Continued from my last post on the 5 attractions at Waterfront, Darling Harbour.
I left you guessing on my last post which of the 5 attractions we intended to visit? Ok, one of our focus for this trip would be to visit animals native to Australia, such as Koalas, Kangaroos and Tasmanian Devils which we would not be able to find elsewhere. It would be nice to visit a wildlife park but it was located out of Sydney City and difficult to fit into our itinerary. Hence, Wild Life Sydney Zoo is a must visit to get a sample of these native animals.
Sydney is an expensive city and entrance fees hover around AUD30-AUD40 per attraction which can quickly eat away at your budget. If you book your tickets online you can save 10%. Then, if you get a combo pass by visiting 2 or more attractions, you get more saving. Let say you purchase at counter for combo Madame Tussauds + Wild Life Zoo, you will pay AUD60 which a saving of AUD20, compared if you buy for single entry (each AUD40). However, an online combo ticket will give you entry to both for AUD54 saving you more another AUD6 per adult!!
Note: You may purchase the tickets from any of the attraction's website, however the attraction you buy the combo pass from is the attraction you must enter first. Means, lets say you buy the ticket from Wild Life website, you must enter Wild Life zoo first then other's combo attraction will be next. Each of the attraction requires at least 90 minutes so do take note of the opening hours to plan your visit. Also, if you cannot visit all attractions on your combo pass, after the first one you have three months to use the others.
3 of the attractions, Wild Life Zoo, Madame Tussauds and Sea Life Aquarium located just next to each others. While Manly Sea Life Sanctuary located at Manly Beach, easily accessible by ferry from Circular Quay to Manly Wharf and Sydney Tower is about 15mins drive from Darling Harbour.
After discussion and consideration majorly on budget and time, we decided to buy combo pass with 2 attractions. Sydney Wildlife Zoo for the reason as above, and Madame Tussauds as we never been to any of it before. Who want to miss an experience rubbing shoulders with the rich and famous rights? Even it's actually a wax one. :D
Yeay, we managed to secure the tickets via Sydney Wild Life website. Ticket info :
2 Attraction Combo Passes – Wildlife Sydney Zoo + Madame Tussauds
Adults: AUD 54 each
Child: AUD 31.50 each (Age 4-15 yrs). Baby Musa free!!
More information on Wildlife Sydney Zoo Website
So what are we waiting for... Let's go in!!
(iv) Sydney Wild Life Zoo
The operation hours : 9am to 5pm
To enter, we showed the staff our printed tickets. We started our tour at 12noon, walked through quickly and discovered a long passageway before we could actually enter the zoo. Waited at the entrance was a photo booth where the professional photographer took our group photo with different backgrounds. We collected the photo-book at the exit once we finished tour the zoo.
And our exploration began....
Getting excited to meet one of Australian famous of.. I first knew this animal as an animated cartoon character featured in Warner Bros. Looney Tunes Series.. Introducing to you, the Tasmanian Devil.
Saw this crocodile in Australia reminded me of the late Steve Irwin, an Australian wildlife expert, television personality, and conservationist. His show, Crocodile Hunter was one of the show that I never missed on TV.
Sado.. Isn't it??
Celah gigi jer... A giant crocodile replica.
And then, my very first encounter with the animal so much associated with Australia, your trip to Australia will never be completed if you didn't meet this animal - the Kangaroo.
But let us meet it's "relative" first...
And for whole this time, I just knew that any Aussie pouched animals with prominent hind legs and bouncing around called Kangaroo!! Shame on me!
Wallabies are members of the kangaroo clan found primarily in Australia and on nearby islands. Honestly, I still cannot differentiate between kangaroo and wallabies :=) :=)
We reached to the centre of the zoo where it was an open air area. Here we could have a close encounter with the kangaroos..
A pair of kangaroo being fed a lunch
Such an adorable creature
Close up
Kangaroo enjoying the sun
What an amazing creature.. Isn't it?
