We kicked off our second day in Sydney by grabbing a Bacon, Egg and Cheese Brekky Sandwich and hopping on the Monorail down to Darling Harbor to check out the Sydney Wildlife Zoo and Aquarium.
There are two zoo options in Sydney ~ The Wildlife Zoo and the Taronga Zoo which I picture to be more like the African Safari concept that we went to in Santa Rosa. It was tough to decide which to go to but when The Husband read about Rex, one of the world’s largest Crocodiles, he was sold on the Wildlife Zoo
You start off by walking through a butterfly and bird sanctuary.
These little finches were fast, but, we managed a few shots as they ate breakfast (a corn cobb)
The newest exhibit in the wildlife zoo is the Tasmanian Devil’s Den. Can you believe they are the size of a pea when born? The look cute, but, we read they are not so nice.
We actually first thought these were the kangaroos until we read the sign that told us they were Yellow Footed Rock Wallabies.
They hadn’t quite woken up for the day yet.
I do not remember what this digger was called, but, he was pretty funny digging holes all over his cage.
I think he tired himself out because he was completely asleep and snoring when we walked past the second time.
These Red Legged Pademelons look like giant mice.
The Cassowary is the 2nd largest bird in the world. They use the gold crown on the top of their heads to sift through leaves on the ground looking for food.
I forgot this guys name, but, I am pretty sure he is friends with the Porcupine.
I had two favorite exhibits at the Wildlife Park ~ The Kangaroo and Koala Walk-Abouts. You are able to go outside where they kangaroos are at, walk them eat, take your picture with them and feed them.
I thought they would be bigger, but, they can grow up to 7 feet tall. They are so cute to watch as they go about their day.
The Husband is “short” at 6’3” when standing next to Kanga.
There are several exhibits with a bunch of python snakes and other creepy crawlers.
Like these lizards…..I am pretty sure the crocodile and snakes exhibits were The Husband’s favorite.
The Perentie is the largest lizard in Australia and the second largest in the world next to the Komodo Dragon. I’d seriously freak out if I saw one of these anywhere in the open near us ~ they are like the size of mini crocodiles.
Speaking of croc’s – meet Rex, one of the largest crocodiles in Australia. He is 16 feet long and weighs over 700 Kilos.
He eats three times a week and lucky for us, we were there to watch his feeding.
His stomach is the size of a basketball and he usually eats a whole chicken or a piece of beef.
If you were to splash the water, it would take him about 45 seconds to get to you from land and 30 seconds or less to get to you in the water.
Less than 10 seconds to gobble you down ~ crazy!
He is so funny ~ he gets pretty freaked out by crocodiles and alligators, yet, he is so fascinated and wants to see them.
They have this exhibit called the things that go “bump” in the night. It is all the animals that are awake and watching you at night. This little guy would actually move his head following us no matter what direction we walked.
Of course, the zoo wouldn’t be complete without bugs! There were spiders, gigantic ants that could probably eat us, these spined leaf bugs……
And Goliath Stick Insects ~ they are the brown sticks next to the green plant.
The koalas are bigger than I though they would be ~ they sleep over 20 hours a day.
If you go to any of the exhibits, be sure to ask about their combo tickets – they are cheaper the things you choose to do. We picked the 2 pack combo as we knew we wanted to go to the Sea Life Aquarium. Next time, we would pick the 3 pack to go to Manly Beach and snorkel too!
We saw jelly fish just like this right off the Darling Harbor when we were walking along the bridge.
Huge Crabs that look sorta angry….
Maybe because they have to share their aquarium with the gigantic lobsters.
Fun fact ~ did you all know this?
Sting rays and tropical fish…..
I think the rays are definitely happier than the crabs.
This is one of the endangered species they house at the aquarium called a Dugong.
They have a walk through Shark Aquarium that you can walk through…these two were hanging out on top in the corner.
This shark totally looks like he is smiling….
But, don’t be fooled by that ~ check out his chompers.
I called this one the Construction Worker Shark ~ I know it’s not it’s real name, but……
HIs nose is a big saw so it works 
There are benches throughout the aquarium that you can sit on and just watch all the different types of fish swim by in the wall tanks.
Several of the restaurants along Darling Harbour offer up outside seating and lunch specials. After checking out all the menus, we decided on I’m Angus Steak House.
We started with Garlic bread and sparkling water.
I ordered the avocado salad ~ the lemon vinaigrette went so well with the arugula, tomatoes, avocado and freshly shaved parmesan cheese.
I stole a few of The Husband’s chips ~ I will say I think Australia has the best chips/fries of any place we have eaten. We have pondered just ordering chips for our meal a few times.
He ordered the Rump Steak with mushroom sauce. I have learned on this trip I am not really a fan of Australian Beef or Pork ~ it’s too beefy/gamey like for me.
It is fairly expensive to dine out in Australia, but, we found that the Crown Hotel across the way from us offers some pretty delicious food for a reasonable price.
I have ordered a Lemon Crush at every restaurant that serves it.
If you want a side salad with your meal or bread, you order them separately. We typically pick a full size salad like this garden salad and split it.
Plus garlic bread….it’s just really good here and at the Crown Hotel it’s $1 a slice.
The Husband had spaghetti and I had the Garlic Prawns with Spinach and Spaghetti. Hands down, the best shrimp pasta I’ve had on the entire trip for $15 AU.
Cheese! You know we couldn’t resist……
Today we are travelling through time ~ We leave Sydney at 4:20 pm on Thursday and arrive back in the US at 10:50 AM on Thursday. I will be back with rest of our Australian Adventures on our trip to the Queen Victoria Building, Sydney Harbor Bridge, Opera House, The Rocks and Paddys Market tomorrow.
Catching up on our trip to Australia ~ here are my recaps to date:
- Pie Face ~ Our Trek to Australia
- Mount Lofty and Hahndorf, Australia
- Wordless Wednesday ~ Crazy building’s we saw in Australia
- The Aussie Beach Board Walk
- Coogee Beach, Australia
- Sydnee City Center & Darling Harbour
- Wordless Wednesday: Cake Walk
Night all!
Glad you had such an awesome time!
I travel through you, and it is like I am there also!