Cairns: The Great Barrier Reef

Well hi there! Happy Monday :) I actually already finished Monday and it wasn't that bad. So don't let the Monday morning blues get you too upset.

This past weekend I took my first little jaunt outside of Sydney - off to the city of Cairns, home of the Great Barrier Reef.

And guess who I found in the Pacific Ocean...

 

Jeffrey Daniel! 

JK. I didn't actually first see him in the ocean. I'm such a trickster. 

 He actually landed in Sydney Friday morning, so I met him at the airport after work and we hopped on a plane (poor Jeff - he was up to 20 hours on a plane at this point) and headed to Cairns!

We still don't know how to pronounce this place. I think you dismiss the fact that there is an I and R in the word and say "cans," but with an Australian accent...so it's kind of like "cah-nes." 

How many of you are saying it out loud right now? Knew it. 

The flight is about 3-hours to Cairns, so by the time we got there it was pretty late. Saturday morning we were up bright and early with the sun and headed to the "reef terminal" to meet our boat. But not before being greeted by this beautiful view...

The first of many selfies of the weekend. And if you think we look tired, you would be correct. It's 7 am on a Saturday morning. Boating is not for the weary. Or at least not for those who need 8 hours.

So we headed down the pier skipping and jumping and looking at views such as this - 

 ...and thinking all was right in the world. Then we get to the boat and the kind lady tells us that my sweet boyfriend has booked us on two different boats. 

Did you catch that? Two different boats. Two different cruise lines. Two different areas of shark-infested waters. 

Now, he claims that it was the lady on the phone that messed us up, but considering I don't know her, it's much more fun to tease Jeff. I can already picture me in 40 years - "hey remember that time you booked us on two different snorkeling tours?" Oh yeah. Good stuff. 

So THAT debacle took quite some time to sort out, but alas, we got it figured out and were on the same boat. The bad news? We missed breakfast on the boat. I wasn't too concerned...until about 30 minutes into us setting sail....

....and I thought I was about to wreck it ralph all over that boat. 

Now I've never gotten sea sick, in fact, the more turbulence on a boat the bigger I smile, but on an empty stomach in the Pacific Ocean? Yeah it wasn't working out. 

An hour later, we got to the first snorkel spot, and I was in the fetal position and cursing Jeff's name for making me do adventurous things. Like why can't I bake cakes and read books? What's so wrong with that?

So I tell him I'll join after lunch (I know myself - I just needed to eat), and lay back down. Then a lady comes and sits practically on top of me (hello, personal space much?) and proceeds to yak in a bag right next in front of me. 

And ladies and gentlemen, THAT was enough to send me running towards the ocean screamin' "holla at me sea life!" 

SO - we hopped on a glass bottom boat to get a closer look at our surroundings. 

I will say, doing this first really helped my incredibly large fear of the ocean. From the safety of a boat, I could check out the reef and see that there's really not much to be afraid of. Our tour guide even said we're "lucky" if we get to see a shark because we'll get to see how friendly they are. 

...I wouldn't go that far, but whatever. 

After the glass bottom boat, I took it easy until lunch because Jeff was supposed to have an introductory dive lesson. Unfortunately, Jeff took two advil on the sail and the tour guide saw him. And much to our surprise - two advil can prevent you from diving. They called the on-shore doctor, but he still said no. I knew I couldn't dive because of the pressure on my eye (and cause my dad is good and knows stuff like that), but we never dreamed a couple pills could keep a 6'6 guy from diving. 

So Jeff was pretty bummed. But he made the best of it and got his snorkel on. And got to meet Barry the Barracuda (not kidding; didn't name him), so he was alright.

After a pretty amazing buffet lunch on the boat, I was 100% cured and ready to snorkel. 
....or ready as I'd ever be. 

We headed to the back of the boat to put on our wet suits, flippers, and snorkel gear. Let me tell you this - putting on a wet suit is all-too similar to putting on spanx. And no one, much less 75 no ones, should ever have to watch you put on spanx. Am I right, ladies? 

