Buveh at Sea: Sydney, Australia

AUSTRALIA – Day 7: Saturday 24 November 2007

KOALA PARK

On TSS’s last day in Sydney, Nikki and I went to the Koala Park. This was not a simple feat but was well worth it. She had found out about the Koala Park in a guide book but although I had the opportunity to glance through the various guides held in the LRC and visit several online events sites, I did not see it mentioned anywhere else. I agreed to go with her because it offered the opportunity to touch a Koala!

Nikki had gone on a half-day Around Sydney tour on our first day in port and had learned that in the state of New South Wales, where Sydney is located, it is illegal to hold a koala. One may touch a koala but not hold it. In other Australian states, holding koalas is permitted, however. There is an excellent zoo in Sydney that has koalas but visitors cannot get close to them. It would also be possible to feed kangaroos at the Koala Park, which actually had native and unique birds and animals found in Australia. It is more a preserve than a zoo and for this reason they can offer special opportunities for guests.

Getting there involved walking from TSS to Circular Quay to catch a train because the park was at quite a distance from the center of town. When we got to the central area of The Rocks and were passing the bus stop on Argyll Street, we noticed a large crowd of people at the Abraham Mott Hall, a kind of community center near the bus shelter. At first we wondered what was going on; then as we drew closer and saw campaign posters mounted in various places on the sidewalk, we remembered that today was Australia’s national election day and the prime ministership was being voted on (basically the equivalent to a US Presidential Election). Campaigners were trying to sway voters going inside the grounds to vote in the building but were not allowed inside the fenced area. Voters were coming and going.

Voters and campaigners at the Abraham Mott Hall on Australia’s National Election Day 9356

We continued walking down Argyll Street and came to the old and historic Garrison Church. I’d passed it any number of times but had never even taken a photo of it let alone gone inside to see it. We decided it was worth seeing so we approached it and I started taking pictures.

The Garrison Church 9360

Sign at the church, explaining its significance 9363

On the gate post was a bronze plaque placed in honor of a former faithful worshipper 9365

We walked past the gate posts and along the sidewalk toward the open church doors. On the left just before the entrance was a life size cutout figure of a woman wearing Garrison Church-era clothing.

Cutout figure of woman 9367

Then we approached the open doors. Since no services were going on, we walked inside.

Arched entry to church 9368

The high, arched windows along both sides of the length of the building were of stained glass; note that the top frame on the right side is open. I never knew that stained glass windows could open.

Stained glass window 9370

Row of windows and arched beams to my left, with morning sun shining in 9371

Arched beams and windows to my right, with ribbed ceiling architecture visible 9372

We asked at the ticket booth how to get to our destination. It should have been fairly straightforward but, wouldn’t you know, because it was a Saturday, track maintenance was taking place on the line we needed to travel. This meant we had to take the train to a certain station, then ride on a railroad-provided bus to another station further down the line. When we finally arrived at our designated station, we would have to catch a bus to our final destination. We bought our tickets, used them in the barricades to enter the station, and this time took an escalator up to the platforms – I had discovered an up escalator upon my last arrival and was determined to use it rather than climb all those stairs again. On the platform while waiting for the train to arrive, I took a picture of the building on the opposite side from Circular Quay because of its nice architecture, clock and colonnaded entrance.

Building (notice the tennis ball-shaped and decorated dome in foreground) 9374

We boarded the train when it arrived and headed off. However, two stations before the one we had been told would be the one where we would have to take the bus, it was announced that the station we were at would be the last one and we would have to get off and take the bus. There were signs everywhere in the station directing us to the buses but once outside on the sidewalk, it was anyone’s guess where we needed to go. We finally figured it out when we saw hordes of people boarding a bus partway up the block. We got on and managed to get seats. Eventually people stopped boarding the bus and it drove away from the station. On the plus side, the driver was the best I’d experienced to that time and was also the only woman driver, which says a lot. It had to go very slowly, as it drove through heavy Saturday morning traffic (everyone mobbing to the polls?).

