A day at the zoo, a night at the opera.

Tuesday November 2^nd

Rain was forecast so we decided not to venture too far but to catch the ferry across to Taronga Zoo. One creature we hadn’t seen so far was a platypus and we hoped to see one here.

The zoo is set on a steep hill so we took the option of a cable car ride to the top. After Kuranda this was a piece of cake for Marg and we got some good views of the harbour on the ride up.

We spent a pleasant few hours here, with at least half an hour hanging round a tank, in the dark, waiting to see the elusive platypus (which never appeared). Not to worry. We did see a couple of playful Tasmanian Devils.

The zoo has a very active conservation programme and is breeding and returning animals to the wild whenever possible. It was in the news today because of the birth of a female Indian elephant calf. She was born 4 years to the day after the parents were brought from Thailand.

As we were leaving, walking through the trees, listening to the different types of birdsong, one of the birds took exception to our presence and dive-bombed Paul, taking a chunk out of his head!!

After the blood had stopped flowing, and since the rain kept off, we walked along a path through the bush to Bradley’s Head.

The mast from a WWI battleship – “HMAS Sydney” is displayed here as a tribute to sailors who died in the first sea battle of that war in which an Australian ship took part.

We walked on and eventually came to a secluded beach, just as the sun came out. It was a lovely spot but we had a ferry to catch and couldn’t stay.

Back at the hotel we had an hour or so to get ready for a grand night out. We had seats in the circle of the Opera Theatre for “The Pirates of Penzance”.

Marg wasn’t sure about this but it would be an experience wouldn’t it? It was much more. The cast were brilliant, especially the Pirate King, who was a Johnny Depp clone, and the whole evening was great fun.

To complete the evening, as we walked back, a duo were singing to stragglers still celebrating the Melbourne Cup, and struck up “Maggie May” as we passed!