20120825 Taronga Zoo in Sydney

Today starts not with planning to go to Taronga Zoo but starts with an morning fight with Michael because I couldn't accept his not planning anything but one thing which is going to buy a newspaper and wait in there for me to come over if I want to go to somewhere else. He resets to return home because the distance which is only 10-15 mins away. Anyway, I did some homework at home searching on net and found out the Taronga zoo might not be able to let you hug a Koala but it is not only a famous zoo and might be the largest one in Sydney. The most arractive advantage over others to me is the location which is to said can oversee the Sydney harbour from the zoo. We bought the Zoo pass for 51.5 per person so we could enjoy the return ferry+safari cable car to the top zoo entrance+zoo entrance tickets. It's worth it but still kinda expensive especially because we just enjoy the zoo and animals for 2.5 hours. Here comes the zoo part: first encounter is "tree Kangoroo" and they're just adorable for its fresh face and clumsy tree climbing technique which is supposed to be proficient instead. It is said that all the zoo in Sydney is specialized in showing their indigenous animals and it's quite different from Taiwanese zoo. That's why the next we see some nocturnal rodents are not to be seen (at least not as far as I know) in Taiwan. I enjoy the darkness that the zoo provides to those rodent and it felt so special and exciting to find the rodents in the dark. It gave you the kinda of feeling, maybe curiousity. I even saw an "OWL". My first time to see the legendary bird in Harry Potter which is cute with big head and it turns its head back to look at me. The next thing cae to my eyes is the most adorable animal we Taiwanese all love "Koala"!! Unlike those in Taiwan, they are not all spleeping but looking at us and eating their eucalyptus. I think people just couldn't resist their peaceful and indolent manners and of course their just unharmful appearances. The fat butt, the circle eyes and the hairy ears are all the features that ease my mind. We don't have much time after spending most our time watching Koalas jumping (ya, they do jump from tree to tree, lively), crawling (on the ground, when trying to switch to another tree), and appreciating their look and we taking pictures, so we rush to see the giraffes, elephants, lions (a little bit disappointing for their inertia) and seemingly restless tigers (on the alert, keep walking back and forth and looking at all the visitors from the protective glasses). The view from the Taronga zoo is fascinating and so comfortable to stroll in the zoo. The really difference from Taipei Zoo is the animals themselves; all of them look just as healthy as those in the wild. The fur are sleekly shining and the sturdy figures indicate they are tended carefully and live freely and it's so much different from the animals I saw in Taipei; dry skin,  halting and shamble steps,  foggy eyes, they just look like not happy in the zoo. I enjoy the trip to Taronga and I even encounter a Australian mascot when leave the zoo. We see a "kookaburra" in the parking lot!! It's a 笑翠鳥, the Chinese Woman with her boy told me. It's just really amiable and so plump for a bird, no wonder it is selected to be a moscot. I hope to see it again in OZ!!