Zephyrous Travels: Sydney Day 4 (21 May 17) - Exploring Sydney

Sydney Wildlife Zoo

Our itinerary is pretty light today. We visited the sights in Sydney and catered some time for shopping around town.Our first stop for the day is the Sydney Wildlife Zoo, located in Sydney's Darling Harbour a 25 mins drive from Sydney Olympic Park. There are 2 other attractions in this area on top of the Sydney Wildlife Zoo. The Sydney Aquarium and Madam Tussauds are located in the vicinity. One can consider getting the multi attraction pass and visit these attractions at one go to save time and money. We used the same attraction pass that was issued to us the day before to gain entry. Sydney Wildlife Zoo is rather small housing in a building occupying a total space of 7,000㎡. The wildlife park has a 1 km walkway that snakes through the entire Wildlife Zoo, across all 6 zones. All the animals housed in the wildlife park are found in different parts of Australia. The first few exhibits are snakes As the park is rather small compared to most other wildlife parks, it only took us about 1.5 hrs to finish the entire park. We spent about 10 mins listening to one of the staff educating us on the habits of koala bear. My sister bought a photo opportunity with the koala, instead of holding the animal taking pictures, they only managed to take picture with the koala at a close distance. We felt she was kind of being ripped off by the park. There is a Kangaroo petting area, which is rather small. Visitors are not allowed to feed the Kangaroos, just allowed to pet them as the keeper brought the animal around the open area. There is also another crocodile tank, which only house 1 crocodile. The entire Wildlife Zoo is rather disappointing (compared to the one in Gold Coast that I have visited last year), there are not much opportunity for visitors to interact with some of the animals plus Sydney Wildlife Zoo is small. Given a chance to come to Sydney again, I would skip this place.

My nephew - Baby Ryker posing on a fake Tasmania Devil

Sydney Wildlife Zoo sits in a building next to Sydney Harbour Bay. Visitors can take these water taxis to Sydney Opera House area

My friend and I outside the building where Sydney Wildlife Zoo is housed

Entrance to Sydney Wildlife Zoo in Darling Harbour

Sydney Wildlife Zoo is housed in the same building as Madam Tussauds and Sealife Aquarium Sydney

This python is the first exhibit we saw as we enter Sydney Wildlife Zoo

A couple of lizards is in sight as we walked along the walkway

and more snakes

There is a Tasmania Devil living in Sydney Wildlife Zoo

and more snakes

Finally we see a species of kangaroo

My sister and her family in Sydney Wildlife Zoo

We also spotted a kookaburra in one of the enclosures

My sister and brother-in-law wondering where to go

Another species of kangaroo in Sydney Wildlife Zoo

My sister and Baby Ryker getting close to a koala

A keeper is "walking" this kangaroo in the open area allowing visitors to pet it

A mouse in the night zone of Sydney Wildlife Zoo

and more snakes

My sister and my friend with Baby Ryker

A lone crocodile at the end of the 1 km walkway in Sydney Wildlife Zoo

Paddy's Market at Haymarket

We were glad we exited the boring Sydney Wildlife Zoo. We headed to Paddy's market at Haymarket next (which closes at 6pm). Haymarket is located in Chinatown, a 20 mins drive from Darling Harbour. The covered market place comprises of 2 levels, we spent time exploring only the first level. The stalls are well organised in neat rows and columns, which makes it very easy to navigate around. There are 2 main sections on the ground floor in Paddy's Market. The section nearer to the entrance sells mainly clothing and souvenirs. This area occupies 2/3 of the ground floor. Things on offer here are reasonably priced and is definitely cheaper than some of the tourist attractions and downtown Sydney. The common souvenirs such as T-shirts, kangaroo skins can be easily found here. There are also stalls selling nougats and locally produced chocolates. Paddy's Market is a great place to stock up on souvenirs of all sorts.

Entrance to Paddy's Market

There are lots of stuff on sale here in Paddy's Market

My sister and her family shopping in Paddy's Market

Paddy's Market in Haymarket

My friend and I outside Paddy's Market

Further into Paddy's Market is a section selling fruits and vegetables. These produce seem fresh and is reasonably priced. One can get a pint of strawberries for A$5. This area is very lively, we could hear vendors shouting the price of their products on sale. It might be closing time is near, the vendors in market place here are trying to close as many deals as possible. Compared to the section further out front, this section seem more crowded with shoppers, probably due to the smaller area. As it is near to closing time we got out of Paddy's Market.

The market area in Paddy's Market

Paddy's Market signage

Sydney Chinatown

The night is still young and hunt for dinner around Chinatown. Across the road from Paddy's Market is a Chinese styled red archway, seem to tell visitors we are in Chinatown. There are no lack of Chinese Restaurants pass the archway, mainly selling Cantonese cuisines operated by Hong Kong immigrants. We settled our dinner in one of these restaurants. There are also shops that opens till late at night, selling mostly the same stuffs, Australian souvenirs of all sorts that can also be found in Paddy's Market. The price is more or less the same as that in Paddy's Market. After dinner, we walked around Chinatown. Instead of Chinatown, it felt like a place where the Asians congregate. Interestingly, the different nationality who migrated to Sydney seem to cluster according to their country of origin. There is a cluster selling Taiwanese food and dessert, yet another cluster of restaurants selling Korean food and another selling Japanese food. We came across this shopping mall - World Square, where there is a supermarket in its basement. Near to the World Square, is where one would find a street of Thai Restaurants.