Zoo!!!

Today was Joe's first visit to Taronga! I can't believe that he has seen zoo's in three other states (I am counting ACT too- Canberra Zoo is awesome) before he saw Taronga. We had a wonderful day, despite the miserable rain. Joe loves transport almost as much as he loves animals, so the train and ferry rides were lots of fun before we had even started. I will never tire of the view from the ferry in Sydney Harbour. As much as I fall in love with the other cities we visit in Australia, and decide that Sydney is too busy and full of traffic, a view of Sydney from the harbour or the air makes me love Sydney all over again.
We had downloaded a Taronga Zoo app which was very cute and appealing for my 5 year old boy. The monkeys needed our help and we set out to capture photos of all of the animals on our list. It had a map, lots of information, sounds and video footage along the way.
We headed out with a plan, but as usual, didn't stick to it. The talks and shows kept interrupting our plan. We left the reptiles to see the Gorilla talk and then had to run back up the hill to make it to the reptile show. The rain was a bit of a blessing because the zoo was very quiet today. We had the snake to ourselves so we got to pat and chat with the zoo keepers, until.....Rove McManus arrived! Joe was happy with a pat until he saw a couple pick it up and drape it over their necks, posing for photos- he wished he could do that too. Hard to top the star treatment and Jonas had no idea who they were. Never mind, I like Rove and was kind of excited to see him, even if Joe was unimpressed.
The weather was dry enough for us to see everything on our agenda. It was only when we settled in to watch the much anticipated seal show that it bucketed down. We didn't care- in fact I think we will remember it so much more fondly because of the rain. We sat in our rain coats with an umbrella over our legs and I think that watching Joe's face was far more entertaining than the seals! He clapped and cheered with such enthusiasm and was thoroughly delighted with their cheeky antics. Perhaps he was thinking about the Sea World story that his Daddy told him on our recent road trip- the little boy who screamed out "Salty" at the top of his lungs at the wrong time and died of embarrassment!! Daddy has some fabulous stories of the funny things he did when he was little- we wonder if they are all as embarrassing as he says they were.
We had a fabulously, exhausting day. I am treasuring every moment with my baby boy before he goes to school- as I did with his big brothers. I was lucky enough to have lots of time at home with both Campbell and Andrew in the year before they started school. I am making the absolute most of my week with my youngest.
Tomorrow.........hmmmm what can we do :)