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September 25th 2007

Published: September 26th 2007

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Taronga Zoo

Where else you can capture a shot of giraffes with an opera house in one picture other than from Taronga Zoo in Sydney?

Friday, September 21st, 2007 - Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

Fauna of the Down Under are unique to the region, concluded a nineteenth century British biologist named Alfred Russell Wallace, after noticing the distinctive mammal species that can not be found anywhere else in the world upon his visits to Australia. Back in our Indonesian high school, we always learned about the Wallace Line which defines the zoogeographical region between Asian and Australian faunas, thus put the archipelago of Indonesian islands into one of the highest concentration of biodiversity in the world, by having both Asian (west side) and Australian (east side) animals. The line is approximately located east of Bali and cuts northern to the Philippines.

Realizing the significance of Australian diversity, many Aussie has sprung up to become nature enthusiasts, notably of Mister Crocodile Hunter Steve Irwin who was famous for his ‘By crikey’ exclamations.

We had a chance of observing some of the most distinctive animals at Taronga Zoo, without any doubt to be one of the best zoos I have ever visited. Established in 1916 as a Zoological Park and has been in continuous operation ever since, Taronga is located across from the Sydney

Bottle shop

Australia is one of the countries in the world famous for its wine. Plethora of choices here at the Don Murphy's bottle shop (that's what they call 'wine cellar' here in the Down Under)

Harbour in North Sydney only a couple of miles away from world famous Manly Beach.

Getting there was an interesting journey by itself. After meeting up with my best friend Fika and Arif who were just landed from Melbourne, we boarded the Sydney Line Ferry that brought us to the Zoo’s entrance, after passing by the picturesque Opera House and Harbour Bridge. Arif’s knowledge of Sydney, including the zoo (Arif completed his uni degree in UNSW Sydney), has helped us tremendously in planning the trip.

The zoo is certainly a scenic location for exotic Australian mammals and marsupials (sightings of koalas, platypus, dingos Tasmanian devils and kangaroos, anyone?), as well as typical zoo inhabitants of Thai elephants, reptiles and two giraffes (of which one is blind, so they will not be able to move their location anytime soon). The highlights of the zoo are the noon Bird Show with the iconic Opera House observed from a distance as a backdrop, followed by a Seal Show in a nearby stage.

Happy hour in Sydney proved to be a worthy one. Ryan and I were meeting up with Melissa, Ryan's runner buddy from Dallas, Texas, who is also in

A little reunion in Sydney

Remembering nostalgic events during our childhood in Sydney. Halef, Vivi, Jenni and Fika after the Blackmore Running Event.

Sydney for participating in the marathon. It was crowded in The Oaks pub in North Sydney, as Aussies prove themselves to be a heavy drinker population. Our hang out group seems to be a group of the United Nations delegates - Indonesian, Paul who is originally from the U.K., Melissa/Ryan from the U.S., Steve is originally from South Africa, and drunkie Toby from Australia.

It was nice to know that we also had a chance to load up some pasta as our carbohydrate source for our marathon on Sunday.

Saturday, September 22st, 2007 - Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

Modern Sydney is bustling with multicultural population, and Chinese has one big chunk of the demographic here in town. Jenni and Vivi brought us to taste Dim Sum - a Chinese 'brekkie' at the Bondi Junction. It was interesting to see that Aussies enjoy the multiculturalism of their county, and many of them were packing the Kam Fook seafood restaurant where we went. This was Ryan's first taste of prawn (Aussies always refer 'shrimp' as 'prawn') products, dumplings, mango puddings, and many more.

Bondi lies around the mouth of the Sydney Harbour, and the Gap in the

Noon bird show in Taronga

What a great backdrop for a bird show at the local zoo!

South Head marks the beginning of the harbour. The Gap is a dramatic cliff-top lookout on the ocean side which has a reputation for suicides, and ironically it attracts many locals and visitors to enjoy. The strong wind today was almost in alarming rate, especially when you're such above the cliff looking down to the rock down below.

Ferry ride back to CBD - or downtown, if you will, was a rough one. Saturday Sydney is very vibrant, many sailing boats were in the harbour, creating a wonderful scenery against the highrise city.

Every Saturday, the Rocks Market opens its ourdoor art venues for people to enjoy. Although we got our oversized didgeridoos from the 'Spirit of Downunder' inside the center, the Market was still enjoyable to attend. Many native animal products were sold - kangaroos jingles and backscratcher, some bee wax delicacies, or emu jerkies (which I should have gotten, since emus are very tasty meat!). Ryan fulfilled his craving at the Rocks, he managed to drag the whole group to the Pancakes on the Rocks, and all of us were enjoying Aussies brekkie here in the afternoon.

Our closing event was to visit Woolloomooloo, a

Petting a wallaby

I am getting acquintanced with native animals.

rich and famous neighborhood of Sydney where they have Harry's Wheel Cafe. Woolloomooloo is also the resident of Australian actor Russell Crowe, but there wasn't a sighting of him around here tonight.

Sunday, September 23st, 2007 - Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

A few will triumph, but many will participate

- 2007 Sydney Marathon’s motto - Blackmores Running Festival, Sydney, Australia.