When we finally got to the train station, a light rain was falling. We left the bus and – you guessed it – climbed a huge number of stairs to get to the pedestrian bridge over the train tracks, then down the slippery, wet metal stairs on the other side. There were no benches to sit on, no shelters except for a canvas awning over a small rectangle of lawn. All of us stood under the awning since it was raining and we were packed in tightly. The train that was supposed to be coming was late, of course. When it arrived, we were instructed to stand back and let all passengers disembark before anyone boarded. Well, those passengers just kept coming and coming and coming. I have no idea how so many people could have fit into that train. When they had thinned out, I took a quick run through the group and into the train. We sat on the upper level in order to see everything we passed, but the seats faced the reverse of the way we traveled, so it was not awfully special. Also, we were covering the same territory I’d seen on my way to the temple.

It was already after 10:00, the time we’d hoped to already be at the Koala Park and here we were, just beginning the second leg of the train trip. Then the train, when it finally got going, went v-e-r-y s-l-o-w-l-y. By the time we finally got to our stop at the Pennant Hills station, it was inching toward 11:00. Then we ended up exiting the train station on the wrong side and wandered around a bit looking for the bus stop for the bus we were supposed to take, finally asking someone working in a convenience store where we could catch the bus to the Koala Park. It was on the other side of the train station so we had to go back into the station and – once again – climb a long and a short flight of steps, cross over the tracks and go down stairs on the other side.

Once there, however, it was obvious where the bus stop was. The street to our left ended several yards to our left in a large cul-de-sac, the use of which soon became apparent. Directly across the street from us were several bus shelters with benches and bus stop signs. Several buses went past the Koala Park so we settled down, standing because the benches were wet, to wait for a bus. When one came several minutes later, it was flashing three different name and number signs, all of them the numbers of the buses that went past the Koala Park. It turned out that on Saturdays, the routes were combined so it would take us longer to get to the park than usual because it would also stop at all the stops for the three lines.

We got inside and sat facing forward, thankfully, and watched the Pennant Hills area go by as we waited for our stop. Of course, we didn’t know where that would be so the driver said he would let us know. However, he was thinking about something else when we passed the stop and it wasn’t until about 100 meters down the road that he remembered, pulled over and let us out. So we trudged back the necessary distance to get to the place where we needed to cross the street to the park. It was across a major road with no traffic signal so we had to wait for a break in traffic in order to cross. Fortunately, the break came fairly soon and we finally entered the grounds outside the park. To prove we finally made it, we took pictures of each other at the entrance. By the way, it was a cold day so I was wearing several layers of clothing including a long-sleeve blouse, hooded sweat jacket and heavy sweater. I looked even more a butterball than usual. But I was warm! And the hood helped keep off the rain.

Buveh at entrance to Koala Park 9377

We bought our tickets and a small bag of kangaroo food at the entrance and went through the turnstile and – finally – into the park. It was 11:00. The Koala Feeding would be at 11:30. We had left TSS at 8:00. We started following the paths to see the various animals in their enclosures. The first unique animals we saw were wallabies. We eventually found out that wallabies, wallaroos and kangaroos are all kangaroos but differ from each other in size.

First unique Australian animal, a wallaby! 9378

A Swamp Wallaby, to be exact, according to this sign 9381

A kind of unique bird; I never saw the sign for it 9382

A penguin feeding was in progress when we reached the Little Penguin enclosure.

Baby Little penguin, an Antarctica variety; in honor of my daughter and her family, the Littles 9395

Sign about Little Penguins 9396

Two more Little Penguins 9398

Further along a winding path, we came across a darling and interesting little creature that was resting its soft-looking “toes” on a PCV pipe closed at the ends and with holes like a flute.\\ the

The Echidna 9402

Sign about the Echidna 9404

Further along the way we came to the Australian Animal Hospital but it was all boarded up and looked deserted. I have to say at this point that the condition of the many of the buildings used by humans was not good (except for the bathrooms, which were fine and clean) but everything for the animals was in wonderful and new-looking shape.

Animal Hospital 9406

The next unique animal we saw was the dingo. I was surprised that they were white animals. I always thought of them as being grey, like wolves, but these were definitely white. They also didn’t hold still, so I did my best to get a shot of one.

Dingo 9408

There were some lovely and exceedingly fragrant flowers on bushes throughout the grounds. We recognized the smell as being the same as at the Garrison Church. The aroma on the shrubs outside it was so strong that it penetrated inside the thick stone walls of the church.

Fragrant white flowers 9411

The next enclosure held wombats. The only one I could see, barely, was inside this cave-like enclosure, fast asleep. Look with concentration and you can see its little head.

