Another gorgeous day ... Traveled across the harbor by ferry. Very hilly but the setting is gorgeous. We had a fabulous continental breakfast with freshly squeezed orange juice. I made a ham and Swiss sandwich on a croissant to have for later. Ha! Got to the zoo and took it into my hands and then ... It was gone! A bird must have been watching me ... Just as bad as the seagulls at the beach but totally unexpected.

We went on a special behind the scenes pass where we went to off limit areas with a zookeeper to interact with the animals ... Fabulous! What a treat to be up close and personal with kangaroos, wallabies, platypus, Tasmanian devil and of course, koalas! We got to feed and pet them ... Unbelievable! You know how much I love animals so this was special indeed ...

goofy pictures on the plane ... Sunset from Watsons Bay looking toward Sydney ... Chinese lanterns ... Opera House in Darling
Harbor

Some quick observations: yes, it WAS definitely a grueling flight but we survived. Managed to sleep some off and on. People are so friendly and helpful here. Great transportation from the airport since everything's connected and we managed to ask the right questions. Actually the TSA agent was very helpful. Took a train to circular quay where all the ferries leave from right in the middle of Darling Harbor. Took a ferry to our hotel, dropped off our bags and took another ferry back. Spent all day walking around the city ... Dylan wore me out. Not used to hills in Florida and it was very hot. They must like their water hot ... Ice was nowhere to be seen but we finally got some in a bar!

They are having the Chinese New Year celebration so all around the city were sculptures. We found most of then, and had authentic food in Chinatown. Finally figured out they not only drive on the left side but they also WALK on the left side lol. We kept going against the crowds until we had our light bulb moment!. The. Hotel we booked was Watsons Bay Boutique Hotel which was in a beautiful spot a fair distance from downtown ... we didn't check the ferry schedule carefully enough ... Lesson learned ... So had to take a bus back to the hotel but it worked out fine. Heading to the Taronga Zoo today before flying to Cairns for our dive trip. So excited!

Stunning view of Pacific from high atop Watsons Bay ... Hotel where we stayed right off the ferry ... Chinese New Year celebration ... Chinatown ... Shopping in Sydney ... Year of the monkey tribute

I see that I have not posted in a long while but I am going to try to use this for my Australia / New Zealand trip. Here's a few pictures from my recent cruise. They have changed the features a lot so it will be an experiment for sure. Hopefully I will get the hang of it ... This was our cruise to "nowhere" since the cruise was shortened due to fog. We were supposed to go to Cozumel but just went around in circles and drifted ... Was still fun. Went with 22 people from our MMID meetup group.