Taronga

One of the great benefits of working at my law firm are the free tickets to Taronga Zoo.  Years ago, the firm did some pro bono work for the zoo and in exchange, the zoo gifted the firm at set of lifetime gold passes.  The firm was nice enough to offer these passes to all of the staff and all we needed to do was book out the particular day we wanted to use them.  I'm never one to pass up the chance for a free trip to the zoo, so I decided to take Jimmy and Eva to the zoo with their family.

The trip over to Taronga is always one of the nicest in Sydney.  You can drive through the northern suburbs to get to the zoo, but personally I think a ride on the ferry across the harbour from Circular Quay is the best way to go.  Sydney is at its best when it is near the water, with its incredible beaches and beautiful harbour.  It's easy to forget about it sometimes, but these trips help to remind me of what is here.

The entrance to the zoo is at the top of the hill and away from the water.  Whichever way you arrive, you will head to this entrance at the top.  After you enter the zoo, you start to walk slowly into the zoo and down the hill until you see one of the best (and most confusing) views you can get all of Sydney. 

Seeing the whole of the Sydney skyline, with both the Sydney Harbour Bridge and the Sydney Opera House from this angle is what most tourists dream of.  Not many people realise that it's actually from the zoo that you get this incredible view.  What makes it all so strange though is who actually makes up the foreground of many of these views.

One of the first big enclosures on your walk down the hill is for the giraffes.  They have pride of place in front of the amazing view.  So when you visit the zoo, you're more than likely to get your first glimpse of the beautiful harbour as you're looking at a large group of giraffes.  It's not the picture you would have had in your head of what Sydney harbour should look like!

The rest of the zoo is great as well.  There are plenty of shows where you can see the animals up close and there are even places where you can see them feeding.  It's not really a place I would regularly go to, yet a trip to the zoo never feels wasted.