Roos, Koalas, Ferries, Prawns, and Meatpies

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Best hint for Sydney - buy the Travel Pass. We walked to central station this morning and bought a seven day travel pass that is good for the trains within the immediate city zone, all of the buses, and unlimited rides on most of the ferries. They say one thing you have to do in Sydney is take one of those ridiculously expensive harbour cruises. The ferries provide the same experience but at about $5 a day. We certainly made the most of it on the first day with several train rides, a bus ride, and 3 ferry rides. The first ferry out of Circular Quay allowed us to see both the Harbour Bridge and the Opera House from the water. The way the light glimmered off of the Opera House was amazing, even if Eric is not happy with the color. Still.

Animal Life

We took our first ferry to Taronga Zoo. It was strange having to pay to enter a zoo after spending the last ten years in DC and Chicago. We skipped all the Asia and Africa exhibits because we have them at home and focused on the Australia exhibit. We had strict instructions from our nephews to see kangaroos. And we did. We first walked right into the most amazing koala exhibit. They were so close, and not behind any screens or glass. We took pictures and watched them for awhile. They must be the laziest animal out there. We found out that they can sleep for up to 20 hours a day. It puts Tobi cat to shame! They had a sign that explained that the koalas are not drunk, they just like to sleep and hang around in the trees.

Then, we walked into the Australian Walkabout exhibit. I am serious - a walkabout. We thought we hit kangaroo heaven. It was set up almost like a petting zoo, but one where you could not venture off the trail. But, there were animals everywhere, again, with no barriers between us and the animals, other than a volunteer warning the 5 year old Brit near us to not climb on the rocks and into the exhibit. This is where we learned about the difference between a kangaroo and a wallaby. Wallabies are less than 1 meter tall whereas Kangaroos are more than a meter. So, what we thought was kangaroo heaven was actually wallaby heaven. There were red kangaroos in the exhibit, but, frankly, I could not tell the difference between them and the red looking wallabies. We did see one eastern grey kangaroo in a different exhibit, off in a distance, being koala lazy. Regardless, it was amazing to watch them in as close to a natural habitat. We also saw a hidden Tasmanian devil and a crazy big croc.

Prawn Cutlets

After the zoo, we hopped the ferry to Mosman Bay. We did not know why, other than it was at the end of a ferry line, and we figured we would explore. The ferry wound it was through a large inlet off of the harbour, filled with beautiful mansions and housing set on the cliff overlooking the water, sail boats, and yachts. When we arrived in Mosman Wharf, we were a little nervous. There was one seafood restaurant that looked closed, a small park, and a café attached to the wharf. We walked up to a city bus, and asked the driver - where can we eat, and he said hop on. We used our trusty travel pass and hopped on. We headed straight up a winding hill, which I am glad we did not walk up, and started to see some life. We got off the bus at what appeared to be the main road of town. It was a Sunday and everyone was doing their shopping, hitting the fish monger, the bakery, the butcher, and the fruit stand. We wandered into a fish monger and ordered up some fried fish. It was an order of fish and chips, fried prawns (referred to as a prawn cutlet), and some of the largest fried calamari rings I have ever seen. With our budget, I thought good, fresh seafood would be out of our budget. But, I did not expect that all we needed to do was take a ferry to a bus to a strange town and walk into a random seafood shop. We split the order, and at about USD 8, not a bad lunch! Everything was cooked perfectly. This was no fried shrimp from Red Lobster.

Year of the Ox

After our daily nap, we wandered down to Chinatown to catch the Twilight Chinese New Year Parade. The crowds were amazing, and it was bloody hot. I think the most interesting part was watching people with these cardboard periscopes to see over the crowds. Great idea, because after about a ½ hour of standing on my tip toes and sweating, I was done and ready for dinner. Hearing about Chinese New Year on the news here, there were some explanations of what is expected in the year of the ox. From Wikiepedia: The Ox is thought to be the sign of prosperity through fortitude and hard work. Apparently, the Chinese are hoping that the year of the ox will bring calm to the worldwide financial crisis. It got Eric thinking about Obama’s role in this. And, from what we were able to find, Obama was born in the year of the ox. Food for thought.