One of our favourite moments when we were allowed to come close to the kangaroos and interact with them!
Like this close!!
The kangaroo giving it best photo to us
Managed to squeeze my way to the front and feed the kangaroo! Definitely one of the highlights of our trip for me! =)
We already knew that kangaroo and wallaby are close relative... Now let us met a "distance relative" of kangaroo.
The Rufous Rat-Kangaroo also known as the Rufous Bettong, is a small marsupial species of the family Potoroidae found in Australia. It is found in coastal and subcoastal regions from Newcastle in New South Wales to in Queensland, and was formerly found in the Murray River Valley of New South Wales and Victoria. It is not classified as threatened.
It looks looks like a mixture of kangaroo and rabbit.
The rufous bettong is about the size of a full grown rabbit.
Zoo staff holding a rufous bettong where we could touch it.
Auwww... So adorable. I hope I could adopt one as a pet.
Besides the kangaroo, another Aussie most famous native animal is - the Koala.
Can you spot the koala?
Zoom-ed in. Koala has the empowering soothing look that can melt your heart away with it extremely cute and adorable faces.
And it was just so cuddly that I wished I could get a chance to hold it.
Like kangaroo, koala also has a relative.....
Wombats are Australian marsupial mammals that have very short muscular legs and are the closest relative to the Koala. They have a backwards facing pouch so that when they are nursing young in their pouch they can still dig burrows and not fill their pouch with soil! Wombats feed on grasses and roots (they are herbivores) and dig long extensive burrow systems with their powerful claws. Wombats are generally slow movers however they can run quickly if required. Their best form of defence though is when they are in their burrow. Here if they are cornered they can crush their would be predator/attacker underground using a large solid plate in their backside against the roof of their burrow.
Like kangaroo and wallaby, I also have a problem to differentiate between koala and wombat. Shame on me again!!!
We took a short rest enjoying ice-cream.
Next we continued our tour, entering back inside the zoo.
Not only the famous Tasmanian Devil, Kangaroo and Koala, I'd also learned other Australian native animal also.
A mouse, rat, rodent??
No, it's a nearly extinct animal
The Greater Bilby often referred to simply as the Bilby is an Australian species of nocturnal omnivorous animal in the order Peramelemorphia. Greater bilbies live in arid areas of central Australia. Their range and population is in decline.
As a nocturnal, The Greater Bilbies were enclosed in darkness section. We saw a few of them running in the dark.
We finally finished explore the Sydney Wildlife Zoo in 2 hours time. It was such an informative visit, entertaining and exciting. Glad as I had achieved my wish list to meet the kangaroos and koalas!
We walked back to the counter outside to collect the photographs we had taken earlier on. We were impressed with the packaged booklet, slotting in our photographs with pictures and information of the native animals. It was quite funny to look at us being scared of a monstrous Tasmania Devil or pointing at a kangaroo far away. As it was nice, we were glad to part with AUD25 for the booklet as a memento. They also sent us the softcopy of the photos to my email if we wanted to print again later.
Next we proceeded next door to Madame Tussauds. Read my experience on next post OK!
Sydney, The Land of OZ Fast Link Here
1) Day 0 – The Journey KL to Sydney and 1st Night at Ibis Hotel
2) Day 1 – Pick up Rental Car and Start of Grand Pacific Drive
3) Day 1 – GPD (Otford Lookout, Stanwell Park and Cliff Bridge)
4) Day 1 – GPD (Wolonggong & Kiama)
5) Day 1 – Night at Windang Beach Tourist Park
6) Day 2 – Trip to Blue Mountain
7) Day 2 – Echo Point Lookout and Scenic World, Blue Mountain
8) Day 2 – Night at Bass Hill Holiday & Residential Park
9) Day 3 – Darling Harbour / Waterfront
11) Day 3 – Madam Tussauds Sydney
12) Day 3 – Ferry Ride, Sydney Opera House and Harbour Bridge at Night
13) Last Day – Checked Out and Shopping Paddy Market
14) Last Day - Sydney Opera House and Harbour Bridge
15) Last Episode Sydney
And then, my very first encounter with the animal so much associated with Australia, your trip to Australia will never be completed if you didn't meet this animal - the Kangaroo.
