Weekend 18
Weekend, week 18
Saturday – An absolutely glorious day. The sun is shining, the sky is clear and the wind is warm; what shall we do? Let’s go to the zoo! Taronga zoo is more famous for it’s ‘real estate’ than it is for it’s animals by all accounts, and what a view it has. The place was absolutely stunning and definitely has the best views out over the Harbour of the Bridge, the Opera House and downtown CBD that either Zain or I have seen. We arrived a bit late at the zoo in my opinion as we had stopped off in the city to run a few errands (getting to the crappy post office being one) and we had also decided to jump on the monorail which goes around the centre.
What an utter waste of time. The monorail has to be THE worst ‘attraction’ in Sydney. It is pointless, freezing cold, smelly and doesn’t go anywhere, hasn’t got enough seats and it just utterly, truly and miraculously rubbish! Zain and I stayed on for one circuit as it only goes in one direction and I couldn’t wait to get off! It may have been slightly more interesting if we had gone just as the day was turning into night as that way we would have had the chance to have a nosey into the first floor of the buildings as we went past, but seeing as we went on a Saturday morning, I have nothing interesting to report. It was a shame all in, as we could have gotten to the zoo earlier and had a more leisurely run at it, but hey ho. (Image: urbantransport-technology.com)One thing Sydney does do well for the tourists out there is ‘multi-purpose’ tickets. You can buy tickets from most of the transport authority sites to see and do most things in the city, so for example, we were able to buy a ‘do all ticket’ for the zoo. It included ferry trip there, bus trip there, chair lift up to the zoo and then entry to the zoo itself, and of course it was cheaper than buying all the bits and pieces on their own. They do this for lots of different things and it seems like a jolly good idea to me, we should have it back in the UK for sure, makes life a lot easier. Anyway, we jumped on the ferry over to the zoo wharf (ferry trips are always good when you go out on the Harbour as it is just so stunning) and then got the chair lift up to the top of the zoo and got to have a bit of a look as we went as the lift goes over a number of the zoo enclosures. First stop was to get a map and then we were off to see the many shows that they have on. The shows were good, but like I say, I wish we had given ourselves a bit more time to see all the zoo had to offer; we were there for over 4 hours and we only saw about half of it! The shows we saw were: chimps, seals, bears, giraffes (my new favourite zoo animal) and the birds. It is a long time since I have been to a zoo, so in a way I had almost forgotten what they were like and what you might see. The chimps were fabulous and the talk about them was really interesting, it was a bit sad to watch them though when you think about how sophisticated they are as animals and they are trapped in an enclosure, if only they could tell us whether the liked it or not.
Then onto the giraffes which are just so tall, just so tall! And they have such a strange grace about them, all legs and neck (a bit like me!) They had a great enclosure and I hope they like stunning views as they sure had them in abundance, lucky them. Then more wandering, some eating and then looking at sleeping animals. The seal show was good, very comical and well orchestrated as was the bird show, which, without a doubt, has the best view in all of Sydney – an absolutely clear run over the harbour to the bridge, the house and the city; quite magnificent. Then after a long day of wandering and looking at animals, we decided to head home and make the most of Saturday night TV, which not much can be said for! I watched Channel 9 like the loyal employee that I am! (Image: scotch macaskill)Sunday – sleepy, sleepy…had a nice sleep and then got up fairly early to go for my usual Sunday morning run. Another 10 miles today and I knocked 2 minutes off my time, which although isn’t going to win me any races just yet, is a good start! I am thoroughly knackered though and have a dehydration headache.
It is another cracking ‘Autumn’ day and so I want to be outside and make the most of it. Decided to head along the coast to the area of Neutral Bay where there is a house museum in memory of May Gibbs who was an artist and authoress for children who wrote the books “Sungglepot and Cuddlepie’ which I read as a child. The house was absolutely stunning! It is right on the water and has a really great view out over the harbour, but feels a million miles away from the ‘city’, which in all honesty, most of Sydney does, it just feels far away. Enjoyed the tour and finding out about her as a person. It didn’t light a fire under my ass or anything and I won’t be going again, but it was nice to sit in her garden and take in the view and imagine what the place must have been like with her living there. The house has a great layout and that was probably the most interesting part: no corridors is the secret. (Image: yoramgross.com.au)Now I am at home sitting out on the balcony with my feet up, drinking copious amounts of water and typing up my weekend along with a little bit of reading. I can see lots of other balconies, but no one else seems to be out enjoying this incredible late Autumn weather (may I remind you that it is the equivalent of November over here and I have been wandering around in a t-shirt and flip flops! It is glorious!). I think most people head out of the city at weekends, or spend all day at the beach, and I suppose with the weather that they are lucky enough to have pretty much year round, I can’t really argue with that. It does take away the city vibe somewhat though, not sure if that is a good or a bad thing? Still trying to decide. Plans for the evening include the ironing, watching Ugly Betty and getting worked up about Monday at work. I know it must seem hard to believe, but I just have so much to do right now! Anyway….
posted by Yogini @ 7:32 am
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