Sydney 2010: Sydney Surrounds

While we were well into Spring when we hit the ground in Sydney, the weather wasn’t as warm as we hoped. It was still cold with intermittent rain all week. Therefore when the days dawned clear and sunny, we ventured out for some fun.

Our first stop on Saturday was to a Koala Park not too far (relatively speaking) from DDad’s place. It was not a long drive, but on-route we discovered that Noey appears to have inherited his dad’s ability to fall asleep in any moving vehicle at any time. (Ok, that and the fact that he was probably getting over jet lag.) He was asleep when we arrived, which to his grandfather’s dismay. We walked around with him in his stroller for quite a while before we decided to wake him up since we were all there for his benefit anyway!

He was a little zonked for a while but perked up sufficiently to enjoy his first introduction to Australian wildlife.

It was altogether a rather small park and we were able to make our way past all the exhibits fairly quickly. There was a good selection of animals — from memory, there were koalas, wallabies and kangaroos, dingoes, emus, cockatoos, peacocks, a couple of varieties of owls, penguins, and a wombat or two. There were also some sheep which were involved in the sheep shearing show, which we didn’t stay to watch. The nice part about this park is that they pretty much let you pet all the animals you like without much restriction. There is also a picnic area where you could sit down for a bite and I would imagine it would have been quite nice if we had done so.

The downside was that the place seems popular with bus groups. I’m not sure if it was because it was a Saturday morning, but there was a flow of Chinese and Taiwanese tourists coming into the park that morning, crowding around the pens and making a lot of noise and taking photos. I know we were tourists ourselves but I just hate noisy tour groups. Part of the reason why we never travel with one! We steered clear of them but it was still a bit irksome. Then again we owe them for our close up with the koala. Heh. The place was also a bit rundown.

Still, I think we enjoyed a nice morning and Noey was well on his way to being acquainted with the animals and just being in Australia.

We headed home for a short break, bought some food to eat along the way, then hopped back into the car for a longer drive to The Entrance. (Isn’t that just the oddest name for a town?)

Well, apparently The Entrance gains its name from the channel that runs along much of its northern border that is the entrance to The Tuggerah Lakes. And one of the things it is most popular for (and what we were there for that day) was the Pelican Feeding that takes place 365 days a year, at 3.30pm, come rain or shine.

We didn’t know what to expect since we’d let my in-laws fix the day’s programme. We only knew we would be seeing pelicans. So it was a pleasant surprise when we arrived to find ourselves at the coast with a resort feel all round.

At 3.30pm it was time for the main event and the pelicans are ready! A good crowd (of both people and pelicans) has gathered at the waterfront all ready for some action.

While the feeding was going on, the town council reps kept up an interesting and informative commentary on the pelicans, other birds and marine life and also the area.

Incidentally the whole exercise did make some impression on Noey, though while it was going on he did get a bit restless from all the sitting around and watching. Throughout the trip going forward, DDad would get him to open his mouth during his meals but asking him to demonstrate how a pelican eats! That is as good a takeaway from the whole experience as I could have hoped for.

We grabbed some ice-cream from Cold Rock and then it was time to call it a day and head off home. I think we did well for our second day on the ground!