Taronga Zoo

I didn't do much yesterday. I slept in, getting up just in time to wave goodbye to Ruth as she headed off to work. I spent most of the day at the computer, checking and double checking my flight options in case I don't make the standby flight on Monday. I also actually did a bit of work on my website - although the changes won't be visible until I can reconnect my own computer to the internet. The wireless network at Ruth's house isn't working and so I've had to do all my email etc. on her Mac, which is driving me a little crazy. Mostly 'cause the mouse only has one button. :-) (Don't worry Ruth, I love your computer, it's just so different from mine!)

Today was a different story though. I figured that since I've got this time to kill here in Sydney I might as well make the most of it, so I headed back downtown today and went to Taronga Zoo. The Zoo is built on a cliff on the north side of Sydney Harbour, so to reach it I had to take a boat cruise across the water and then a bus up to the top. Normally there's a cable car to ride to the top of the zoo, but it wasn't working today. The zoo was pretty cool... because it's up on the cliffside, the views over the harbour are great. I followed the meandering paths through the zoo, spending way more time than was strictly necessary at the reptiles and bird enclosures.

Taronga Zoo is pretty old, and one of the things I thought was neat was that throughout the zoo were plaques and photos showing what the place looked like up to 100 years ago. Of course the animal enclosures have undergone significant renovations since then, and the displays are now all quite modern and well done. They've just in the last year or so opened a new exhibit on the Southern Oceans, which had sea lions, seals, and of course little penguins on display. The seal exhibit was so new that the animals were still learning their parts in the seal show! It was really cute - the trainers would give the seals their cues, and sometimes they did the required behaviour, and sometimes they didn't. But it was still fun and interesting to watch the training in progress for a change.

When I headed back out to the suburbs, I got off at the train station nearest Ruth's school and met her there. The teachers at her school have a fun Friday after-school tradition - they have a bit of a happy hour in their staffroom! So I found Ruth in the staff room enjoying a soda, chatting with her colleagues. I joined them - lemon lime and bitters is slowly growing on me - and then we headed off to Ruth's daughter's house for afternoon tea. So in the end we didn't get home until well after 7pm and decided that we were far too knackered to actually cook dinner. Instead Ruth ordered some Chinese take-out. I tried to pay for it, I truly did - even going so far as to chase Bill out the door with a $50 in my hand, and tucking it into his shirt pocket when he got in the car, but no luck. When he returned from picking up our dinner, Bill gave me back my change - $50. (Sigh. How am I ever going to thank these two for taking care of me?)