November 1 Sydney Australia

November 1st Sydney - The Zoo, the Ferry, the Marine Museum, the Hop-On-Hop-Off Bus

Up and out of the hotel early, ready for a full day exploring some of Sydney’s highlights. We had purchased an “I-Venture” pass, which was a good investment. It includes 5 of the city’s highlights at a reduced cost, and we get to chose which places we see/go, as our 5. We recommend this, if you come this way.

We walked to the harbour and boarded a ferry for the Taronga Zoo.

We were especially interested in the Australian exhibits, as we have seen many of the other animals in their natural habitat (lions, tigers, giraffes, elephants, etc.). We spent some time with the kangaroos,

the koalas,

and other animals. So cute!!

We also let the stuffies make new friends (remember? We are travelling with our grand daughter’s little stuffed animals, helping them to make new friends, and we make these photos into a storybook for her when we get home). So the stuffies made a few new friends, too!

The Taronga Zoo in Sydney is incredible. We recommend you see this if you visit Sydney!!

We went back to downtown Sydney, and caught the Hop-On-Hop-Off bus and rode it around for a couple of hours, giving us an overview of the city and some of the highlights. The architecture of the older buildings is amazing. The city is clean, safe, and very comfortable. Traffic is a little crazy at peak hours, but we tried to avoid those times.

We stopped at the Maritime Museum which was amazing. If you get here, go there! We toured a submarine and were overwhelmed by how compact it is. It was decommissioned in 1999 and carried 69 marines when is service. It gave us a new respect for the marines who lived and fought on these submarines for long stretches of time. Wow!

Then we toured a war vessel, which was decommissioned in 1989, and were again amazed at how huge and yet compact it was, and how tiny the living quarters were. For prairie folks, we had an eye opening experience.

The Museum itself is vast and offers many displays and exhibits to entertain and teach us about marine life! We highly recommend this Marine Museum if you ever visit Sydney. You won’t be disappointed.

We had put in a full day, so we stopped for a bite to eat and a beer on the rooftop of one of the buildings in Darling Harbour. We watched the people rushing home from work, and the tourists moving from one highlight to another.

And then it was time to call it a day. We walked back to the hotel ( about 30 minutes) and crashed. Another amazing day with new adventures! And that’s a wrap on the day, more to come. Carol on the go...