Change In Plans

Greetings from Bondi Beach!  We have had a busy and fun first day here in Sydney.  

Except for me, everyone eventually fell back to sleep at dawn.  I entertained myself by watching people on the beach from our hotel-room window (scores of runners, cyclists and swimmers before 6 am), and by reading Jay McInerney’s new collection of short stories, “The Last Bachelor.”  He can definitely write, but his themes of post-9/11 angst, infidelity, and anger at his Nashville ex-wife are a little tedious.

I went to get breakfast for everyone, and then went for a swim in the Pacific.  I got back a few minutes before 9, woke everyone up, and we were all out the door by 9:15, racing to Taronga Zoo for a tour that India had booked for 10 am.

IRWIN THE KOALA

A terrific zookeeper and guide, named Diane Dominique, showed us around the zoo.  She focuses on the Australian mammals, so that is what we spent most of our time looking at: koalas, “macropods” (as Diane said, a fancy word for kangaroos and wallabies), bandicoots, small nocturnal marsupials, wombats, echidnae, poteroos, and dingos.  I had no idea there were so many.

Diane took us “behind the scenes” to get up close to the koalas, and to pet the kangaroos and nocturnal marsupials.  The most interesting marsupial was the echidna, which looks like a small porcupine with a long termite-eating snout and not-very-sharp quills.  They were friendly little guys.  Aside from the platypus, the echidna is the only mammal that lays eggs, an ancient link back to the time before mammals and reptiles went their evolutionary separate ways.

ZOLA, DIANE AND ECHIDNA

We also spent 20 minutes in the zoo kitchen, watching another zookeeper, Shannon Parker, prepare meals for all of the animals.  Zola and Lu gladly helped sort the dead rats and baby chicks for the carnivores to eat, and grabbed handsful of live meal worms to treat the little poteroos.  

Zola, in particular, was in his element in the zoo.  He knew a lot about these animals (must have read up at some point), and asked questions like: “Are the fingerprints we see on koalas paws unique?” and “Do kangaroos suspend their pregnancies the same way that springboks do in South Africa?”  This is truly what he loves, and it is fun to see him completely engaged.

The most disturbing thing at the zoo was in the Tasmanian Devil exhibit.  This animal is racing toward extinction due to a “contagious cancer” called Tasmanian Devil Facial Tumor Disease (TDFTD).  The pictures of the afflicted animals were truly gross.  The thinking is that the “clean” zoo-bred Devils may be the core of a new post-DFTD population.  Who knew?

After Diane left us, we were met at the zoo’s ferry dock by the crew from Sydney Sea Cruises.  India had booked a half-day excursion around Sydney Harbour, to help us get oriented.  The guide/owner, Sean, was a very nice young guy who grew up in upstate New York, and emigrated to Australia three years ago.  Daniel, the captain, was Sydney born and bred.  Having a boat ride in the afternoon sunshine was great.  Sean focused the sightseeing and his commentary a little too heavily on celebrities and real-estate prices, but maybe that is what most of his passengers are interested in.

GERONIMO!!

We anchored near Manly, and ate a very good lunch on the boat.  Before and after eating, the kids and I went swimming in the warm, calm water.  There was a 25-foot cliff that some kids were jumping from, so I tried a couple of times.  After 150 years of kids jumping from these rocks, the area was recently fenced off, with a lot of “Danger” and “Forbidden” signs.  No one seemed to be deterred.  In fact, some kids were climbing to the top of the fence and jumping from there, to get the extra eight feet of vertical.  Somewhat like Namibia, this was just good, old-fashioned, redneck fun.

In the late afternoon, Sean and Daniel dropped us at Circular Quay, in the oldest part of Sydney.  We went for a 30-minute walk along the ferry wharves, and amidst the old buildings, but by this time everyone was pretty tired.  We had a quick taxi ride back to Bondi Beach, and then went off to dinner.

Tomorrow, I think we will settle into more of a routine.  India will run, Zola and I will do school, we will go sit on the beach for a while.  There is still a lot for us to do and see in Sydney.