Day 7: Crikey Mate, Look at the Size of That One There!

Start time: 8:00am.
Destination: Taronga Zoo.
Mission: Find a living Kangaroo and Koala

Another beautiful day! We started the day at our normal time and rode a bus down to Circular Quay, then a ferry almost directly across the Harbour to the Taronga Zoo.

I spent my ferry ride attempting to capture the winning photo in the Auburn Abroad photo contest using the AU logo. I got a couple of great shots (to be seen at a later date), though it remains to be seen if I indeed took the winner!

We entered the zoo and waited on Anoop to purchase a group ticket for us to use, while a few folks bought a more substantial breakfast at the zoo cafe. Once the tickets were purchased, it was off to see the animals!

First up - Crocs! Not all that exciting though, as they were still asleep. However, I was not about to be the one to wake them!
Second up - KOALAS! Also asleep, but here are some pictures!

We continued on to through the reptile cages and saw a wide variety of snakes that I hope I never encounter again. We moved on to African animals and saw the usual giraffes, lions (which we learned sleep up to 20-21 hours a day), tigers, and elephants. Two tiger cubs had been born at the zoo in August and viewing hours had been limited each day, though we were in luck, as we were there between 10-1. It was about a 15 minute wait to see them (No less than 15,000 people had come to the zoo yesterday to see the cubs) and our time there was regulated by zookeepers.) The elephants were big and smelly (among other things), but the trainers had managed to teach them how to properly act like a dog, including handshaking, backing up, turning, and rolling over. (In fact it was just about to bark and start chasing boats in the Harbour! Only joking of course!) It was actually kind of neat to watch the trainer and the elephant. The elephant did pretty much whatever the trainer asked as long as the trainer kept the food coming regularly.

We continued through the zoo (a fairly moderate-large sized zoo), still in search of those stubborn kangaroos! We found another platypus, wild turkeys that would eat whatever you threw at them, and even komodo dragons (a giant reptile looking slug walrus. Minus tusks though, so make that a seal).

Then, after many joyous hours we ventured into the right section of the Australian Walkabout and found those silly kangaroos! I must say, they were quite lazy. I never saw one hop though, as they were posted up (more laying down) in the shade pretending to sleep. Anyway, I was ecstatic to have seen them close up. If that encounter wasn't enough, they actually had an enclosed area where you walked around a path and (were it not for every single type of kangaroo being asleep) the roos could come up to you. The only thing awake in the pen was a giant emu, which looked hungry, so we didn't linger for too terribly long. Here's a look at the roos and emus:

Satisfied that we had seen enough of the animals, we grabbed some lunch and met Professor Hein back at the entrance to the zoo at our predetermined time of 1pm. (Anoop had left earlier in the morning to go over to the Opera House to secure us tickets for an architectural tour when we come back to Sydney at the end of January. He was successful in this endeavor!)

We exited the zoo through a skylift that gave brief, but breathtaking views of the city, then ferried back over to Circular Quay. From there we took a bus back to Wesley College and I wasted no time in taking a glorious 2 hour nap before a scheduled meeting at 4pm with Hein and Anoop.

The meeting went well. After the meeting, each Building Science student was divided up between the two professors for thesis work and individual meetings to discuss thesis topics commenced.

I will be working with Professor Hein and after a great talk on a stone bench under a shade tree, we finally nailed down a topic that I am pretty excited about studying. I will be researching the innovative ways that buildings are being designed and built to satisfy the energy saving points in the Green Star Rating System used in Australia and New Zealand. For those not familiar with Green Star, it is the rating system used to determine the sustainable qualities of buildings in this part of the world. There are a possible 6 stars that a building can earn. This rating system serves the same purpose that the LEED Rating System serves in the United States.

After the chat with Professor Hein, I took a shower and got ready to out for dinner. (Last night in Sydney!) The group ended up mulling over several options, but we finally settled in at a Welco cafe near the University campus. I ordered a smoked salmon fettuccine, which turned out to be an excellent choice! We sat around for a couple of hours chewing the cud before everyone left to head to a bar. I walked with the group to the bar, but went back towards campus after arrival, as bars are not really my cup of tea. I picked up a Dr. Pepper along the way home and enjoyed a nice evening walk through the park on my way back to the dorm room.

I spent considerable time blogging and attempting to upload pictures (without success unfortunately) before packing up my bags in preparation for the flight to Brisbane. Just before bed, Brittany and I were able to do a late night/early morning Devo over the phone just before she went to breakfast and began the day at the Passion Conference in Atlanta. Shortly after we ended our conversation, I fell asleep, looking forward to taking on the challenges of a new city!