I read the motto in disbelieve. Depends on an individual interpretation, it could be a very discouraging one, but also could serve as an encouragement for those who complete the whole 42.195 km full marathon course.

As a usual marathon morning routine, it started way too early around 4:30 am, and surprisingly, all of us managed to get up and arrive at the starting point in Millers Point, North Sydney on time. The starting of the full marathon of 42.195km course (equivalent of 26.2 miles for those who understand the British conversion) seemed to be an awkward moment, as around 2,000 runners started the excruciating course at 7:15 sharp.

Both Ryan and I managed to run for a brief moment with Melissa (Ryan’s friend from Dallas), and we all started by running across such a high profile landmark of Sydney

Taronga Zoo - Zoological Park

It is opened in 1916, serving as Sydney's exotic escape from the city center.

Harbour Bridge to the city center. The course meandered south to the Centennial Park through the familiar Anzac Pde, before continued on to the strenuous section around the Anzac Bridge by the Darling Harbour.

The biggest difference between this particular marathon and the previous two marathons I have completed was the metric system used throughout the Sydney course. Obviously both the Marine Corps Marathon and the ING Georgia Marathon were using mileage instead of metrics, so I had a challenge in converting the course distance and time, as needed for all runners to calculate their own ability of performance. As if I tried to win the marathon anyway!

If I had to pick what would be the highlight of my marathon, it would be the finish line of Sydney Opera House. It was quite satisfying yet agonizing, calming yet teasing all marathoners to finally come to the finish line’s comfort. It wasn’t my shining moment as I cringed in agony as both my inner thighs were cramping up since mile 17. The two week backpacking around New Zealand and Australia without some serious training had taken effect on me, and I had to please with my 4hr20min completion

A wallaby

Reflecting a wallaby's shadow. Taronga Zoo, Sydney.

time. It was way behind Ryan’s 3hr55min and Melissa’s 4hr14min.

But I am glad that I have completed my third marathon, somewhat successfully.

Some 20,000 supporters were waiting for all marathoners to cross the finish line around Sydney Opera House ground, including my high school friends Vivi, Fika, Jenni and Arif who completed their Family Walk 4km. They have completed theirs hours prior to the marathoners, those fun runners!

Melissa has invited us to attend a celebration barbie (Aussies for barbeque) in Manly of North Sydney, so Ryan and I headed up for the event by ferry and then bus. Our legs felt like jelly, and walking around like elderly people were not very proud able moment.

The good thing about being a marathon runner is that I can eat anything I want and would not feel guilty afterwards (or seeing any side effect from eating too much). After meeting up with the Indo gang again in Jimbaran Restaurant in Randwick, I devoured some of my favorite Indonesian dishes of Satay, rice and noodle with spicy fish, beef curry and kangkung. I never realized on how I miss some good Indonesian food, and Sydney is the

Us and our hosts

We had a great time in Sydney! Halef, Fika, Jenni, Vivi, and Ryan at the 'suicidal cliff' of the Gap, South Head, Sydney.

place to be for such food.

As promised, I stayed up late with high school buddies Jenni, Fika, and Vivi to do some catching up, and we finally hit the sack around four in the morning. It was great to finally get together once again, and this time was in Sydney, Australia!

Monday, September 24st, 2007 - Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

Bondi Beach in Sydney is the equivalent of Copacabana or Ipanema in Rio de Janeiro. The famous beach has conjured up images of surfers waiting for some big waves, or in our case, just to stroll around in our sore feet, and sunbathing under the intensed Australian sun. The ozone layer is said to have holes right above Australia, and many people suffer skin cancer due to the intensive sun here Down Under, so we need to be careful by applying suntan lotion before sunbathing.

Thankfully Asians tend not to get burn under the sun, but from looking at Ryan's red face and neck, I was wondering on how painful that would be. And he was getting the burn just from running the marathon the day before!

Vivi took us to the

The Gap

The national park is dubbed as a suicidal park due to its nature of formation. South Head, Sydney.

Dan Murphy's bottle shop (Aussie's for wine cellar, or somewhat liquor store selling just wine) in Kingsford. It was interesting to see many wine regions of Australia and New Zealand, and plethora of choices were offered in such interesting displays. Australian wine culture is very dominant, and according to Vivi, there are even drive-through bottle shop around Australia.

Our night was concluded by having another sushi event, and this time Jenni's suggestion to Makato in CBD was a great idea, and it was continued onto the RedOak Boutique Beer Cafe venue where homemade Sydney brewery was established.

Tuesday, September 25st, 2007 - Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

Although it was a depressing day for me due to my changing travel plan, our day in Sydney started out in a remarkable way.

Sydney Harbour BridgeClimb Tour is a 'one-in-a-lifetime' event to conclude our stay in the boisterous city. Our appointment at 10:45am proved to be a worthy one, with the exeption of climbers are being treated very strictly, as every single move we had had to be monitored and told by guides.

We passed the alcohol breath test, so all eleven people in our group

Windy Sydney

The ferry ride to the city center was a windy one this morning.

proceed to put our gray jumpsuits on. It is designed so that climbers are blending nicely with the bridge, so that they would not distract any drivers down below.

Additional photos below

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