Zoo / Aquarium/ Animal parks, Sydney

Taronga zoo has a free flight bird show at 12 midday and 3pm. Its held in an open theatre with an amazing view of the Harbour Bridge, Opera House and Sydney skyline.
The show is very entertaining and you get to see the large birds of prey up close as they soar around the audience. And I mean up close! I had one eagle swoop down on me and felt his wings in my hair. It was great! They also have Australian parrots who demonstrate how loud their vocal cords can go. At the end about 20 parrots of all different breeds and colours fill the air.

At Taronga Zoo you can compare your height against that of the Kodiak Brown Bear. Wow! That's a big bear. Originally from Kodiak Island located off the coast of Alaska these bears are huge. Standing upright the Kodiak Bear can reach up to 4 meters. They consume about 90 pounds of food a day. Taronga Zoo's Kodiak Bears Bethel and Cynthia are sisters. They were born in 1977 at Cheyenne Springs Zoo in Colorado. The zoo holds a talk about these bears every day at 2:30pm

9.00am Zoo Opens 9.30am Sky Safari Opens 10.00am Aussie nocturnal animal house opens 10.30-11.30am KidZoo at Backyard to Bush 11.00–2.45pm Koala Encounters – photo opportunity 11.00am.

Get a ZooPass ticket at the Sydney wharf. It includes the return Sydney Ferry, entry to Taronga Zoo, the Sky Safari cable car, and bus transfers between the wharf and the Zoo gate. Cost $37AUD Adult / $20 Child. ZooPass tickets from Sydney Ferries Corporation ticket offices at Circular Quay.

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One of the best zoo i've ever been. It was terrific as they have almost all the animals and it took us 1 whole day to go around it. You can get to the Taronga Zoo thru ferry which takes roughly a 12 minute ride. But on our way back, they had rush hour at 5pm so we waited for almost 40 minutes before riding the ferry.

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In case you didn't see any of the famous Australian animals until now, at least you can see them here. The zoo has a really nice view of Sydney, and the kangaroo area is funny part (see photo) where you wander around together with the kangaroos. Of course all the other typical Australian animals are represented as well.

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Koalas are found only in Australia and they survive only on eucalyptus leaves. They hardly drink water. They are very shy animals and are primarily nocturnal. Hence when we visited the park at 1000 hrs, they were mostly sleeping on the top of tree branches. The Park volunteers used to bring them one by one and allow the visitors to stand close to Koalas and get photographed. Uou are also allowed to touch the Koalas. Park officials were saying that they wake up at around 1500 hrs in the afternoon and hence that is the best time to see the Koalas.

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The Featherdale wild life park is is popular among tourists, specially thos who want to see the popular Australian animals from close proximity. It takes around 40 mts to reach from the city centre. Those who are proceeding to the Blue Mountains can have aq break and visit this park.
I got a chance to feed Koalas and Kangaroos from my own hands. This is quite unthinkable in most of the zoos. The feed for animals are available within the park at a modest price and even kids can feed Kangaroos under adult supervision.
When you buy ticket (A$35 for two adults. Kids between 3 and 15 pay A$9.0), they will give you a admission and map document, where you can go on stamping whenver you see your favourite animal. The stamps are available near the animal sheds.

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This wildlife park is located at North western suburb of Sydney-called Blacktown. It is close to Blacktown station. They claim to have world's largest collection of Australian native animals. The most attractive part of this wildlife park is that you can actually cuddle up to friendly Koalas and take photographs free of charge. It offers an opportunity to see 2200 animals from really close distance. You can reach up to different varieties of Kangaroos (I never knew there are so many different type of Kangaroos) and feed them from your own hands. This could be a best gift to your kids. They will enjoy every minute of it.
They are open every day from 0900 hrs to 1700 hrs.

Sydney Aquarium is a display of Australia's marine life. It has sharks, rays, big fish and seals. It has underwater tunnels, freshwater fish and coral displays as well. It's one of the largest aquariums in the world and definetely worth a visit.