Parramatta and the Belgian Men’s National Field Hockey Team

You read that right. Keeping in line with our plan to make the most of our travel pass, on our third day we took the ferry as far as we could, to Parramatta, a suburb in West Sydney. We reminded ourselves that this trip is a marathon, not a sprint, and there is no need to see a half dozen tourist sites in a single day. We thought a nice meandering ferry to a suburban town was a good way to force ourselves to slow down. We were a bit disappointed that it was a newer ferry, with little outside seating, only a few benches up front. We prefer the rustic green and yellow ancient looking ferries with outdoor seating on every side. We sat inside for the one hour ride to avoid the midday sun. The first part of the ride was fantastic with great views of cliffside dwellings overlooking the Parramatta River. The second part of the ride was a bit slower, with the ferry limited to 7 knots because of shallow water for almost 30 minutes. We were really in the middle of nowhere. When we arrived, Eric saw the people waiting on the shore for the ferry back to Sydney and read their faces - not worth the ride. We also dropped the median age of passengers on the ferry by about 40 years. We wondered what they had in Parramatta that drew the Hofffmans and about 40 or so retirees. When we alighted at the exist, we quickly asked when the next ferry was - 1.5 hours later. We tried to walk around the town, and even picked up a map and visitors’ guide. It appears that Parramatta specializes in fine dining, some historical attractions, and theater. It was a little high brow for us. To put it in reference, it was like taking a one hour ferry to vacation in Bethesda, Maryland. A lot of large corporate office buildings and Aussie office workers. We were lucky we brought some granola bars and fruit for lunch because aside from the office courtyard food court which looked awful and over priced, all of the restaurants were white table clothed with the cheapest item on the menu will over USD20. So, we sat on the river reading our books, eating our fruit and waiting for the ferry back. About 15 minutes before the ferry arrived, the waiting area was overrun with about 25 young, tan, greasy, bo-hunk looking Frenchman. Well, turns out they were the Belgian Men’s National Field Hockey Team, touring Australia after their appearance in Beijing. They were loud - singing, carrying on, and playing hand clapping games like school girls. Of course, once we board the ferry, Eric and I take a spot up front and the hockey team crowds into the standing space surrounding us. Also, not surprising, one of them stands at the front of the ferry on the seat and acted out the “king of the world” scene from Titanic, complete with English dialogue in a heavy French accent with two teammates playing the Jack and Rose characters. To top it all off, one of the boys pulls out an iPod with speakers to play that Celine Dion song for all of us to hear, and for the team to sing along with. Frankly, I don’t know who in a group of men that size would admit to having the Titanic song on their iPod, but it appears the Belgian Olympians are more secure with their sexuality than many young Americans. Needless to say, it was an entertaining ferry ride home.

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Photos

Sydney Opera House
An Aussie Icon.

Cuddly Koala
Will he fit in the overhead bin?

Wallaby
How is a yank to know it is not a kangaroo?

Grey Kangaroo
Ok, he is taller, but still looks like a wallaby

Mossman Bay
Land of yummy prawn cutlets

The Peek-a-vue
At the Chinese New Year Parade; kind of wish I had one.

Parramatta
You ask, what is there to do in Parramatta? You're looking at it.

Comments

[Mary]

Menu pix?
You describe what had to be one of the best seafood meals I have ever heard of, and for a price less than even ONE of the subs we had for dinner tonight and no pix! Tisk, tisk, tisk. Everything else sounds great. I love the idea of going somewhere 'just because' with no time restrictions.

[catherine]

taronga zoo's critters - how fun to see them again - did you see the tazmanian devil too (hard to spot behind the plastic)? Have you had a flat-white yet?

[Brady]

Roos?
Did they have any boxing kangaroos? As for the Belgian field hockey team, wasn't the olympics like 6 months ago? Maybe if those guys weren't so easygoing, they'd have gotten a medal. I can only assume they were there to get their butts kicked by the bronze medal winning Aussie team, going 2-3-1 shouldn't get you a world tour.