another mother. We had a lot in common. I knew I struck gold when she refused to eat anything with mushrooms in it. Anyway, we had a fabbie time at a Thai restaurant. If you ever have a chance to have banana blossom salad, have it. It's stunning.

The requisite koala pic.  They don't let you hold them in NSW.

So that was pretty much Wednesday. Let's see Thursday was more shopping, this time at Bondi Junction. Again, I manage to hit it lucky with stores that either have never had sales or haven't had one in years. That's just how I roll. After shopping, we needed to head back to get ready for Roar n Snore at the zoo. You camp in permanent safari tents inside the zoo. Hence roar and snore. Anyway, being winter break it was chock full of people. But I think everyone behaved themselves. Well, everyone but Liz and I. Now, we were supporting Australia's economy but drinking lots of yummy wine so I was concerned when the website stated that minimum drinks would be provided. I needn't have worried. It's not Liz's first time procuring drinks, slyly. I think I had 3 glasses of wine? Anymore and I would've broken my neck wandering around the zoo in the dark.

The highlight of the zoo trip for me:  petting a NZ fur seal.  He was a ham.  No pun intended.

I have to admit that the meet and greet with the snacks and bubbly was lovely. Extremely awesome view of Sydney, eating yummy brie, drinking champagne (sort of) and meeting some animals. It was probably sparkling wine not champagne but it was good. Anyhoo, so the animals were a tortoise, a snake, and two lizards. It was fun. I mean, I can't really convey what it's like to be surrounded by the things that make a nice night out and then have animals coming through that you can pet.

This was our view at breakfast.  Kind of surreal.  :)

Anyway, we walked around the zoo and it was kind of... meh. The animals were in their night dens and I was tired, etc. So we wrapped that up and I had hot cocoa and dessert, then to bed. Not I think it got down to 44F that night. I had an electric blanket and mattress pad. I felt like an egg frying a few times but I was warm. I did spare a thought for Liz sleeping on the floor. On a mattress, of course. Anyway, up for breakfast and then off for our behind the scenes tours.



The first one was giraffes. Which was fun, don't get me wrong. Especially when the huge one almost head butted me. Cat-like reflexes; that's me. We're taken up to the main entrance to meet some more animals. I did the requisite koala picture and met an echidna, whom I fell in love with, and a fruit bat. Who really liked his keeper and I'll leave it at that. Any port in a storm.



I thought that was our second behind the scene but it wasn't. Off we headed to the seal exhibit which is back at the bloody bottom of the hill. Anyway, so we sit every other row around the seal tank. I'm thinking, maybe they'll bring out a baby harbour seal or something. And we all get to say "awww". Instead a big fur seal is brought out. I forget his name but he was full of himself. And he was perfect. He walked (well, how would you describe how a seal moves?) up to everyone in the front row and waited for his scratches and his fish. So then he comes up a few steps to our row. I didn't think he was going to come right in front of us. I kind of freaked out and fell off my seat. What? Anyway, I LOVED that. I've never pet a seal before and he was a ham. Very well loved and taken care of.



So I managed not to be killed by a giraffe and made friends with a seal. Good day.



And then Liz and I had breakfast (and I found the place with my nose, I'm not sure if it's good or bad being a caffeine addict) and we're sitting there eating and talking and just relaxing while a family of elephants was about 60 feet away from us having their breakfast. I mean, it was lovely.



OH and when we woke up, we heard the lion roar. How awesome is that?