But let us meet it's "relative" first...
Wallabies are members of the kangaroo clan found primarily in Australia and on nearby islands. Honestly, I still cannot differentiate between kangaroo and wallabies :=) :=)
We reached to the centre of the zoo where it was an open air area. Here we could have a close encounter with the kangaroos..
One of our favourite moments when we were allowed to come close to the kangaroos and interact with them!
Managed to squeeze my way to the front and feed the kangaroo! Definitely one of the highlights of our trip for me! =)
We already knew that kangaroo and wallaby are close relative... Now let us met a "distance relative" of kangaroo.
The Rufous Rat-Kangaroo also known as the Rufous Bettong, is a small marsupial species of the family Potoroidae found in Australia. It is found in coastal and subcoastal regions from Newcastle in New South Wales to in Queensland, and was formerly found in the Murray River Valley of New South Wales and Victoria. It is not classified as threatened.
Besides the kangaroo, another Aussie most famous native animal is - the Koala.
Like kangaroo, koala also has a relative.....
Wombats are Australian marsupial mammals that have very short muscular legs and are the closest relative to the Koala. They have a backwards facing pouch so that when they are nursing young in their pouch they can still dig burrows and not fill their pouch with soil! Wombats feed on grasses and roots (they are herbivores) and dig long extensive burrow systems with their powerful claws. Wombats are generally slow movers however they can run quickly if required. Their best form of defence though is when they are in their burrow. Here if they are cornered they can crush their would be predator/attacker underground using a large solid plate in their backside against the roof of their burrow.
Next we continued our tour, entering back inside the zoo.
Not only the famous Tasmanian Devil, Kangaroo and Koala, I'd also learned other Australian native animal also.
The Greater Bilby often referred to simply as the Bilby is an Australian species of nocturnal omnivorous animal in the order Peramelemorphia. Greater bilbies live in arid areas of central Australia. Their range and population is in decline.
As a nocturnal, The Greater Bilbies were enclosed in darkness section. We saw a few of them running in the dark.
We finally finished explore the Sydney Wildlife Zoo in 2 hours time. It was such an informative visit, entertaining and exciting. Glad as I had achieved my wish list to meet the kangaroos and koalas!
We walked back to the counter outside to collect the photographs we had taken earlier on. We were impressed with the packaged booklet, slotting in our photographs with pictures and information of the native animals. It was quite funny to look at us being scared of a monstrous Tasmania Devil or pointing at a kangaroo far away. As it was nice, we were glad to part with AUD25 for the booklet as a memento. They also sent us the softcopy of the photos to my email if we wanted to print again later.
Next we proceeded next door to Madame Tussauds. Read my experience on next post OK!
Sydney, The Land of OZ Fast Link Here
1) Day 0 – The Journey KL to Sydney and 1st Night at Ibis Hotel
2) Day 1 – Pick up Rental Car and Start of Grand Pacific Drive
3) Day 1 – GPD (Otford Lookout, Stanwell Park and Cliff Bridge)
4) Day 1 – GPD (Wolonggong & Kiama)
5) Day 1 – Night at Windang Beach Tourist Park
6) Day 2 – Trip to Blue Mountain
7) Day 2 – Echo Point Lookout and Scenic World, Blue Mountain
8) Day 2 – Night at Bass Hill Holiday & Residential Park
9) Day 3 – Darling Harbour / Waterfront
11) Day 3 – Madam Tussauds Sydney
12) Day 3 – Ferry Ride, Sydney Opera House and Harbour Bridge at Night
13) Last Day – Checked Out and Shopping Paddy Market
14) Last Day - Sydney Opera House and Harbour Bridge
15) Last Episode Sydney
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