Sydney Wildlife

Lego Boxing Kangaroo

While in Sydney I spent a good part of my time exploring the wilder side of life, and I'm not talking about the rendition of "Livin on a Prayer" I sang at the Karaoke bar one night. I mean to say that I went and saw many forms of wildlife and sea creatures, and I don't mean my two German friends: Hans and Brunhilde who followed me to Sydney. (Those two are like a bad cold you can't just seem to get rid of... a very bad and scary cold.)

Anyway, I bought an inclusive pass to visit the Sydney Aquarium, Wildlife Park, Sydney Centerpointe Tower, and Manly Ocean World. This proved to be a pretty good decision as the weather for most of my time in Sydney was nothing but overcast and rainy days. So instead of spending my time with the wildlife that inhabited the streets of the city I, along with a few friends, spent a good deal of it with the wildlife that inhabited the sanctuaries of the city.

Yeallow Footed Wallaby

My first stop was the Aquarium where I found not only a variety of Australian Stingrays (is it wrong all i could think about was Steve Irwin?), Sharks, and Legos. The good people at the Lego Company seemed to have loaned several works of lego-art to Sydney and its wildlife sanctuaries. Each was a beautiful piece of work and to a lego enthusiast from way back, like me, it was an added bonus. However, the real thrill was the the kilometer of underwater tunnels that ran below the tanks of the aquarium. From the vantage point you could watch hundred of thousands of native tropical Australia fish swim amongst not only stingrays (poor Irwin) but sharks and manatees. Maybe i am naive to find this somewhat exciting, but it was an amazing sight to see, mostly because I finally realized that "Finding Nemo" is set in the waters of Australia, because I swear I saw every single freakin fish in that movie that was in that tank. I find you learn new things every day.

My second stop was the Sydney Wildlife Sanctuary and all its animals, including the usual assortment of kangaroos, koalas, and spiders (ugh). The insect section was particularly painful, especially when I was presented with spiders so big that if they escaped they could only way to put them down would be with a hunting rifle (and I'm talking about the kind you need for bears. .22 caliber or other small shots would only make it angry and escalate the situation into a cheesy 50's horror movie... Packers...) I did however make it in time to see Rex, one of the oldest and largest fresh water crocodile in captivity.

Rex is 5 meters long (15 feet), and 700 kilograms (1,543 pounds), and currently he is roughly 40 years old (he's a cold war kid.) Apparently, he was captured in the Northern Territory, as he had a taste for local pets and was captured for the safety of both Rex (the croc) and Rex (the beloved dog). He also lives alone as he has killed and eaten the two other crocodiles that used to live in his habitat. Unfortunately I did not make it in time for feeding, as food is dangled from a high railing above Rex's head, as the croc who weighs more than my car is forced to jump out of the water and snag the hanging meat. I have seen other crocodiles eat while I was in the Northern Territory, but none as large as Rex. I got very close to him (behind 10 inches of reinforced Plexiglas) and his length is amazing. I could never believe anything was that big.

You're lucky to have Zoidberg as a friend.
 But cross me and I'll turn on you like that!

As amazing as the killing machine, Rex, is I also found plenty of other interesting creatures, among them the Yellow Footed Rock Wallaby. It is basically a small kangaroo with big ears and a ringed tail. Another surprisingly peaceful place was the butterfly habitat. Basically a large deck situated in a green forest there are thousands of different kinds of butterflies fluttering around your head, which more often than not come to settle on you. I never knew butterflies could come in so many colors. I saw everything from deep hues of blue and purples to vibrant almost neon green.

Manly Ocean World was somewhat less impressive unfortunately, but it was free (even if it only took 15 minutes to walk through.) I did however get to encounter a tank of cuddle fish, which is the oddest sea creature I have probably ever seen.

I was glad for my time to explore the Aussie Animal kingdom and I met some pretty interesting above land and water animals that are unique to the deadliest continent in the world, including the top ten poisonous snakes in the world, the deadliest sharks, crocodiles, jellyfish, and of course the spiders (oh God, the spiders...) I feel pretty satisfied that I have seen most of the weirdest and wildest this hemisphere has to offer... well all except one creature... The kiwi, but that's another story.