Sydney visit advice

Chlidonias

Chlidonias

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seeing that one of the long-beaked echidnas is now on display at Taronga, I am thinking of making a weekend trip over there sometime in the near future to have a look-see. So I have some questions:

It would be a two or two-and-a-half day visit to Sydney.

1) As I want to spend one of the days at Centennial Park for birding, is it do-able to see Taronga, the Sydney Aquarium and Wildlife World all on the same day (I think the latter two don't close till quite late, right?).

2) How long should I expect to spend at Taronga (taking into consideration I've never been there before)?

3) I would also want to go to Oceanworld at Manly. How can I fit that into the above locations in the time frame I have?

4) Anything else I might need to know :D
 
Assming that you would be using public transport you would have to catch 3 different ferries from Circular Quay. The travel alone would take up half the day to start with.
 
Hey Chlidonias,

It depends a bit on where you're staying. If you are staying on the south side of the harbour, jump on the Taronga ferry at Circular Quay say 8.45 am and you 'll be there for 9.00 am opening. I'd stay there for the best part of a day.

On your second day, head to Darling Harbour and do the Aquarium and Wildlife World in the morning, then catch a ferry (or a 20 minute walk) to Circular Quay and catch the Manly ferry. Oceanworld is about 5 minutes walk from the ferry terminal at Manly, so you can easily do all three in one day, or if you are really pused, spend say an hour at the aquarium, an hour at Wildlife World, then an hour or so get to Manly, and another hour at Oceanworld. All three are doable in one day. the Aquarium and Ocean world are opem late, so you could do it the other way around if you prefer.
 
So, if you were going to have 2.5 days, with one for birding, I would do Taronga on the first day, from 9am via ferry, spend much of the day there, leaving bout 3.30pm, take ferry to Darling Harbour, do wildlife world til it closes at 5pm (it didn't take me very long to do), then aquarium that night, it closes at 8pm. Next day catch ferry to Manly for ocean world in the morning, then go home. I managed to do the first three in one day last year, was a little rushed, but do-able (didn't go to Oceanworld). Don't take any slow, non-zoo-liking people though. Also, you can get a pass to aquarium, oceanworld, wildlife world and sydney tower (maybe squeeze in sometime, nice views but otherwise average, ott security) for $50 per adult which is pretty good.

Finally, if you have a spare ticket, please take me with you!!! :)
 
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its all just a spur of the moment decision at the moment so I will of course check all the public transport timetables, accommodation options, etc later. Just looking for ideas. Zooboy28's plan seemed like what I was thinking: zoo for first part of the day then Willdife World and Aquarium at the end. Centennial Park on the second day (could stick the Aquarium or Wildlife World in on this day too if missed it out on the previous). Manly on the half day at the end. If I can't fit them all in then so be it.

The focus of the trip would be the long-beaked echidna, but what else should I be sure not to miss at Taronga apart for the Nocturnal and Reptile Houses? (I have almost zero interest in bothering with the elephants, tigers, lions, things like that; more looking for less obvious not-to-be-missed)
 
The animals I was most excited about seeing when I went, mostly because we don't have them in NZ (at least in the zoos), and I hadn't been to any overseas zoos before, were:

Komodo Dragon
Lace Monitor
Snakes!

Victorian Crowned Pigeon
Andean Condor
Fiordland Penguin
Egyptian Goose

Northern Palm Squirrel
Dhole
Binturong
Leopard Seal
Goodfellow's Tree Kangaroo
De Brazza's Monkey
Gorilla
Bongo
Brown Bear
Malayan Tapir
Snow Leopard

I know many of these aren't that exciting for a global zoo-trotter, but they were a big deal for me :)
 
Chlidonias, consider this: stay at a hotel in Manly.
Assuming you arrive in an evening, then on your first day:

Catch a bus from Manly to the city, getting off at Spit Junction (Mosman) and jump on another bus to the zoo (two kms from Spit Junction). Plan to get to the zoo at 9:00am opening. You can do the Nocturnal House and Reptile House in an hour or so (you might want to take a bit longer, though!).

I know you like birds, so the Rainforest Aviary, Creatures of the Wollemi, and the two Asian Aviaries are probably going to be attractive, as may be the Free Flight Bird Show (on at 12:00).

You might also like to see the new Tasmanian Devil enclosure, or Great Southern Oceans.

