Wednesday, March 9, 2011

Taronga Zoo, Mosman


This is more of a post on Taronga Zoo as oppose to food, so keep reading if you want a spill about the zoo. Cheesecake Boy and I became Zoo Friends last weekend, much to our excitement.  We got up very early on Sunday to make the trek to Taronga Zoo so that we could beat the crowds.

The main reason for our visit was because we wanted to see the latest baby elephant Tukta, (we are a few months late, but better now than never) her name means doll in Thai but I dubbed her as 'Little Snuffy' when I saw her.  I like to give things my own names, and Cheesecake Boy always indulges me with this, even if it comes across as gibberish at times.  If you think, I grew up with too much Sesame Street, well you aren't wrong.

We get our Zoo Friends membership, and we start our trek.  The zoo definitely has some of the best views in Sydney.  Cheesecake Boy decided that we should only see certain parts of the zoo each time we come so we don't get bored.  I agree with him this time as we need to meet my family for lunch in Neutral Bay a bit later, so an express tour was on the cards.

View of the Harbour Bridge

We walk down and spot the giraffes and there are a couple of zebras in the same exhibit as well.  There was one silly giraffe who kept trying to eat from an empty feeder, the poor thing.

Giraffe

I get awfully excited when I spot the newest little baby elephant girl, she's adorable.  I am pretty sure I was watching Little Snuffy for at least half an hour, there was a moment when she saw some birds and she started chasing after them, she got fed up so she filled her trunk with water and gave them a light hosing, so cute, right?  Anyway, Cheesecake Boy had to tear me away, as he wanted to see some of the other African animals, so I had to bid Little Snuffy adieu and we were on our way.

Little Snuffy and Little Snuffy's mum (I think)

I don't know about you but every time I see meerkats now, I think of Timon and Pumbaa from the Lion King and I get that song in my head that goes, "in the jungle, the mighty jungle...".  It never fails for me, every time I get that song in my head.   Just wished I could have seen a wild boar.

Meerkats

It was an early morning so we needed some sustenance to keep us going, so we ventured into the food hall to get a quick and simple breakfast.

The food hall

It was pretty early so most of the places in the food court were not open yet and for breakfast, the best option was going to be the Bakery.  Everything is pre-made so it's not hard to make a choice of raisin toast to share.

The counter

Well there is never much to say to about Mighty Soft raisin toast from the supermarket.  Except, I have never seen just a terrible toasting job, the toast ended up being as flat as pancakes.  Cheesecake Boy for a moment thought there was only one slice of toast.

Flat as a pancake toast
Raisin toast with bottle of water, $7

Cheesecake Boy ordered a cappuccino, but we ended up with a hot chocolate.  We decided just to keep it so that we can get on with our day.  It's creamy and it's not the best or the worse hot chocolate, it was slightly more milky than chocolatey.

Hot chocolate

After breakfast, we dashed over to the seal show, we just made it before the doors closed.  I love the stage of the seal show, it has more character than the plain brown stage, I remembered when I was a child. 

The seal show, with Murphy the seal doing his ball trick :)

We then rushed off to the gorilla talk and feeding that bought all the gorillas out.  We came earlier  to check them out, but they were hidden in their play room and it was hard to see them as it was quite dark.  Cheesecake Boy points out the time, and boy time does fly when you're having fun.

Mummy and baby gorillas

It was a ride on the Sky Safari to the top to exit, and what a view it was.  I love these cable cars, they have always made me feel safe and I have no problem looking down :)

Zipping out of the on the Sky Safari

It's been a great Sunday morning and I wish we had more time, but we took the plunge and now that we are Zoo Friends we can at least look forward to more visits to come.  However, next time we'll take our time and be sure to pack a picnic lunch.



Happy eating and zooing, Dumpling Girl.


Taronga Zoo
Bradleys Head Road
Mosman  NSW  2088
Ph: (02) 9969 2777
http://www.taronga.org.au/taronga-zoo

4 comments:

joey@forkingaroundsydney said...

Gawd, the last time I visited the zoo was over fifteen years ago!

Dumpling Girl said...

Hi Joey - sounds like a visit may be overdue, I thought my six years was long :)

chopinandmysaucepan said...

Geez the last time I came here was probably 2001! It was for an outdoor piano recital by David Helfgott where a huge white canopy was lit with multi coloured lights and the giraffes and harbour being the backdrop. Pretty awesome.

Dumpling Girl said...

That would have been stunning. It has definitely changed heaps since then. I go now to check on Little Snuffy now, due for a visit next month to see how she's going :)