Common wombat 9413

Sign for common wombat 9415

After passing the wombat enclosure we came to a cul-de-sac with an enclosed round-about feature in the center. A sign posted nearby proclaimed the area as a “Koala Feeding Area”! However, no matter how hard we looked in the nearby trees, we could not see any koalas, feeding or otherwise.

Koala Feeding Area sign 9417

Disappointed, we headed in a different direction and found ourselves in the bird area. All the birds were behind wire barriers so it was hard to get a clear shot of them but they were beautiful and most of them were ones I’d never heard of. All of them were kinds I’d never seen before.

Beautiful bird 9420

Uniquely-colored peacock 9425

White cockatoo, which turned its back on me 9430

Black cockatoo, a very blurry photo but I doubt I’ll ever seen another 9433

Then we came to a very interesting large round-about place with this sign nearby, reminding us that the Koala Feeding would take place at approximately 11:45. We decided to go over to the round-about area and wait for the show.

Sign 9435

In the roundabout, which was covered, were many eucalyptus trees and in some of them were (duh-DUH-duh-duh!) Koalas, sleeping.

Largest koala (I thought it was very fat but was surprised to find out during the presentation that it was a mother koala holding a BABY koala. Can you see it? There were also several other koalas, sleeping soundly.

Mother and baby koala 9439

A young koala 9440

Back of mother koala 9443

Buveh with koala in background 9446

Small, cuddly koala (slightly blurry) 9448

Koalas sleep about 22 hours a day and, being nocturnal, are awake at night, long enough to eat some delicious eucalyptus leaves, and then go back to sleep. They don’t drink any water because the leaves they eat contain enough water for them to be healthy. Only in times of extreme drought will koalas need to drink water. Each area of Australia has its own unique koalas which differ in size and color from the others.

Then came the part of the program we were all waiting for, petting a koala. We all stood in line and took our turn stroking the chosen koala. The woman doing the demonstration gently pulled the koala from his branch, which awakened him, then placed him on the railing around the koala roundabout. As we got to the koala, we could pause for photo ops. I went first and Nikki had my camera. When she snapped the best photo, the male standing next to her bumped her arm and it turned out blurry but I’m including it because although I’m blurry, the koala isn’t, particularly.

Buveh and koala (blurry) 9450

Buveh and koala 9452

Then I took photos of Nikki with the koala; they were better because no one bumped me and also because the koala was facing forward. I was jealous but survived. Then I took pictures of the koala, who got tired of being petted by so many people and started traveling around the railing, so most of the pictures were blurry but I’m including the best.

Koala and guide 9462

Cute koala 9464

Our koala, back in his tree 9472

Another koala decided to climb down from his perch, 9473, 9474

After the show had ended and we’d taken some more photos, we headed for another bird area. I really wanted to see the famous rainbow lorikeets and they were next. It was hard taking their pictures through the protective wiring of two types but I did my best. Notice their rainbow colors.

Rainbow lorikeet with red bird in background; how many colors does it have? 9481

Blurry close-up showing its colors better 9484

Beautiful pink and white cockatoo 9488

Cockatoo displaying its beautiful head feathers 9489

Kookaburra (I learned the song about them in 3rd grade!) 9501

Sign about the kookaburra 9503

I think this is a wallaroo; a nice, clear shot for a change! 9504

Finally we approached the kangaroo area. There was a big sign just outside it that told about the various kinds of Macropods of New South Wales. The area was enclosed by a wood fence and entered by a gate that was not locked. We walked in and there we were, with the kangaroos! That’s when I pulled out the white bag of kangaroo food we’d bought at the entrance and started feeding the little darlings.

Macropods sign 9507

Buveh feeding kangaroos 9508, 5911, 5916

Nikki feeding kangaroo 9524

The wonderful thing about the kangaroos was that they were very gentle and non-aggressive when they were eating out of our hands. They didn’t push or shove each other or us; they put their dainty little front paws on our hands but the touch was very light and although they have long claws, they didn’t scratch us or use them defensively. One of them was determined that no other kangaroo would eat while s/he was and so covered the food remaining in our hands while it chewed the first bite and kept doing that until all the food had been eaten. The food looked and felt like Cheerios with a light honey coating. The animals loved them. We tried to let each of the kangaroos eat some but there was a lot of food and so we shared it with other people who had come into the enclosure to see the kangaroos. They had fun feeding the kangaroos and taking pictures of each other doing it. Seeing their delight added to the fun of the experience.