In fact, mine was so snug that Jeff had to actually zip it up for me. I'm here to tell you that your relationship reaches a whole new level when your man has to zip-n-stuff you into a spandex onesie. I mean really. #largesliceofhumblepie

The aftermath:

I've never felt sexier in my entire life. 

And everytime Jeff laughed I wanted to punch him. Men just pull off wetsuits much better than women. #addittothelist

But alas - we were ready for the ocean! 

The next picture was right after we jumped in. Yeah, I don't remember taking this picture. I think I blacked out. 

Once I got my bearings (aka remembered to only breathe out of my mouth, not my nose), I actually had a good time! The reef was awesome (we saw turtles, Nemo, AND Dori!) and I totally forgot about the fact that I could have been eaten. 

Here are some shots Jeff got with his go-pro:

 
Lookie! It's a sea turtle!

 And here's me all like "heeeey look at me snorkeling!"

I must say, we do not have any selfies that even remotely resemble this one:

 It started raining during our snorkel - which was actually a pretty cool experience. Until the wind picked up and the waves became bigger and despite my life jacket I thought I was going to drown. 

Okay not really, but the waves made the snorkel entirely too much work. 

We got back to the pier around 4:30p, and I told Jeff there was one way and one way only that I wanted to celebrate my victory. 

...with ice cream of course. 

So we decided on ice cream frozen with nitrogen and topped with a syringe of chocolate syrup. Heck yes. 

There was a nice "reef-n-beef" dinner on the harbor, too - but let's be real - chocolate syringes are what it's all about. 

The next day was pretty rainy at first, so that was a bit lame, but we got some good shopping in and just perused the town of Cairns. It actually reminded me a lot of Myrtle Beach - or a really nice Galveston. 

We originally decided on seafood for lunch, but Jeff saw the "Swim, Skip, Hop, Jump" entree on the menu and decided to go for that. So here he is with his barramundi, crocodile, kangaroo, and emu. 

Then the rain cleared up and it was back out for more sight-seeing until we caught our plane back to Sydney. And goodness me, this city was not lacking in sights. 

Loved our first little Australian adventure :)

And that was our weekend! T-minus four days until our next one :)

Have a great day everyone!

Until next time,
Katy

10 (More!) Fun Facts About Australia

G'day mate! 

So a couple weeks ago, I did a post titled "10 Fun Facts about Australia"...and y'all ate it up! I received so much positive feedback about that post, so I decided to do it again! 

....plus I learned more facts :)

So - without further ado, here are....

1 - There's no tipping here. At all. Not for food service, not for spa services, not for anything. It's not that they're "jipping" their people - it's just that the hourly wages are high enough to where it's not needed. Oh, and there's no sales tax either. So when the menu says your sandwich is $12 (because yes, sandwiches are $12 here), your bill will be an even $12. Not a penny more. It's amazing. 

So if you visit Australia, don't give away money for free!

2 - Speaking of money, Australia has the prettiest money ever. Each bill is a different color. Like hello who doesn't love a rainbow in their wallet?! Oh, and the $1 and $2 "bills" are in coin form. So basically that means you can pay for an ice cream cone with all coins and feel like you're not even really spending cash. #winning

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3 - So french fries are called chips, and they're dipped in tomato sauce. But (potato) chips are also called chips, and they're dipped in other dipping sauces such as guacamole. So fries are chips and chips are chips, so if you need to clarify what's for lunch - inquire of the dipping sauce. 

4 - Okay this one really gets me. Stores (like shops/clothing stores) close at 6p. SIX. Even on the weekends! The "late" shopping night is Thursdays where the stores stay open until a whopping 8p. Can you imagine trying to do Christmas shopping and have a day job? I can't even. 

BUT - similar to the Europeans, dinner is really late here. A normal dinner time is 8:30 - 9p, and by that time this Texan is extremely "hangry" and has already eaten 2 fingers and a toe. Over three weeks in and I'm still not adjusting well to this one...

