Taronga zoo and big hike

28.08.2013

The next two days would be full of ferries. I ended up taking the exact wrong one, and found myself at Taronga Zoo. I was a little bit early for opening time, but I thought, what the heck, I'll spend the day here and do my hike too. I can do anything!

The first place I went was to see the kangaroos! Of course! I found some, but there was also an emu, who needed to chase me for some reason. I think it was because of the checked pattern on my backpack, or perhaps the delicious cheese sandwich I carried for lunch. As I walked around I tried to lose her, but she was having none of it. There was no one else to distract her so she followed me closely and curiously. I even snapped a picture of her as she tried to peck at my backpack. I was pretty cool about it until she touched my arm with her feathers, when I snapped, started screaming out of control and ran with flailing arms to the exit. My god, my heart was pounding with irrational terror and fear.

I also saw a Tasmanian devil, a rock kangaroo, many monkeys, koala bears, elephants, a tapir (!!!), snow leopards, a crazy bird show, penguins, chimpanzees, a gorilla, platypus, and a wombat.

I still had tons of energy after that, so I went back to where I was supposed to go in the morning, which is the exclusive neighbourhood of Cremorne Point. Most of the time, I was hiking in what looked like a jungle, cut off from the rest of the world with a myriad number of kookaburra and other birds squawking overhead. There were a couple of secluded beaches and an abandoned mansion to explore.

By the time I finally got to my destination, which was Balmoral Beach, it had grown dark. I was growing more and more terrified by the minute. The kookaburras wouldn't shut up and I eventually found myself in between two intimidating and seemingly endless barbed wire fences leading to the beach. My heart, again, was pounding, this was an adrenaline filled day! No wonder I was so pumped up. Finally, I got to the beach, where I promptly bought a giant Victoria Bitter and walked down the long stretch of sand, sipping it all the way. When I was done, I caught the bus back and passed out right away.

Waiting for the ferry