Although I've made an itinerary for the journey in Australia, I would change the attractions I will go just according to the information I collected somewhere. That's why I love to travel alone. If I don't like shopping, I don't have waste my time and go anywhere as I wish.
Featherdale Wildlife Park is such a case that is not included in my itinerary until I saw some articles which recommend this place before I came to Australia. Otherwise, maybe I will go to Taronga Zoo where is close to Sydney downtown.
Actually, in my first plan, I seems to miss the zoo until my colleague reminds me to watch the Koala and Kangaroo.
Why do I forget this? I think that is due to Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary in Brisbane which is my first choice for visiting the zoo. However, I skip Brisbane for the time and season issue, so I also forget to find another zoo.
It's lucky that I've visited most of the attractions in Sydney downtown and today is a free day for me.
Therefore, the only one destination today is Featherdale Wildlife Park.
On my way to Blacktown, I take some photos of the trains at the platform.
It's interesting that a local who seems to be interesting in the train talks to me as we seat in the carriage.
Suddently, I' a little nervous just like joining an exam because I don't speak English very well.
I'm still looking for some methods to improve that, and this is also a part of the goals I wish to do in the journey. Therefore, I try my hard to understand each word he says and speak what I know for response.
I know that once I escape to speak English, I will never learn it well.
The train to Blacktown goes in the same direction as Katoomba, but it only take about an hour.
I notice the scenery on the way as the train passes through Redfern. You may see many drawings on the walls along the track and the houses nearby. Someone may told you not to stay at Redfern in the night.
It seems that there is an unshown conflict hidden inside these drawings.
When I arrive at Blacktown, the weather is cloudy with a small rain, but the light passes through the cloud seems to indicate everything will be fine.
Getting on Bus No.725, I ask the driver to drop me off when we arrive at Featherow wildlife park. After all, it's the first time I visit here, and the bus doesn't provide the information for the next stop. So, it's quite important to do so. I remember that I always missed the stop to get off as I travelled in New Zealand and Iceland, except for the destinations which are at the last stop.
Therefore, I arrive at the park without any trouble at about 8 o'clock.
Although the openign time is at 9 o'clock, you still could buy the ticket and visit a section after the entrance.
There are ducks and birds, and you could warn up your camara.
While I spent the time on taking photos of birds, I suddently find two wallaby jumping towards me.
Oh, it's so nice. They remind me that the opening time is coming.
I'm so surprised that these wallaby are so free in the park. The most important thing is I could take good pictures of them directly.
No wonder that other travellers recommended this place so much. This park is really wonderfull.
If these wallaby are enclosed, I would be very disappointed.
The area of Featherdale is not big, but they have many kinds of animals.
According to the map, you will find that you don't need to walk too much to reach the next sction.
I think this is quite good, especially for the family with children.
Except for watching animals by yourself, there are feedings or demonstrations for specific animal in specific times. This information is provided with your ticket:
Reptiles：9am - 10am
Echidnas：10am & 2:30 pm
Crocodile (summer months only)：10:15 am
Penguins：10:30 am & 3:45 pm
Pelican：11am
Flying Foxes：2:45 pm
Dingo：3:15 pm
Tasmanian Devils：4pm
Billy Tea (Billy Tea is not an animal :P)：4:15pm
Koala Sanctuary：All Day
P.S：What is Billy Tea
Billy is not a specific kind of tea leaves, but a metal can with a wire handle.
Boiling the billy can is a traditional way of making the tea, and Australians still drink it because they love it.
The way to make the billy tea is to suspend the billy can fulled with water over the fire, and then remove the can from the fire and put the leaves. I think that is quite similar with the way that Chinese make the tea, but chinese always put the leaves first before they fill the tea pot with the boiling water.
Besides, another difference is that they will swing the tea can back and forth so that the leaves could sink to the bottom.
After the tea is done, they will pour the tea into the mug or cup, and add the milk or sugar.
If you smell a scent, it should be eucalyptus leaves added in the tea.