5 - So the Australian bird is part pterodactyl. It has this long curved black beak and makes this awful screeching noise and and and flies right above your head and and holds it's neck in this contorted way and I'm 400% sure it's part dinosaur. And when they fly near me I run screaming like a 5-year old who just got her pigtails pulled on the playground. 

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6 - In Australia they do Celsius instead of Fahrenheit, milliliters instead of ounces, and kilometers instead of miles. So basically, without the help of google, I rarely know how much water I'm drinking, how far away I am from something, or what the temp is outside. It's a rough life. 

7 - It's been really fun learning the Aussie "synonym" to our American items. For example:
twisties = cheetos
snakes alive = gummy worms
hundreds and thousands = sprinkles
flip flops = thongs or pluggers

Let your mind have a field day with that last one. 

8 - The Tim Tam is the poster child for the Australian cookie. They're any and everywhere you turn, come in a plethora of flavors, and are pretty dang fantastic. The "original" consists of two chocolate biscuits (cookies) with chocolate mousse-like icing in the middle and then the whole thing is dipped in chocolate. 

There's also this thing called the "tim tam slam" where you bite off the bottom part of the cookie, and use it as a straw in your glass of milk, coffee, etc. Apparently it makes the inside all melty and delicious. I have yet to try it but fully intend to. 

<via>

9 - Sydney is a walking city - and I don't just mean walking from point A to point B. Due to it's beautiful surrounding coasts, the city has a ton of predetermined trails for you to follow around the various parts of New South Wales. They're various skill levels and lengths, and are free for anyone to just wake up and walk. Camera in hand, of course. You can see a full listing here.

Okay, we pause our regularly scheduled programming to share the fact that I just did a Tim Tam Slam with a glass of milk and it may have been one of the better decisions of my life. That is all.

10 - Rugby is not really like football. Two teams, two goals, and a ball are involved, but that's about it. What pains me is that these men tackle each other with no preventative padding. Nor helmets. Bless them. Bless their bruised bones and concussed craniums.

The best part? The games are quick and easy. It's two 40-minute halves and you don't really stop between plays. So you know how 10 minutes left of American football can take the better part of an hour? Yeah, not the case in rugby. Katy likes Rugby. 

OH - and instead of eating hot dogs, you eat meat pies. They sound disgusting but they're dang delicious.

BONUS FACT: ...because I actually came up with eleven.

A lot of the trains/train stations, parking garages, and event stadiums are quite nice looking because they're only 16 years old. Thanks to Australia hosting the Olympics back in 2000, they had to increase their train routes and build various new stadiums for the events. So everything is still pretty clean! And you can definitely tell a pre-Olympic train from a post-Olympic train. Some of those pre-Olympic trains sound like they have a serious case of arthritis.

_____

And there are your ten eleven {additional} fun facts about Australia! If you missed the first batch, or would just like a review, you can catch them here :)

Until next time,
Katy

Featherdale Wildlife Park

Oh man...do I have an exciting post for y'all today!

When debating what to do this weekend, I knew I wanted to do something special - because this weekend I figured I'd be a little homesick. I'm missing this year's Camp Meeting (family reunion on my dad's side), AND our good friends' wedding (Jeff was the best man). SO - needless to say it was a pretty big weekend in the States, so I wanted to make it a pretty big weekend in Oz, too!

I decided that Saturday would take me to Featherdale Wildlife Park. 

This place had come up a lot in my "pre-travel" research, and also came recommended by a couple of people. It's about an hour train ride from the city, so I woke up early, grabbed my book, and headed out!

After paying my entry fee (about $20), I grabbed a map and headed into the park. The map showed a kangaroo-looking shape near the entrance, but when I looked around at the cages, all I saw were birds. So I'm walking the trail, looking down at my map, when all of a sudden this big brown thing JETS across the trail right in front on me, and then another one shoots out on the trail right behind me. 

