My first stop - completely by accident - was the Aboriginal Cultural Centre. They have lots of great, authentic Aboriginal artwork on sale, but they also have a stage where they do free didgeridoo performances several times a day. As luck would have it, I walked in 15 minutes before the show was supposed to start - so I stuck around. The performer not only played a number of pieces on the didgeridoo, he also explained how the sounds are made and the significance of the instrument. I learned that the didgeridoo is from the rainforests of northern Australia, and it was actually introduced to Aborigines in other parts of the country by the European settlers! He also explained how you have to do 'circular breathing' while playing - so basically you use your diaphragm, throat and lips to push air out of the instrument while sucking air in through your nose at the same time. Not easy! Finally, I learned that the didgeridoo is traditionally used to support storytelling and dancing, and not played just on its own. So the performer played the didgeridoo while using his free hand to tell the story of how the dingo hunts the kangaroo - and used the didgeridoo to make the sounds of each animal as part of the story. Very, very, very cool.
My actual goal for the day was to get to Sydney Wildlife World, which is a new attraction just beside the aquarium. I got talked into buying a ticket for it yesterday but let me tell you, it was definitely worth my money and time! They have a whole wide variety of displays on Australia's wildlife, covering a bunch of different habitats all across the country. Not surprisingly, I really liked their "Spineless Wonders" display, all about invertebrates, of course. Some of the displays were built quite cleverly, so that there were viewing windows at adult height and a second set of windows at kid height. Also, throughout the Wildlife World, they had big signs/displays about all the dangerous/venomous animals in their collection. I saw the Sydney funnel web, the deadliest spider on earth, and also some of the most venomous snakes in the world.
All of the big enclosures were glassed in - there were no cages or fencing of any sort. So this picture of a cassowary, the deadliest bird on earth, looks like I was right nose-to-beak with the bird, and basically I was! There was only a slim piece of glass between us. This attraction is only just a year old, so they don't quite have all the kinks worked out yet, but it was still a great place. Up on the top level, there is a rooftop garden with koalas - and no glass at all! There's just a chained off area to keep the public from actually touching the animals, and then a set of artificial trees where the koalas hang out (literally) all day. Twice a day the workers bring the koalas fresh eucalyptus leaves, and I was there during feeding time. So I learned another new fact - the reason why koalas are so sleepy/dopey is because their food is so poisonous! It takes all their energy to digest their food, so they can't be all that active - it would literally kill them.In the end I lingered at Wildlife World a lot longer than I'd originally planned, so I didn't get out to the Botanical Gardens at all. Hopefully I'll be able to do that tomorrow, although the weather's not supposed to be all that good. I really want to see the flying foxes though!
(See? No matter how I try, all my touring ends up being focused around animals!)
