The temperature in Sydney dropped 30 degrees overnight (a welcome change from the 100-degree oven that was yesterday!) so my husband and I made our way across the harbor today to enjoy the Taronga Zoo.

We were welcomed by a noisy fur seal and two sea lions…

two seals and a fur seal

And from there ambled on to visit one of my favorites – the gorillas!  

Momma and baby gorilla

(The little one seemed intent on exploring.)

Baby gorilla goes sleuthing

Curious baby gorilla

curious george

Meanwhile, in a small pond nearby, this large beaked pelican was busy with some personal hygiene.

Pelican

It was lunch time for the koalas…

Two Koalas

Koala eating leaves

And the chimps were returning home after a long day’s work…

Chimps coming home from work

Comparing the price of carrots…

Chimps comparing carrots

And seeing what was left in the pantry…

Chimp eating corn flakes

Big and little chimps eating lunch

Before they pooled their resources and had a family picnic.

family picnic

We moved on to the lemurs…

Lemurs

And to the giraffes.  Quite the view they have, isn’t it?!

Giraffe with view to the Sydney Opera House

Giraffe chewing on stick

We passed by one solitary elephant…

Elephant at the Sydney Zoo

A colorful rooter…

rooster walking away

colorful rooster

A turkey…

turkey

Partridges…

partridges

And a proud peacock…

Peacock portrait

(Who squawked at me for taking so many close-ups.)

Squawking peacock

In the Australian Walkabout section of the zoo, we came face-t0-face (no fence here, folks!) with kangaroos…

kangaroo sitting against the fence

Kangaroo looking to the side

Sleeping Kangaroo

A wallaby…

Wallaby

And a few emus.

Emu and friend

Emu

From there we made our way to see the meerkats…

Two Meerkats

Standing Meerkat

Meerkat standing in profile

Zebras…

zebra

And a rather restless sun bear.

sun bear standing up

sun bear

The Himalayan Tahrs were ready to call it a day…

Himalayan Tahr

And so were we, but I made one last detour to see the baby gorilla.

baby gorilla

Bye!

 

Comments

    • Joana says:

      Hi Helen,

      I just saw the weather forecast for the Chicago area and saw that you guys are also getting snow. Hopefully it’s very pretty, no? New York looks like it continues mild – and there are no weather events in the next days which is good since I’ll be on my way back. Wish me luck! The trip is about 2 hours shorter on the way back, but it’s still LONG!

      A big hug, Joana

      On Sat, Nov 21, 2015 at 9:37 AM, JOANA MIRANDA STUDIO wrote:

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  1. Pamela Frame says:

    We do have a little snow in Rochester but it should be back in the 60’s soon! The picture of the giraffe against the Sydney skyline is wonderful! So many great shots, I’m really enjoying this.

    • Joana says:

      Hi Pam,

      Greetings from NYC again! Hard to believe that I was in Sydney this morning…well, what with the vast time difference, I was actually in Sydney “tomorrow” and not today. Fortunately, on the way back, the winds help to speed things up so the trip was at least 2 hours shorter. Even so, 21 hours or so of flying time isn’t fun.

      My mom arrives tomorrow to spend the week with me which will be lovely. I’m making Cornish Game hens for Thanksgiving. (And I’ve never made them before.) Wish me luck…

      A big hug, Joana

      On Mon, Nov 23, 2015 at 11:02 AM, JOANA MIRANDA STUDIO wrote:

      >

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