Two ‘roos, eager to eat 9526

In an enclosed area within the kangaroo compound were huge-sized models of three animals unique to Australia:

Wombat 9528

Something else 9529

Emu (I think) 9531

As we circled around the back side of the kangaroo compound, we came upon enclosures for large birds.

Ducks? 9532

Cassowary 9534, 9535, 9539

Emu 9546

Another kangaroo, seen just before we exited through the gate we’d come it by 9547

We came to another koala area and saw more of them, sleeping, of course.

Sleeping koala 9553, 9554

Interesting bird, strutting along the sidewalk 9555

Snoozing wombat 9558

By then, it was getting close to time to catch the bus back to the train station. We went back near the entrance and washed our hands thoroughly, then got something to eat at the gift shop and sat outside on circular picnic tables to eat. Fortunately, it had stopped raining and drizzling shortly after we arrived so we were dry as we ate outdoors. I had an “Aussie pie” which was shaped like a pot pie but there was only meat inside it. I ordered it because I wanted to eat something unique to Australia and that was it. I didn’t inquire as to what kind of meat was inside it, however! Then we briefly browsed the gift shop but didn’t buy anything and then walked out to the road and sat at the bus shelter, wondering when the bus would come along.

After some time it came and we boarded it for the ride back to the train station. I sat next to the window so I could take pictures. Most were blurry but some of the better ones are below.

Median strip 9560

Lovely tall trees 9561

Roundabout (I think) 9563

Train station 9569

Station sign at train station, both on the pole and on the bench 9470

Park at underpass, with bench outside and cool-looking tree 9477

Another view of the underpass landscaping 9578

Narrow stairway leading up between two buildings (ignore graffiti) 9579

Old building with funny “For Lease” sign and sign on wall 9581

House styles were different here than elsewhere. Some of them:

Interesting house 9583

Another house 9585

Apartment building 9588

House with nice landscaping 9590

Strathfield Station, taken during a stop 9593

The rest of the trip was a reverse of the one going, with having to take a bus between two of the stations because of maintenance on the lines. We took the train to Circular Quay and then started walking back through The Rocks to Miller’s Point. When we got to the Garrison Church again, a wedding was getting underway. How could we tell? See the photos below.

Bride on sidewalk outside churchyard; why is a man holding the train? 9595

Escape vehicle? 9598

Then we crossed the street and I decided that since TSS would be leaving in about two hours, I needed to take pictures of some of the things I really liked about the Miller’s Point area.

The drinking fountain I admired every time I’d passed it 9599

Wrought iron fence railing on residential building 9601

Wrought iron balcony railing on same building 9602

Nice fencing and porch end piece 9603

More, different railing 9604

Nice balcony 9606

We walked the rest of the way to the street where we turned right to head down the hill to TSS. We were cutting it close because our ETL (Embarkation Time Limit) was 4:00 PM and it was about fifteen minutes before 4:00. I took some photos as we made our way down the hill to the dock.

Street scene with TSS smokestack rising above dock building 9608

Closer view of wall and stairway across the street; Nikki walking on 9609

Home again, home again, jiggety jig. We got there before the deadline and Nikki rushed to take advantage of the money exchange agents who were aboard, waiting to change Australian and US dollars – and possibly other currency – into Chinese Yuans. She had some traveler’s checks she wanted to exchange. I had only a $20 bill and some loose change. Finally I decided that I needed to have some money to use when I arrived in China, so I exchanged it and received a 100 Yuan bill in return. Better than nothing.

A few hours later we set sail for Shanghai, our next-to-last stop. Of course, I had to take pictures of the departure, first Through My Porthole and then from the deck. Here they are.

Sydney – Through My Porthole 9610

Goodbye Sydney Opera House, in the twilight, receding into the distance 9612

Goodbye Sydney Harbor 9614

Goodbye Sydney Harbor Bridge 9615

An outdoor music concert was taking place under a white tent. Hundreds of people were gathered for it and lots of boats in the harbor were anchored offshore, listening. We heard the music loud and clear as we made our way past it. It was a reminder of how well sound travels over water.

Goodbye music concert in progress 9616