Taronga Zoo

Involves a ferry over the Harbour – which is always spectacular – watch for views of the Sydney Opera House and the Harbour Bridge. On the other side, you can go by chair lift over the zoo to the entrance. Watch out for the orangutans on man made ‘branches’ as you go over.

The animals are beautiful, but so is the scenery and other aspects of this trip. Make sure you go early in the day though – Taronga Zoo is huge and is well worth a decent visit!

When my (soon to be) husband and I visited Sydney a few years back, the zoo had a special program where you could pay to get a private tour of the facilities. It was not much more expensive than a regular ticket but would be a bargain at any price! We got much closer to the animals, even getting to pet a Koala. It was wonderful and I highly recommend visitors (especially those from outside Australia) to see if this program is still going on.

The ferry from Circular Quay is a good way to get there. It is a nice place, and MAN! are some of those animals spoilt by the most amazing views that are available around the harbour?! I haven’t been for about 10 years, so I do hope that animal care has improved. There were things that made my skin crawl the last time I visited. But I think all zoos are making an effort to change things.

In January 1996 I visited Taronga Zoo and while I was in the queue to get in I saw a guy I went to high school in Canada with who was working at the zoo! I had not seen him in many years (I moved to the UK in 1994) and I was the first person from “home” he’d seen since he’d started working at the zoo 7 months previously. Strange coincidence – when I visited Canada 4 months later I saw him again; he was working at a nightclub I went to.

I went in primary school to see the Giant Pandas that were touring here. very cool!

I returned in high school because we read a futuristic teen novel set in taronga zoo (i think it was called ‘Taronga’).

pretty cool, as far as zoos go. I prefer to see animals in the wild but you will never get to see most of these in the wild.