Animal Day

Today was animal day. We saw a lot of animals. First, we went to the zoo. We took a boat to the zoo. We had trouble with the locker to put our bags in. Eventually, we got it. So then, we walked around and saw the Tasmanian Devil. His name was Tex. Tasmanian devils have one of the most powerfulest jaws. There was a zookeeper talk about Tasmanian Devils. He said that they’re dying from disease. The disease is a tumor on the their face which prevents them from chewing and eating. So they die of starvation. Then we went to look at the Koalas. They were all sleeping except for one. There was one baby koala sleeping! It was really cool. Then we went into the reptile house. We saw lots of cool snakes, turtles, geckos, and lizards. We saw Australia’s most dangerous: The Fierce Snake. When we got out we saw a crocodile and a really funky turtle from South America. Then we found a place to eat called the Taronga food markets. I had a cheeseburger. Then we saw a seal show. It was cool, but short. We saw a very pretty duck, in the Asia exhibit. We also saw a red panda. It was really cool. We also saw MEERKATS! They are AWESOME! They’re so cute. Then we went to the dingo. We think it saw something, because it ran along the wall of its cage. At the end, we looked for penguins and leopard seals, but they were off exhibit. Then I napped on the boat back to the hotel to eat and after we ate we went to the aquarium. First, we saw the platypus. It was so cute and cool. It kept doing barrel rolls and squirming on the glass. Did you know that males platypuses are poisonous? We saw another salt water croc. Then we went in a tube. There were GIANT turtles, sharks, and rays. Sadly, the Sydney Harbor exhibit was closed and sadly that part had the seals. We did lots of cool things in the great barrier reef. We saw the big blue fish that we saw snorkeling called the Humphead wrasse. There was a cool glass floor exhibit. After that we left and went home in a cab and went to bed.

Pam/Mom says:

The Taronga Zoo is a great zoo! You get there by ferry & then take a cable car to the top of the zoo. The views of Sydney from the zoo are spectacular. Today was the better beach day by far, but we still enjoyed the zoo. Sadly, the platypus exhibit was closed for repairs. The T. Devil is suffering from a contagious cancer. Since they fight amongst themselves so much, it's spreading rapidly. They've isolated quite a few of them to protect and hopefully, keep them alive. It was a good thing, Chad fell asleep on the ferry ride back b/c the captain decided to give us an impromptu tour of the Harbor all the way to the ocean. On the way there and back, we passed by the nudist beach. Sydney must not get a lot of high water/tides b/c all around things are built very close to the water's edge. They also talked a bit about sharks & the use of nets to protect beach goers. Evidently, good things such as turtles, get caught in them & die. So some people would prefer to swim @ their own risk, since sharks don't attack that often. And immediately after that point, the guide tells a true story of a fisherman trying to pull in a large fish and a shark jumped out & ate it - right in the harbor! I'll stick to the pools! There are lots of bizarre stories in Australia. All children learn to apply pressure bandages in grade school. It helps keep the death rate down. Seriously!
At the Aquarium, we finally saw a platypus. So adorable, small and more than a bit hyper. We were able to identify a lot of the fish we saw on the reef.

Weather: Very Hot and Sunny.