The ferry system in Sydney is fairly comprehensive. Depending on how far out you are riding, you can get just about anywhere on the other side of the bay in a half hour or under. Today, although I have been in Sydney for close to a week, I had my first experience on the ferry as I spent the day at Taronga Zoo and Manly Beach.The ferry that runs to the zoo is much smaller than the large yellow and green ferries that run to places like Manly, but they offer faster service and ergonomic chairs, even on the front and back decks. From my very comfortable chair in the back of the boat, I had a great view of the harbor bathed in the winter morning light. Within minutes we had pulled out form Circular Quay and traversed pass the opera house, docking below the entrance to the zoo.
What makes the Taronga Zoo so one of a kind is its elevation. Perched atop a
hill, it has some of the most spectacular views of downtown Sydney than you can get anywhere else in the city. True to the theme of my visit thus far, I decided to skip the bus and the gondola which take visitors up the hill to the entrance and hoof it. I quickly noticed that the sidewalk soon trailed off into a sandy, tropical feeling area, which I quickly found out to be a national park. Thank goodness it was well signed, because my short walk up the hill ended up being about an hour long hike up to the zoo. I got lost and turned around, but I kept following my intuition from what information the maps gave me, and eventually figured that if I walked far enough around the hill and came up to the zoo from the back side, there had to be a parking lot and entrance for cars since there was not one at the ferry side entrance.Sure enough I was able to find the front entrance, but I got a great walk in on
the way. Again, I found myself in a similar situation as when I was wondering in the Mangroves yesterday; I was so close to the city and civilization, yet I felt so far away from it all. Besides some joggers and walkers that I shared the path with, it was just me and birds, trickling waterfalls, and little creatures rustling around in the brush below. The experience definitely wet my appetite for the zoo.
I have to admit, every day I have been in Sydney I have taken a progressively more and more pictures, and today was no exception. Needless to say I took so many pictures at the zoo that I thought I would let the photos do most of the talking.
After spending most of the afternoon at the zoo, I took the ferry back to Circular Quay and immediately caught the ferry to Manly. While it was nice to see the other side of the Pacific, I felt a little let down. The whole experience at Manly was very "canned", and the beach wasn't even that big. If anything the experience just solidified my dislike of Sydney fashion, and didn't do much else for me. I know I've already ragged on the business men and women on the trains, but at least they are up to date. All of the people my age I saw today looked like they never left the 80's. I came up with the theory today that possibly because as school children they wear uniforms, Sydneysiders as young adults just don't know how to dress themselves, and therefore follow the latest "trend", which for an American is about 2 0r 3 years old, and wasn't even that cool in the states. The standard is this: take any drab looking tunic, preferably something with a square neck and big buttons that looks like it was hand made in the 70's, and throw it over either skinny jeans or leggings. Throw on either boots or flats, and you are the average woman under 30 years old in the greater Sydney area. Even looking past everyone dressing exactly the same (yes, even the guys), the moms look all the same with their prams (strollers), all the suburbs look the same, and all the stores are the same. They sell the same clothes, the same food, and the same bad coffee.
Don't get me wrong, I've had a great time here in Sydney, but I guess I miss the familiarity of the quirks of home as I grow tired of the quirks I see in people half way around the world.
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