Sharing this post earlier than planned as my post scheduler isn’t working and I don’t have the time to figure out why at the moment!
Last week I shared where we stayed in Sydney for the first few days. This week I’m sharing one of our first adventures in Australia–our visit to Taronga Zoo. When planning our itinerary, I wanted to make sure we included the zoo to see some native wildlife. We weren’t disappointed!
From our hotel in Zetland, it took over an hour to get to zoo. We took the bus up to the wharfs, the ferry across Sydney Harbor and then another quick bus ride to the zoo. We spent about 90 minutes at the zoo and then grabbed lunch on the way back. Overall it was a long day–we left around 8:30 and didn’t get back until 3pm–but so worth it!
Getting to Taronga Zoo
Whether you take the train or bus to the ferry depends on where you are in the city. However you get to the harbor, I would highly recommend taking the ferry (versus driving across the bridge) if you get the chance. The kids thought it was SO fun and the boat is great for sightseeing. You get a fantastic view of both the opera house and Sydney Harbor Bridge as you leave the wharf. Not to mention cruise ships, military boats and more on the harbor. It’s little kid paradise!
You can ride the ferry by tapping to pay or using an Opal Card (like the rest of public transit in Sydney).
Once you arrive on the other side of the harbor, you can take a two-minute bus ride or walk about fifteen minutes to the zoo entrance. The walk is uphill, so we chose to take the bus.
Visiting Taronga Zoo
There’s so much to see at the zoo! We didn’t even get to half of it. First, we saw the koala conservation exhibit with one very sleepy koala napping in a tree.
Next, we went to see the African animals, as we don’t have those at the Minnesota Zoo. We saw giraffes, zebras, lions, chimps and gorillas, and meerkats. They do have elephants, but we weren’t able to find them!
Then we took a walk through the Australian enclosure where you’re face-to-face with emus, wallabies and kangaroos with no walls. My second was mildly terrified by the emus, but no children were injured in the making of these photos 😛
Finally, we stopped by the gift shop. I picked up a Christmas tree ornament (my only souvenir from the trip) and we let the kids each pick one small stuffie as their souvenir. Holy expensive stuffed animals, haha! But they were glad to have something to remember Sydney by.
Would We Recommend A Visit to Taronga Zoo?
It’s a relatively expensive outing but yes, we definitely would. We bought tickets ahead of time online, and you can find the best price for a family of four on their website. (Kids under 4 have free entry.)
If you’re not staying right next door to the zoo, I would recommend getting an early start to the day. It takes a while to get there and it does get pretty hot by midday on a summer day. I was glad we got started first thing and cleared out around lunchtime. I mentioned it in my previous Sydney post, but we stopped by Betty’s Burgers by the wharf and grabbed a burger before the 30-40 minute jaunt back to our hotel. Highly recommend for a quick bite!
Next post I’ll be sharing where we stayed in Cronulla and some tasty GF eats, so be sure to check back for another fun travel writeup soon!
xx Claire