....and I just about wee-wee on myself. 

I start frantically looking around (I'm laughing as I type this because I probably looked like an idiot), trying to figure out what on earth just happened and if I should be alarmed for my safety. Then I see the people behind me pointing to a corner of the trail, and so I walk over and see this...

This precious little nugget (commonly referred to as a wallaby) is what just about sent me into cardiac arrest. And then it hit me that I was in a wildlife park - not a zoo. And in wildlife parks, these things are free roaming. The only other wildlife parks I've been to in the States are the drive-through ones. So this? This was new for me. 

Side note: it is slightly terrifying to be half blind in a wildlife park. Sometimes I'd be crouched down, focused on one wallaby and then look to my left and another was staring me in the face. I'm laughing again. Pretty sure I screamed "AH!" about 7 different times in that park. 

The park has cones full of feed available for purchase so you can feed the animals. I wasn't quite sure what to do (and still a little shaky from almost being road kill), but I bought some food, crouched down, and soon had brunch with a little friend :)

I now have an obsession with wallabies. They're so stinking adorable. They look a lot like kangaroos (especially from the back), but they're a lot smaller and their arms are quite short. This guy is a full grown wallaby and smaller than a baby roo (which you'll see later). 

I love this one. He's like the poster child for a happy wallaby.

About mid-cone, this wallaby (let's call him Walter) had a friend...brother...sister...join him (let's call him William). And then I was feeding TWO wallabies! And by this point I'm pretty sure I looked like a kid on Christmas morning. #purejoy

I love William's face in the back. Looks like he's straight up eatin' a taco. 

I will say, if you're planning to visit Australia (which you should), and you plan to come to Featherdale (which you should), then you definitely should come in the morning. They feed the animals at lunch, and as I was walking out to leave I saw a lot of unsuccessful feedings from the visitors. But when I got there around 10:30 they were eager and hungry!

Also like kangaroos, wallabies keep their babies in pouches. Towards the end of my visit, I passed the wallabies and saw this: 

Y'all. Do you see that? That little pink 5-padded paw? THAT'S A FOOT. The stuffed animals that show a cute little furry head popping out are not 100% accurate. Maybe it's because I haven't reached motherhood yet but this seriously gave me the willies. And I apparently showed the disgust on my face because she looked at me and then hopped inside her house. Sorry, mama. 

After the wallabies I continued on the trail to the wombats. Now these not-so-little guys were enclosed a bit more than the others. I was curious as to why and then saw the sign that said "I bite" next to them. Right. Got it. 

You could still feed them, so I bought another cone, held it over the top of the railing, and then he stood on his hind legs and came up and got it! 

Aaaand considering he is known to bite, I didn't put up too much of a fight when he took the whole cone in one chomp. All yours, Mr. Wombat. ....sir. 

At this point I decided it was time to see a 'roo. I've loved kangaroos ever since I was little (did a project about them actually), primarily because they were always the animal that showed up next to the letter "K" growing up. So it was time to please 5-year old Katy.

I walk into Kangaroo Kingdom (I wish I was being cute but that's really what they called it), and this is what I saw....

...and not gonna lie, I thought the one on the right was dead. Turns out that when kangaroos sleep (or sunbathe), that's how they lay. #chillin

Then I saw these other two roos over on a grassy knoll with a couple of girls, so I went to check it out. One of the girls asked if I wanted her to take my picture, and then the other girl told me that she was a photographer. That made my answer quite easy. It also gave me this little gem. 

  I was feeding one, petting the other, and on an all time high. 

One of the coolest experiences ever!! 

Then I went and found a post-pouch joey. We hung out and I fed him a snack. As you can see, his arms are much bigger than the wallaby. 

 I actually took a video of both the roo and wallaby eating and put them side by side. You can check them out on either Facebook or instagram :)

I hung out with them for a while and then continued through the park to the koala cuddling. Now, as you know, you can't hold a koala in New South Wales. And while you still couldn't hold them here, you could pet them. #gettingcloser 

Meet Cooper.

