5 Jan 2010

adventuring in the zoo

Koala

This day was supposed to be spent at the Blue Mountains, however because it was raining the previous day, it postponed our plans. The day we visited the zoo, the weather was quite warm and sunny.

We parked the car on the residential streets and walked around 5 minutes to the zoo to purchase our entrance tickets. Like the Sydney Aquarium, there was a queue, only the one at Taronga Zoo was much longer.

Goanna Komodo Dragon

I have a love-hate relationships with zoos, actually any place showcasing animals. You see I hate it when animals just lounge around, sleep and don't do anything. It gets boring whilst it is fun to capture photos and all. Taronga was the same; animals sleeping and not moving...boring.

Turtles

I actually took lots of photos of turtles. The ones with the bumpy shells were particularly interesting.

Green lizard

Turtles

A snake which took me 5 shots to get a satisfactory photo

Long necked turtle

Fish

A really big lizard

This lizard is really ugly, but I took a photo of it because it was moving and doing something.

Giraffe

These giraffes have a good view of the city landscape and have a long enough neck to enjoy it.

Gorillas

Gorillas were insanely popular. Although they refused to come out of their glass home during the early morning, they ventured out into the open during the afternoon. I was going to take a photo when they were outside playing, but there was too much people so I walked passed standing on my tippy toes.

An ape or monkey of some sort

Posing monkey

Took this photo whilst waiting for the seal show to commence.

Seal show

Yumi told me the seal show was a "must watch" so we were in the queue half an hour before the show commenced, however we cut the line like everyone else in the end. In the next show, staff put barriers so no one could cut through.

Also watched the free flight bird show but I reckon Afomosa Safari in Malaysia does a better job. More tricks, more comedy. We decided to pass the elephant shows as its generally the same every where else.

Asian elephants

An extremely lazy bear who just sleeps

See what I mean by animals sleeping. Bears are so lazy! This bear woke up, walked to the other side of its enclosure and went back to sleep.

Spotted deer

Pelican

Close up! I've always seen one far away by the park. That day I saw a pelican trying to eat a fish which I found funny.

Fiordland penguin

Apparently this penguin from New Zealand is very rare and Taronga is the only zoo in the entire world to have a male.

Lioness

Unfortunately, we did not have enough time to walk through the entire zoo as everyone begun to get hungry and drained from the walking and tired out from the burning sun. It was a good place to spend couple of hours and possibly more and make full use of your camera, be it digital, film or DSLR.

Aside from the many animals, you could also see great views. It was a sunny day and I wish I spent that day in Darling Harbour whilst catching a ride on a ferry to Manly.

For more information, please visit Taronga Zoo's website.