We
eat a quick breakfast, pack and grab a car service to drive us to the Cairns
Tropical Zoo, which is 35 minutes North of the city. Our driver,
Jeanette is very friendly and quite proud of her Cairns area tour. Which
is hard, because from the back of our large vehicle—we simply cannot hear hear her soft voice. She goes on and on about exotic mango trees, osprey
farms, wallabys, wombats and whatnots. ----From what I can gather,
all of the animals we are about to pay $60 to see at the Zoo are freely
wandering right outside our car, but we are moving to fast to see them. Oh
well, we want a photo with a Koala!
So,
we arrive at the rather small Cairns Zoo, probably 1/50 the size of the St.
Louis Zoo, but nicely situated along the edge of a rainforest. We
rush to the Koala section and “queue” for a “cuddle and photo with a real
Koala.” Sounds kid-friendly, but today the line is all middle-aged
adults, many with “Outback Steakhouse” attire on—looks like a company trip and
we await our turn. Asians love Australia and they love Koala’s and
the line is long. We read about Koala preservation and conservation
and whatnot and then we arrive to the front of the line where a Zookeeper hands
“Buster” the Koala to Erin. Buster hugs Erin with arms out and looks around. I
take some sweet photos. Then the official photo is taken by the
Zootographer. Buster then jumps to me. Koala’s are not that heavy
and they are super friendly . They don’t smell to great, but then
they are WILD BEARS. Their poses and mannerisms are the
best.
As we
wander and look at the whole Koala farm, we are stuck by how they look at you
and have such a goofy smile with their ears all hairy and arms clutching a tree
limb. They sit atop a tree in a position that looks uncomfortable
and unbalanced, but they look just fine. They are a happy animal,
but, of course these guys get all the food they can eat and just have to pose
for photos with people for 15 minutes a day.
The
rest of the Zoo is superb. You can get close up to many animals and
wander the park with ease. Dingos (wild dogs), cassowaries (horned birds),
lemurs (they look like raccoons), wombats (funny, ground-dwelling tanks),
crocks, alligators, more birds, lizards, etc. You get the point. The
highlight is the Koalas, second place is the wombat and third place is the
dingos. The dingos just look like dogs, but you get the say the phrase “Maybe a
Dingo ate your baby!” over and over… a classic line from Elaine on Seinfeld,
which is said in a bad Australian accent, which we can handle!
 |
| Beach in Cairns, Australia |
We
depart the Zoo and head for some local beaches to explore—per our driver/tourguide. We
take some nice photos and some beaches with names I cannot remember along the
North Queensland Coast. Then, we head to the Cairns airport for our
flight to Sydney.
Our
flight is, again, LOADED with small screaming children. We now come
to the realization that it’s not the kids, it’s the parents in Australia who
simply do not discipline their kids, period. Thus, they run rampant
and treat the back of your seat like a romper room toy. Seriously
annoying!
Arriving
in Sydney, we head to the Fantastic Obervatory Hotel, truly a 5-Star hotel in
the old part of town and drop off our bags. We then head out for a walk to the
downtown area and shopping on Georges street. It’s a busy city and a
very busy day. Sydney is beautiful. A grand harbor, great
architecture, lots of stylish people and beautiful cityscapes. We
wander a long way looking at shops and people and offices and the overall
downtown area. We find the city to be similar to San Francisco in
its layout, but far nicer. Cleaner, more updated, and the people here dress
sharply. The streets are lined with up-scale shops, dining and cafes
and lots of public transit. The city is about 4.5 million, but feels
friendly, safe and stylish. As similar as it is to San Franciso, you realize
that the liberal come-as-you-are attire in San Francisco is a real detriment to
the city. People here are well-dressed, polite and seem to love
their city. There are zero bums like San Fran and we did not notice
a “rough” part of town. I am sure they exist, but not near the
downtown area. The downtown Sydney area is revitalized and fresh and
vibrant with activity. “Lovely” as they say.
We
return home to our awesome corner suite at the Observatory and make dinner
reservations for EST. a nice restaurant at the Establishment Hotel
nearby. We take a taxi to dinner and arrive and the most lively
place in town. The massive lobby bar at the Establishment Hotel has
500 or so people drinking and SALSA dancing. Apparently, it’s an exotic treat
here to have a “Salsa Night! We Salsa our way through the lobby to
find an elevator to the 2nd floor where Est. is located. We
enter a beautiful open while room with Roman columns and two story
ceilings. Our table is by the front windows and our service is
superb and prompt. The menu features an array of 4 to 7 course prix
fixe options, all priced like 5-Star NYC. We opt for an a la carte
selection given than the menu items are each outrageous… and that’s by our
well-traveled standards. We enjoy a great few items including a new
item that they describe as “between shrimp and lobster but much more buttery
and sweeter” and Erin loves that entre! My scallops are great and we
enjoy our last meal in Sydney. We cab back to the Observatory Hotel
and again, we are both supremely tired and call it an early night. But a very
nice day in one of our new favorite cities in the world and easily one of the
most livable cities… Sydney!
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