Wednesday, August 25th 2010

I woke up pretty hungover from the night before.  Backpacker bars are crazy, and I was out till 3 am, and I was still a little jet lagged.  But we woke up and drove down to Circular Quay.  We saw the aboriginal men playing their didgeridoos and danced for a little bit before we got on the ferry.  The ferry is one of the best ways to see the city skyline, opera house, and harbor bridge.  It was a beautiful day, probably about 14 degrees Celsius, so thanks to dad that is about 57 degrees Fahrenheit.  But the sun was shining so it seemed warmer.  We got to the zoo, and immediately went to the elephant show.  I saw two baby elephants, one of which was the first elephant to be born in Australia.  They showed off kicking a soccer ball (football), playing a harmonica, and picking up logs.  It was cute!  Then we ate lunch at the zoo, and walked around.  Saw the giraffes, kangaroos, koalas, bears, hippos and more.  But I didn't get to see the Orangutans, which I wanted to see so I could show all the UK people why Australians call red heads, or gingers, Rangas.We also saw the seal show, and one of the seals was a California seal that had a loud, deep talking voice, so they said "that is the American Accent".  They like to make fun of us Americans here.  Then we saw the bird show, which I had seen last time I was at the zoo with the girls.

After we walked down to the bottom of the hill to board the ferry back, and all of a sudden, this really nice private boat pulls up to the dock.  Tons of paparazzi showed up, so we got pretty excited and tried to guess what celebrity was going to the Taronga Zoo, and why!  We walked over to the side of the dock that no one else was on, and all of a sudden I saw Nikki Hilton!  The paparazzi almost knocked me over because I somehow had the best seat in the house.  I still have to look up why Nikki was going to the zoo (She got into a zoo van).  Maybe she was adopting an animal or sponsoring a new exhibit or something.

I got back from the zoo and was super tired, but Chris called and wanted to go see a 10 piece band.  So I met up with him for the concert and it was great.  Reminded me of being on Frenchman Street in New Orleans.  The band had a sax, trumpet, base, and played great jazzy funk music.  The bar also brewed their own beer, so I felt right at home.  Finally I got to go to bed and rest up for next day of oz experience!