AUSSIE WEEKENDER 18

There is nothing great in seeing a zoo, and it again becomes thought worthy when the entry fee is nearly 1000 rupees per head! Still Taronga zoo is an attraction in Sydney involves a ferry and a ropeway to the zoo gate (Picture) from the Circular quay. It also gives a good view of the Sydney’s duo symbols – Harbour Bridge and opera house- from the Giraffes’ fence!
We took a day-tripper which gives us a 20% discount at the zoo entry (other than the free travel in bus, train and ferry). It has got discounts in almost all attractions if presented for the same day.
It was a sunny day. We took ferry to the city, and changed at the Circular quay for thr ferry to Taronga. Ropeway to the zoo gate and there we go…
The zoo walk started with an exciting peacock opening up her feathers (what do we say for it?) and just walking around us. It was left free in the zoo compound (Picture)! The rest was almost the same, except for a large play area for Chimpanzees and Gorillas (Picture). They also got a lot of toys to play with, inside their play room. The lions, tigers (Picture) gave me a good photograph as I never had to increase my aperture to decrease the field of depth and make the iron bars of the cages vanish; they were all in view through glass. There was a large area saying Asian elephant rainforest, and there was even an elephant temple but there was no elephantJ ! It just reminded me of the old Suppandi joke where the waiter says,’ will you have Mysore in Mysore bonda’!
Meerkats gave me some good photographs (picture). The big version of them has come out very well, though I won’t be able to attach them. They will come to an MB eachJ.
Giraffes and Zebras were the lucky ones to have the Sydney highlights in their background as (picture)I mentioned earlier.
We struggled to find some vegetarian food for lunch, found one of the shops selling pizzas at last! Done with the zoo by 3:30. The ropeway was closed due to strong winds. We had to run down to the ferry to catch the ferry which only comes once in half an hour. Just missed the boat, and so too early for the next one! Looking through the shore, Krithi spotted a lonely area full of white sand. We had no idea whether we will be able to go there. Took a walk through the bushes to reach that part and spend sometime in that ‘Cast Away’ beach (Picture)!
We had to run again to catch the next ferry, took another ferry to Manly beach (which is one of the famous beaches in Sydney next to Bondi) back in the Circular Quay just to have a look at it and come back( to make sure the money spend for the day-tripper got its return ;) ). The journey was pleasant , but windy. The wind became very strong and chilly; we couldn’t enjoy the journey standing on the deck. At the Manly quay, it was getting dark and the sky way beautiful (Picture). We didn’t bother to walk to the beach just stayed there enjoying the sky.
Back to Circular quay, by the next ferry and there was this beautiful cruise ship in standing in the Circular quay, in the middle of the Harbour Bridge and the opera house! There goes another shot from Circular quay station (Picture16).

Cheers
Venki

Tailpiece: There was this talk about Melbourne cup everywhere and it seemed all were waiting for the D-day! It was basically horse racing. The newspaper reported the profiles of each horse each day, the television went on showing talk with the trainer of Horse X and jockey of Horse Y and even in the office cafeteria or breakaway area, it was all Melbourne cup! At last the D-day came and we all got a mail to be invited to the central hall of the office for seeing the Melbourne cup at 3:15 in the plasma screens. I thought it may be some inaugural ceremony or something and may be an event which will go on for a week.
I went there and the race started by 3:15, it was all over in 15 mins! A lot of happy faces, lot of sad ones and all back to work! The Melbourne cup was over!!! The horse which won is winning the third time in a row, and it is history! They were talking about stuffing this Makybe Diva (that is the horse’s name) in the museum when it dies, proudlyJ ! But I will say, It is not yet dead, mate! It is alive! How will you feel someone talking about stuffing you when you are getting an Olympic gold medalJ .Crazy Aussies!

Aussie and me: We were all going to Brisbane and the other guys were bit more noisy and they have come with snake& ladder and card. Just joined them and we were arguing and laughing and all sort of …! People responded very positively, even passing some funny comments while passing our chairs, saying like ‘ I like this seats, you people are so happy’ or ‘ hey, watch this guy, he is cheating’(pointing at one of us) etc. !