Taronga Zoo

Apparently sailing is quite popular on a Sunday in Sydney

Insanely huge condor

City view from Taronga Zoo

Melissa mocking Drew as he plans the day out

Anchorman immediately came to mind

Red panda

Meerkats trying to say warm under the heat lamp

More funny looking meerkats

Hippo

A Dingo ate my baby!

Common theme among the animals - the cold and rain kept most of them pretty inactive

Flying fox

Melissa has a longer wingspan despite being 10" shorter

Brazilian tapir - ugly...

Seals waiting to be fed

Little penguins

Penguins trying to stay out of the cold drizzle

Baby gorilla

Baby gorilla with the king silverback

Tree kangaroo

Turkeys roaming the food court

Sleeping wombat

Spider monkeys..."Shutup Chip! I'm gonna come at you like a spider monkey!"

The bear was awake two hours later

Freezing cold wallaby

Tapir

Himalayan Tahrs

Chimps searching for cover from the rain

Deep in thought

Tasmanian Devil

Melissa's favorite animal

Views from the cable car heading back down to the harbor

Socks probably would have been a good idea

Harbor view of the Opera House

Melissa and I spent a recent Sunday afternoon in Sydney at the Taronga Zoo, checking out the native Australian wildlife. We picked this particular Sunday b/c the forecast that morning called for sunny skies and temperatures in the mid-70's, but of course, in true Australian fashion, the forecast was completely wrong. In the train ride from Newcastle to Sydney, sunshine turned into a cold drizzle and steadily declining temperatures. However, we gutted it out and made the best of the day.

The Taronga Zoo actually sits on the northern shore of Sydney, so the trip there requires a ferry ride from Sydney Harbour to the zoo, which affords some pretty excellent views of Sydney. Furthermore, the zoo is sited on a large hill at the edge of a cliff - you can actually take a skyrail from the zoo down over the cliffs. We also met our first fellow Texans - a photographer from Dallas-Ft Worth working in Sydney, and another guy in the zoo who threw up the Hook Em as we walked by. Apparently Texas Exes are everywhere...