(Reference: http://www.food-info.net/uk/qa/qa-fp112.htm, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billycan)
In this article below, I will introduce some Australian animals simply according to my pictures and the information I found on the web.
Wombat, their chinese name is 「袋熊」, but I think their looks is much similar to the wild pig.
They are found in the forested, mountainous area of south-eastern Australia, including Tasmania and some specific area in Queensland. Because of their size and habit, they are also called Badger by the early settlers. So the names such as Badger Creek in Victoria or Badger Corner in Tasmania are given after the wombat.
Someone says that they have met some wombats in the national park of Tasmania.
I don't know whether I'm lucky or not, but I'm looking forward it.
(Reference: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wombat)
Pelican, is a water bird with a large throat pouch. They are quite popular bird in the islands of Greek, such as Mykonos. In Taiwan, a pysical distribution company also use them as the symbol.
Pelican has many species and they are different in their looks. The pelican in Australia is called Australia Pelican which distribute in Australia, New Zealand, Fiji and New Guinea. You may be interested in the pictures of these pelican and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pelican could show you some information.
When feeding time is coming, these pelican will gather in front of the barrier. Their faces look very interesting.
As for these "TWO" birds below, I don't know their name.
They stand quietly on the wood in this open area, and if you don't watch them carefully, you might think there is only a bird because their backs look pretty like the surface of the wood.
I wonder which specie of birds they are, and maybe you could tell me if you just know the name of this bird.
In the Koala Sanctuary, many koalas sleep on the branch. It' said that koala mostly sleeps for 19 hours per day, and the rest of the time is for eating. They only move to another place when they want to find the leaves.
In Taiwan, only the Taipei Zoo has koalas, and it's not so easy for people who don't live in Taipei to watch koalas as they wish. Besides, the zoo is too crowded.
Therefore, I'm really happy to take photos of these lovely koalas.
The park will arrange a waking koala for tourists so that they could take photos with the koala freely.
The most important thing is that it's free of charge! Great! So I also take one photo with him.
Before you get into the next section, you could buy the feeding stuffs for kangaroo just around the door.
When you have one cup of stuffs, you will find that these kangaroo in the next section will gather around you.
Wow, I'm so surprised with so many kangaroo that are not enclosed.
Except for the parent and child kangaroo, this park also has one white kangaroo.
It's so wonderful to watch these kangaroo and get close to them. Taking photos is absolutely very enjoyable.
By the way, this is the first time I know that kangaroo has many species and they have three different names according to their size.
The largest species are called kangaroo, and small species are called Wallaby which has about 30 species.
There are also three species that are intermediate in size between kangaroo and wallaby. They are called Wallaroo, a combined term from wallaby and kangaroo. But Wallaroo is not very common.
In some regions of Australia, wild kangaroo is common and the "kangaroo croosing" sign would be erected to warn the drivers not to drive too fast so that they won't kill the kangaroo when a collision with the kangaroo happened.
Besides, some large kangaroos are quite heavy and they are very danger to the vehicles as these kangaroo runs quickly toward the side of the vehicle. It's said that the small vehicle would be destroyed in the collision, and my friend also says that many car accidents happened because of being hit by the large kangaroo.
Reference：
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kangaroo
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wallaby
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wallaroo
Little Penguin is also called Fairy Penguin which is smallest penguin of all. They distribute in Australia, New Zealand, and was found in Chili. Because their blue skin, they are called Little Blue Penguin or Blue Penguin as well.
In the Aquriums, they may show you the King penguin, but King Penguin needs to stay in the cold area, so you could not watch in the open area. Of course, photographing is not so good as well.
In Australia or New Zeland, you could see the wild little penguins, and they also could stay in the open space of the wildlife park. Though I have watched the little penguin in the zoo of Japan, it's the first time that I could watch them in such a short distance. I like it very much!! Nothing is better than taking photos without any obstacle.
By the way, there is one thing you should know before taking photos of these penguins. No Flash Light! That is quite important to protect little penguins' eyes, or they will get blind.
Actually, I don't think taking photos of animals with the flash light is a good thing. Whether the flash light will do any damage to them or not, animals always get scared.
