I’m stuck in Detroit due to a flight control computer systems crash. No idea when I’ll leave.
I watched Tangled on the international flight. Thoughts of Rapunzels cute face are all that’s keeping me going right now!
Boulevarding
Back when I was at the Reptile Park, I overheard a parent answer a child’s question “What is a platypus?” with “It’s a type of fish”. At the time I was amazed, and remembered the moment yesterday when I overheard this:
Child: “What *is* a dinosaur?”
Dad: “It’s like a giraffe”
The mind boggles!
Dinosaurs?! These are an installation at Taronga Zoo, which I visited yesterday. They’ve got about a dozen large animatronic dinos scattered around the zoo. I was impressed but the kids were just berserk with joy, especially when they roared or in one case sprayed water 🙂
It had been a couple of years since I’d visited the zoo and either it has seen changes or my memory has gone since I was surprised by how different it seemed. Furthermore I arrived at opening, and since there had been a light rain earlier, the animals were very active.
That’s one of the ‘babies’. He seemed quite interested in me!
A sailfin lizard, a close relative of the Jesus Christ Lizard. This big guy can also run across water! They also had an actual JC lizard in a nearby enclosure.
Looks like a rooster doesn’t it? It’s actually The Lord of all Roosters, aka an African Red Fowl, which is the ancestor of all common chickens. This one had escaped his enclosure, and was crowing like a king.
My $15 lunch. I would later buy a $5 magnum ice cream and a $4 bottle of lift. Believe it or not I didn’t think these prices outrageous, since food is expensive here everywhere!
The free flight bird show here is very special since it uses only Australian birds. After it was over I handed a $2 to a parrot who took it from me with his beak and dropped it into the donation box 🙂
I very much enjoyed the zoo. It took me about 6 hours to see all the animals at a relaxed pace, and it was a fine way to spend my last day in the country.
Right now it’s the morning of the day I leave, and I’ll be heading to the airport in about an hour for a 27-hour trip home. This will be the last blog post covering this trip. I hope you have enjoyed it 🙂
On A Boat
Yesterday I caught the ferry to Manly, which I always enjoy and didn’t get the time to do last year. As you can see, the rains from the night before were long gone.
The ferry takes about 35 minutes to get to Manly, and the entire trip is full of great view of Sydney Harbour. If you’re ever here, be sure to add this trip to your itinerary.
Manly was sunny with heavy winds and surf. The boardwalk was full of tourists and jiggers, but those in the water were mostly surfers. As usual, there was 1,000,000,000 seagulls in attendance 🙂
The trip back was a real treat. The swell was large, and the ferry rocked savagely. Large waves were crashing over the boat, and I saw a lady fall over. It was exciting, but I’ll admit it made me a bit queasy and I was glad when it ended!
I had originally planned a second boat for the afternoon but skipped that due to today’s plans. As a result, the afternoon was spent shopping before returning to Adams to laze in front of the telly 🙂