He slept through approximately 569,253 visitors petting and taking pictures of him. I was beginning to think he was stuffed, but he happened to move to the other side of the tree right before my turn. 

I actually thought about doing a little match-making and telling him about a cutie named Wattle, but Cooper seemed to lack....drive. So I decided to just stay out of it. :)

The next time you see a picture of me and a koala, I will be holding it like a small child.

Last on my list was to see the dingos. The dingos sadly weren't free-roaming. Their info said they didn't eat people, but I guess large-dog-wolf things running around would likely scare small children. 

...yeah okay. I can see how that might be scary. This one was definitely the alpha male. And then I saw this one trotting around a corner and his mannerisms (and big ole head) reminded me so much of Charlie. I still don't know what kind of dog(s) Char is, but heck - he could be part Dingo!

Look at those eyes! That is Char Man! And then when I was headed to leave, this one curled up in a ball under some shade and started licking himself. Yep - just like my boy. 

These were my main stops at the wildlife park, but there were also tons of birds and reptiles. As birds and reptiles scare the absolute bejeezus out of me, I stuck to hanging out with my fuzzy, warm-blooded marsupial friends. 

All in all - a FANTASTIC morning/afternoon. I would 100% recommend this little adventure!

And then I took myself on an amazing date night tonight. I'm a great catch :)

 But this post is long enough; more on that later!

Until next time,
Katy

10 Fun Facts about Australia

Top of the morning to ya! 

Well, I've been here for about 12 days now, and I've learned quite a lot about this Australian way of life. Sadly most things have been learned the hard way, but alas, they've been learned. 

 

That being said, I thought it might be fun to share with y'all.... 

 

(taps pointer against chalkboard)
 
Let's begin!

1 - All things opposite. I know it's common knowledge that the driver is on the opposite side of the car and the cars drive on the opposite sides of the road, but you never realize how many other things in life follow the left. vs. right situation until you have to live in it. For example, I've tried to go down the 'up' escalator so many times - simply because it's on the wrong other side than what I'm used to. 

Let's just say I look both ways approximately 14 times each before crossing the road. #carsbecomingouttanowhere

2 - Australia is a lot healthier than America. Work catered in lunch one day last week and it was wraps and salads with a side of fruit and juice/water to drink. No soft drinks, no potato chips - just healthy options. I mean yes, they do have things such as ice cream and other desserts (and I'm making it my mission to find them all), but with healthier options, no artificial sweeteners, and smaller portion sizes, they just seem to be healthier.

3 - Speaking of food - Aussies (pronounced "ozzies") are absolute foodies. Several locals have told me the only thing to do here is eat (not true, but you get the point) and every single person I've met so far has a running list of restaurants they want to try. One person had over 600 restaurants on her list. Food is no joke here. Which is understandable as so far everything I've eaten is downright amazing.

 Lombardo Pizza @ Maybe Frank

4. Public transportation here is AMAZING, and once you get an Opal card (basically a prepaid travel card), you can use any form of transportation (light rail, bus, train, ferry) - all with the same card. The even better part? Every week, after 8 paid trips, the rest of your trips are free! So my commute to work Monday through Thursday basically gets me free travel on the weekend! I have no idea why this is, but I don't really care. It's awesome. 

5. If you read about my trip to Taronga Zoo then you already know this one, but it's illegal to touch or hold a koala in the city of Sydney. Which is quite depressing for many tourists. You can travel to other cities (Brisbane, Adelaide, etc.) and hold them though. Which is obviously on my list. 

Your koala can also touch (and smell) you - that doesn't appear to be illegal. :)

6. Trash cans Rubbish bins are few and far between. And you never realize how often you need a trash can (and how readily available they are in the US) until you suddenly don't have one.