Dingo is a kind of wild dog that is related to the Asian grey wolf. They are danger animals and mostly found in the outback of Australia. It recalls me that someone, a Japanese, breeds wolfs in Hokkaido, Japan. And dingo is also bred by humans as the pet or working dog. However, if the dingo is not bred by you, you should keep away from the dog so that you might not be attacked.
Emu is similar to Ostrich and the second-largest extant bird in the world.
Though Emu and Ostrich both have long thin neck and legs, Emu has three toes on each foot while ostrich only has two. Besides, I think the length of ostrich's neck is much longer and the feather of ostrich is a little different from Emu.
The Chinese name of Emu "鴯鶓" is translated according to its English name, and these two words are not very common and usual. So most of the asian call them "澳洲駝鳥" (Australian Ostrich) in spite of Emu is not a specie of Ostrich.
Another interesting thing is the name "Emu" is originated from their sound.
Reference：http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emu
Tasmanian Devils is also a famous marsupial animal of Australia found in the wild of Tasmania. Because they have loud screech and they are savage, I think that is why they are called Devil.
Because they are mostly active in the dusk and dawn, it's not easy to watch the active Devils in the wildpark. The staff tries to make one devil out of the tree hole, but this devil only come outside for a very short moment with anger and then hides inside the hole again. Therefore, the feeding time is also set after 5:30 p.m.
Except for these Australian animals, there are also many kinds of birds, including parrots.
You won't feel bored and see any empty area. For me, I love kangaroo a lot! The jumping kangaroo is very cute and funny. You could feed them, touch them and watch them lying on the ground in the noon.
I guess I should buy more stuffs because the kangaroo seems to run away while I try to take a photo with him.
After 12:00, I leave Featherdale wildlife park and return to Sydney. My next destination is the fish market where could be reach by taking the Light Rail.
The fish market in Sydney is the same as another one I visited in Auckland. I think Sydney and Auckland should be twin brothers for they both have harbors, sky towers, and fish markets. The only absolute difference might be the public transportation of Sydney.
Except for fresh fishes amd seafoods, there are also some restaurants that provide the meal.
My friend says the price of the fish is much expensive than the beef, and the supermaket only sells a few kinds of fishes (ex. salmon). Therefore, fish market is the only place you could find so many whole fishes. Otherwise, you have to fish by yurself.
I order a creamed lobster, a squid rings and a SMALL chips, but the portion of these foods is bigger than I think. The SMALL chips is not small for me, and that would be the extra large in Taiwan. I'm glad that I didn't order the big chips.
The lobster tastes fine if the taste of cream is not heavier than the lobster.
I think the best way to enjoy the seafood is to cook them only in the boiling water for a short moment and flavor with pepper, sea salt or lemon juice.
As for the squid rings, it's too oily.
In average, the meal is fine and the portion is too much that I bring the rest away.
Before the dusk, it's my third time and the last time I come to opera house. I wait for the night by taking some wild-range photos around the opera house. It seems that my wild-angle lens performs better than another one.
When the sky gets dark, I take the ferry at the 4th ternimal to the location where I estimate I could find the beautiful secen I saw in the postcard.
According the google map, the possible location that includes both the Sydney opera house and Sydney bridge should be the North Sydney.
Because I'm not familar with the buses, the only possible location I could go is Kirribilli. There is a pier quite close to the ferry ternimal and this pier seems to be a very good place for taking photos.
You may watch the map below, point A is the Kirribilli ferry ternimal and it takes less than thirty minuites to walk to point B, the pier.
As I arrive at the pier, only an elder is fishing there and the scene of the opera house and Sydney bridge is as beautiful as I think. I don't know why there is no other tourist coming here. It's a pity if you don't visit here for the amazing scenery.
Tonight should be my perfect ending of the trip in Sydney. I visit the wonderful wildlife park today, and find so charming night view before I leave Sydney. There is no regret for this first stop in Australia, and I will fly to Tasmania for another trip tomorrow.
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