Taronga Zoo, Sydney Australia

Took a train into the city and then a ferry to the zoo. The zoo is beautifully situated just opposite the Sydney Harbour and you get a beautiful view (Harbour Bridge, Opera House, Sailboats) on the way to the zoo.  We were audience to an amazing bird show - birds were trained to move about on cue from their handlers.  We also caught a seal show where we saw the customary seal jumping for a ball and splashing the front row spectators.  They even trained a seal to swim in the water with one of its flippers to stick out of the water to look like a shark fin.  The zoo was much smaller in size than the Toronto zoo and we were able to get around most of the zoo in a few hours.

Sydney skyline view from the zoo

Condor!

Sydney Harbour Bridge

The Sydney Harobur Bridge is one of Australia’s most well known landmarks.  It is the world’s largest (but not the longest) steel arch bridge with the top of the bridge standing 134 metres about the harbour. The bridge is nicknamed “The Coathanger” because of its arch-based design.  The bridge took 8 years to build and officially opened on March 19, 1932.  The bridge contains 6 million hand driven rivets, in comparison, the Eiffel tower contains 2.5 million. If you feel the need to climb the steps of the bridge, known as the Bridge Climb, you get to pay $208.00 for the “breath taking” experience.  I just took the picture and thought about climbing the stairs…NOT!