7. Aussies are total coffee snobs. And I fully support it. They have magical coffee beans here. I always put sweetener in my coffee and I have had a million cups without it so far. And I don't even miss it. Starbucks apparently tried to infiltrate the continent back in 2008 with over 100 stores, and you know how many are left? 3. {T.h.r.e.e.}
Sorry Starbys, you just didn't make the cut. 

Flat White @ Reuben Hills


8. While the winter is quite mild (think 65 degrees), weather is just about as unpredictable as Texas. One morning I left my apartment in rainboots, a scarf, and an umbrella, and by the time I got home I had stripped down to a tank top and pulled out my sunglasses. It actually made me smile. I kinda miss those Texas weather mood swings :)

9. Hungry Jack's is the Australian version of Burger King. I was passing a train station the other day, saw this logo, and thought man that looks familiar. Then I asked about it and apparently when the Burger King franchise came over to Australia, that name was already taken. So they took the exact same restaurant - menu and everything - and called it Hungry Jack's.

 
10. How do you speak the lingo?
Abbreviate. Everything.
And 95% of the time you just add an "o" or a "y" at the end of it. 

Uni - University
Brekky - Breakfast
Prezzie - Present
Mozzie - Mosquito

Arvo - Afternoon
Avo - Avocado
Bizzo - Business
Garbo - Garbage

You get the idea :)

And there are your first 10 facts! I say "first" because I've already started a running list of more. There's just too much to share on this side of the planet! 

Y'all have a great Tuesday, I'm gonna go ahead and get started on Wednesday. Of like next week. :)

Until next time,
Katy

 
 

Taronga Zoo

After a week of being in Australia, I decided it was time to see some animals. 

Fun, or not so fun, fact about Sydney: they don't let you touch/hold koalas in the city. It's against the law. It, and I quote, "stresses them out." The silver lining is that you can hold them in other cities (Brisbane, Adelaide, etc.)., and I have lots of animal quality time set up in those cities after I finish working.

....but that's not for a whole 'nother month. 

So, on Saturday morning, I decided to catch the ferry to Taronga Zoo - the closest zoo to the city. For those wondering, this is not Steve Irwin's zoo. That zoo is actually in Brisbane, and Jeff and I have plans to go there one of the weekends he's in town. But in all honesty I'll probably be walking around trying to take pictures with Bindi rather than animals... #iwanttohugher

I was told it's a beautiful zoo (as in a common wedding venue), the ferry ride gave great views of the city, and that the "giraffe encounter" was a great experience (I'll explain later). Good enough for me! I hopped over to Circular Quay, grabbed some coffee, and jumped on the ferry. 

I will note that as we approached the zoo, several of us thought it looked quite similar to those poor folk who took the ferry to Jurassic Park. Separate island...lots of trees...gondalas - one guy even started humming the theme song. 

But alas, there were no dinosaurs in sight, and after about a 15-minute boat ride - we made it!

I bought my entry ticket at the wharf, so once I got off the ferry I got in line to take a gondola ride up to the top of the park! The park is basically on the side of a big hill, so this way you just work your way down the zoo back to the ferry.

I looked behind me on the ride and this was my view. Not too shabby :)

Immediately after making it to the top, I went to book my "giraffe encounter." The zoo has a couple of "animal encounters" that let you go one by one into the animals habitat, hang out with them, and a photographer takes your picture with them. For the giraffe one, you walk in with a handful of carrots. Apparently the giraffes get all up in your personal space with their long black tongues and it's a grand ole time. 

Unfortunately for me, it's such a grand ole time that it was sold out when I got there. Wamp wamp. It turns out the only encounters still open were the koalas and the owls. I heard the koala encounter was nothing special since you can't touch or hold them, so basically you just take a picture standing next to the tree they're in. BUT - I had come all that way and birds freak me out (no way I was holding an owl), so I just decided to do the koala one. (Kristie - we may have to attempt the giraffe encounter when you get here!)

