Florida Coalcracker Chronicles: 6 - Monday Morning at the Sydney Zoo

Monday, August 29, 2022

6 - Monday Morning at the Sydney Zoo

We took the ferry from the city
in the background

Lots of poison animals

Ferry from downtown to zoo

No matter where I am - I love Monday mornings. After a busy weekend - everyone goes back to work - leaving the tourist attractions to us. The working people are busy making the doughnuts for the rest of us. I am so old now - that no one remembers that I was a public school teacher for 33 years. Now we depend on the younger generations to carry the torch - and they are doing a fine job. In February - I will celebrate living on the dole for 20 years. :-)

The world has lots of different animals and it seems that most of the poisonous ones are all here. Lulu wanted to visit the zoo to see what to watch out for. We were able to take the ferry to the zoo. This ferry had just two stops - the opera house where we got on - and the Tarongo Zoo. While on the ferry - we bought our zoo tickets using the iPhone. Then at the ferry dock - you hop on a cable car and it takes you to the top of the hill passing over the entire zoo. From there you zig-zag down the hill seeing all the animals in their habitats. Habitats is a fancy word for pens.

The weather was perfect - sunny - 65 to 70. Lulu wore a jacket - I was in short sleeves. We were both perfectly comfortable. Everyone is asking if we held koala bears. No - we will do that at smaller animal farms. Here we saw sleeping koalas.

The animals were very active. Most of them eating. At one time this was more of an amusement park - with elephants rides and animals interactions. Now they are selling it under the banner of eco-tourism. The admission was about $35 local - $25 USA dollars. We also had a nice lunch there in the food pavilion.

We took the local bus back to our hotel. It passed thru some fancy neighborhoods and also over the Harbor Bridge. You can walk across the bridge - high up on the top arches. We did not do that yet - maybe when we are better adjusted.

There is Woolworth's - like the old one in Tamaqua - in the building next to our hotel. We went shopping there looking for some personal items - nail clippers - shaving cream - things you cannot take in your carry-on luggage. We were back for supper in the hotel.

Out Hilton Hotel is very nice. It is right in the middle of all the action in the city. The light rail stops at our front door. We are here for 3 nights at $250 USA per night. It is near our upper limit - but since this is such a short stay - were splurged. We are happy we did - they have a VIP suite that is open all day - serving really nice food and endless drinks. I refrain from alcohol - I am working on adjusting belly and sleep to the jet lag. Lulu is enjoying the wine service. I know some folks who would not leave the hotel - to get their money's worth - we have not even tried the pool yet - it looks fantastic.

Today - we check out at noon - we take the train to Bowral. We will stay there 2 nights - it is their literary city. Nancy wants to teach her two FSU Library Classes from there. Then on to our permanent apartment in Canberra. While here - Lulu has 2 duties. She will be doing research in the Australian National Library - bit also teaching her two regular grad classes back at FSU. She amazes me.

It is 5 AM on Tuesday - as I finish this story.