Roar & Snore

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Well, what a weekend....in fact I think a weekend to go down as one of highlights of my trip - the main event having been the Roar & Snore at Taronga Zoo.

Lucy came to meet me straight out of work and we went straight to the train station to catch a train down to Circular Quay in order to cathc our ferry over to the Zoo. It was so awesome on the ferry - it was dark already so we had spectaular views of the whole city lit up. There was a bus already waiting when we got in so we were taken straight up to the entrance to the zoo where we were pointed in the right direction. It was really hard to believe that we were a) so close the city, it was silent, and b) in the zoo - again it was silent and as the animals were all tucked up in bed all the lights were out! At 6:30 we were allowed into the education centre where we were spending the night and invited to go and chose our tents (all laid out in the courtyard) and to set up before introductions etc.

Once everything was sorted we were given wine and cheese and dips (most welcome as after a hard day of work, and for Lu a hard day of avoiding the rain we were starving!), the the 3 hosts for the evening began intros and then brought out some animals. Of coure because I'm a bit warry of snakes that's the first thing they bring over to us, but I was chuffed with myself when I managed to hold a baby snake (definate progress!). They also brought round the Australian Blue tongue Skink, and a baby croc. After all the intros they bought out a really nice roast, which was again most welcome as it was a freezing nght already! once all the dinner things were away we layered up and were then taken out into the park. Taronga Zoo has, I think, one of the worlds best settings as it's built on a hill over looking Sydney harbour, and on such a clear crisp night it was stunning! We were taken to see all sorts of animals while they were sleeping, but the Snow Leopards were the best - they were absolutely stunning and apparently you're lucky to see them in the day let alone being able to watch them all playing together at night! We got back at about 11:30 for a hot chocolate and a magnum before we all climbed gratefully into our tents, and fell asleep to the sounds of the Koalas!

Amazingly I slept like a log, but was awoken at 6:30 to get an early start on the day and to get into the park before it was open to the general public. We were given breakfast and once all that was packed away they brought out some Koala's and an Echidna, then we were taken out into the park. After all the appalling weather we'd had since Lucy'd arrived, the sun finally came out in full glory, and our first stop was the Giraffe's enclosure - were we got to feed them!!! It was amazing - I love them!! The giraffe's really have the best enclosure as between their heads you just get peeks of the opera house. From there we were taken behind the scenes of the nocturnal house where they showed us how they prepare all the meals for all the animals etc. But the piece de resistance was the Chimp's - we actually got taken into their Chimp house - it was so close it was amazing, we could see all the little tiny babies clinging to their Mum's and all the slightly bigger chimps playing seesaw on a tyre swing!! It was at this stage that the hosts left us to enjoy the rest of the day in the park - and we really did!! Taronga has the most amazing bird display I've ever seen - and their new seal training was incredible!! We had such a good day, and unbelievably the weather was stunning, freezing but none the less amazing!!

On our way home we made a stop of at Darling Harbour where we grabbed some dinner, where we were almost as grateful to be able to peel off some layers as were were for the good food! Then we made our way round to one of the stages that had been set up for the Jazz & Blues festival and watched the last acts of the day and were joined by my friends Cath & Carl. We finally took our exhausted bodies home and turned in early for a well deserved and needed early night! xx

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