Assuming you leave the zoo around 12:00 or 1:00, catch a ferry to Darling Harbour (or to Circular Quay and walk), and do Wildlife World and the Aquarium - allow at least an hour for each, especially if plan on taking photos in the Aquarium (damned curved perspex!)

Then catch a ferry back to Manly and do Oceanworld (another hour) before retiring to your hotel.

Four facilities in one day! Leaves you the next day for birding in Centennial Park (ferry to Circular Quay, then a bus).

:p

Hix
 
Maybe it's just my limited zoo experience (138 in 20 countries to date) but Taronga is a whole day zoo, don't underestimate it. However, if you do, it would be easier (and cheaper) for you to do another visit than would have been for me. I did however do SA and SWW in one day (easy for obvious reasons :D)
 
I would also recommend going into the botainc gardens, which are next to the Opera house and by the ferries in Circular Quay. If you walk to the middle you'll get to hear, smell and then see the massive bat colony. This is a personal highlight to any trip to Sydney. A ten to fifteen minute walk will treat you to an amazing wildlife spectacle.
I too would recommend, when you are in Tarongs going into the Wolemi, or what ever it has been renamed as, but for me it is to see the Platypus in the pool to your left as you go in. You can almost always see them swimming in the Platapusery too.
I hope you have a great trip
 
Childonias, I'm going to Taronga tomorrow, althoug my trip is for work I'm going to try and do the Aquarium and SWW as well, I have only been once before and didn't have much of a chance to see anything. I will let you know if it's doable (I'm driving down getting there around 9 and flying back to Dubbo at 7.)
 
many thanks to all; everything is mightily helpful. I think the biggest hurdle in the way of doing several facilities in one day is the photographic one -- I'm probably going to simply spend too long at the zoo taking photos to allow it. However I will see what I can do about that when the time comes.
 
so, this is what I've worked out (I turned out to have three whole days thanks to the plane schedules, which helps):

The plane gets in at 7.25am (on a Tuesday, incidentally), so I've got time to get to my hotel in Manly and drop my gear before heading to the zoo hopefully just after it opens. All day will be spent at the zoo, possibly till closing, as I figure I'm going to be spending a lot of time taking photos of questionable quality of animals I haven't seen before or have seen only rarely. Then I'll head to the Sydney Aquarium until that closes (so I should have at least two hours there).

Day two will be spent entirely at Bicentennial Park looking for birds (in my initial posts I said Centennial Park because I always get the two names confused). The main reason for this is to try and see red-necked avocets which apparently can be found there, unless someone in the know wants to tell me different.

Day three I will head to the Botanic Gardens first thing in the morning. I've been there before and seen all the common birds generally found there, but I've discovered that powerful owls may also be seen there if one is a lucky person, so worth a shot. Then I'll just walk over to Darling Harbour and see the Wildlife World, then back to Manly to visit the Oceanarium and pick up my stuff from the hotel. Flight back home leaves Sydney at 6.45pm so I have lots of time during the day.


That should all work out quite adequately. Now I just need a corny thread title for when I come back....

1) "Three Monotremes In One Day" [need to be a Crowded House fan to get that one]
2) "Three Monotremes To Adventure" [need to be a Gerald Durrell fan to get that one]
3) "The Three Monotremes Of The Apocalypse" [need to be a religious fan to get that one]
4) "Chlidonias' Super-fantastic Epic Overseas Zoo Trip (absolute madness: one city, three days, four facilities!!!)" [need to be a snowleopard fan to get that one ;)]

any other suggestions?
 
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How are you getting around? Hire car? Public transport? Taxi?

And when do you plan on invading our shores?

:p

Hix
 
public transport all the way! Train from the airport to Circular Quay, and train to Bicentennial Park; ferry to Manly and back and forth to the other places. Also the awesome power of feet at times.

That would be the 23rd of this month (Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday).
 
Don't underestimate SWW--I found it the most surprising and interesting of the 3 big Sydney wildlife venues. The invertebrate and reptile collections are both big and creatively displayed. Only real disappointment was the stock "koala on a stick" photo opp on the rooftop.
 
ah that's good to know. Inverts are a big attraction for me, if only because few zoos display them adequately. I was actually thinking that SWW would be the least time-consuming of the four I'm visiting, but I have plenty of time for it nevertheless. It will be interesting seeing what I think of them all, as I haven't been to any of them previously.
 
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