Not gonna lie - I was pretty bummed. BUT, I decided to not let it ruin my day, and just prayed that God would give me a good picture with a koala. 

No seriously. I really prayed that.

 In the meantime, I wandered around the beautiful grounds of the park. This zoo is b.e.a.u.tiful. You feel like you're in paradise the majority of the time. Plus, it has a "wild ropes" obstacle course so many times people are climbing ropes above your head like a buncha human monkeys :)

And then every now and then you'll turn a corner and see a glimpse of the city through the trees. Which still, after a week, makes me smile at the sight. :)

 After about 45-minutes of looking at animals, it was time for my koala encounter.You go in by groups (so if you came with 4 people, you could go in with four people), but as it was just me in my group, I got to do a solo. 

As I was walking in, I heard the keepers talking about how she (koala) was being really shy today and I thought 'great - this is going to be a bust.' So I went in, took the picture next to the tree, and then a keeper asked if I wanted a couple of pictures on my phone. So I said sure, gave her my phone, and resumed my position by the tree.

After a few seconds I begin to hear sniffing, and then feel a claw on my head. The keeper slightly panics, but luckily still keeps taking shots, because I have a nice little picture progression of how I met my sweet koala friend named Wattle. 

Starting top left, clockwise: 1) normal, 2) intrigued, 3) reaching, 4) petting, 5) sniffing, 6) a koala thumbs up and a smile. She likes me!

When the keeper gives me my phone back, I turn around and try to get some shots myself. Well, thanks to Pantene Pro-V, Wattle was quite intrigued and shimmied down her tree to get a closer look. And by closer I mean she had both her hands on my forearms and I got quite some close-ups of Wattle girl. 

"You come here to me"

"Gimme that phone"

Both hands on my arms (told you she got close...)

Then her keepers chastised her. This is her reprimanded pose.

And her "I will rise above this" pose. She was quite the prima donna. 

So at this point, I'm on cloud nine. The keepers said they've never see a koala latch to a visitor, and while it's illegal for me to touch her, the law doesn't say she can't touch me :) 

When I turned to leave (had to let the next group get a turn), I hear the keepers laugh so I quickly turned around. Sweet Wattle girl was following me!

Isn't she just the sweetest? I still am excited to hold a koala, but for an encounter that wasn't supposed to be all that great - mine turned out pretty fantastic. I love that God doesn't have to prioritize prayers. Because of all the prayers prayed that day, I just have a feeling cute koala pictures wouldn't have made the top ten. But He still made it happen. :)

At this point, I didn't really care what else happened. Looking at animals behind a railing just didn't quite have the same experience. :) Before the seal show, I decided to grab lunch at a restaurant called "The View," and when I got there I quickly understood why....

Hellooooo Sydney.

Also notable: in Texas, our zoos serve hamburgers, hot dogs, and chicken tenders. In Australian zoos, your only options are grilled fish, fried fish, and squid. :)

The seal show was pretty amazing. Seals "walking" on dry land just makes me laugh. The Taronga Zoo is a rehabilitation zoo (think Finding Dory for those of you that have seen it), so all of the seals were rescued from beaches and "in rehab" here. So the show allowed you to see newbies in training all the way to the most experienced/healthy seal.

I looked around for a bit more, and tried not to buy a thousand stuffed animals for my niece and nephew. And in all honesty, I really wanted to buy myself a stuffed koala and name her Wattle... #kidatheart

One more shot with the view before I headed home... with a selfie stick.

Oh and then I was leaving and saw a giant stuffed koala and naturally had a random human take a picture of me on it. Though now that I look at it, this koala is quite creepy looking.

Ferry ride home! I have about ten thousand different pictures of this skyline on my phone. It just doesn't get old. 

And then - like any normal person would do - I treated myself to a job well done. I'm so glad ice cream doesn't have calories over here....

<<crickets>>

And that was my trip to Taronga Zoo! I miss Wattle already. 

Have a great weekend!

Until next time,
Katy