As the largest and best known city in Australia, Sydney is probably the most popular with tourists visiting the continent Down Under. Situated on the East Coast of New South Wales, Sydney is renowned for its scenic harbour views, iconic beaches and spectacular landmarks. While …
When you visit Darling Harbour, its impossible to miss the impressive range of ships docked on the left side of the bay as you stroll down from the Sydney‘s Central Business District. Those vessels form part of the Australian Maritime Museum, where you’ll have the …
The world knows Australia for its diverse and unique species of wildlife. When you visit Sydney, there’s a few places that allow you to see the various marsupials and other animals that call Australia home. If you ask someone what the best zoo is in Sydney, they’ll likely tell you Taronga. I wouldn’t dispute that claim either. However, there’s another place located right in the tourist hub of Sydney’s city that is extremely easy to get to if you don’t have much time. Enter WILD LIFE Sydney Zoo.
Located in the same building in Darling Harbour as its sister attraction, SEA LIFE Sydney Aquarium, WILDLIFE Sydney is an indoor zoo that provides a great overview of Australian animal life. If you’re wanting to see the “Big 5” of Australian species – Kangaroos, Koalas, Wombats, Crocodiles and Platypuses – along with hundreds of other species of native animals, a trip to this small zoo is a must add to your Sydney itinerary.
For all the times I had been to the Sydney Aquarium next door, until recently I had never been to WILDLIFE Sydney. I quickly realised I had been missing out. When you arrive at the zoo’s convenient location, you’ll buy your ticket (or already have it online – highly recommended due to the lines at the entrance), then head inside the complex to experience a range of exhibits focusing on different Australian environments and the animals that reside in them. Lets take a look at some of them.
You’ll enter the zoo into the Butterfly Tropics and feel the humidity set in instantly. Its as though you’ve been whisked off the top end of the country. That’s one of the great things about this zoo – because its all indoors, the different exhibits are acclimatised to feel like the environments in which you’d encounter the animals. This first part of the zoo doesn’t feature any of the big players, but you’ll see various forms of tropical reptile life such as frogs, pythons…and of course, lots of butterflies. I think its a nice way to begin your immersion into the zoo as you’ll quickly forgot that you’re right in the middle of the city.
As you leave the tropics behind you, you’ll (hopefully) encounter the nearly extinct Tasmanian Devil in the Devil’s Den. The reason I say hopefully is due to the fact that the species is nocturnal so there’s a fairly good chance it will be burrowed away sleeping. It was on my visit anyway. Speaking of sleeping, get ready for the Koalas, because you’ll see them perched up in the trees as you enter Gumtree Valley ahead. If you’re not from Australia, you have to see a live koala when you visit Sydney, so here’s your chance. Later on, you’ll even get the chance to take your photo with a koala for an extra fee.
Moving on through the zoo, you’ll reach one of my favourite sections. The Wallaby Cliffs features plenty of Yellow Footed Rock Wallabies scrambling around their rocky habitat, with massive glass panels allowing a clear view into the spacious exhibit. These smaller relatives of the kangaroo were adorable as they hopped around a large sleeping wombat.
Continuing through WILDLIFE Sydney, the next area was the Daintree Rainforest themed exhibit. The star player here is the Cassowary. Beautiful, but deadly is perhaps the best way to describe this giant bird. Of course, its behind glass so there’s no danger here, and it will even take you a bit of time to see it as it wanders around the lush rainforest vegetation on display, but its definitely a sight to see. Why is it so lethal? If provoked or frightened, the massive bird will kick and easily tear up its perceived attacker. Being behind a glass barrier is the only time you’ll want to get this close to a Cassowary, that’s for sure.
Leaving the Queensland rainforest behind, you’ll next head into the Kangaroo Walkabout, named for perhaps Australia’s most iconic native species. As is pretty much the norm in Australian zoos, this section provided the opportunity to leave the air conditioned halls and stroll through the kangaroo environment with the chance to potentially get up and close with Skippy and friends. It was good to see that the animals are well looked after here, as you have to stick to a clearly marked path. This gives the kangaroos an area where they can rest undisturbed by their visitors. There’s also other animals hanging around the area. In fact, I witnessed a very outgoing echidna attempting to make a claim to the kangaroo resting space.
After spending some time among the kangaroos, you’ll move on to the Kakadu Gorge. Its here that you’ll come face to face with one of the zoo’s most legendary residents, the huge saltwater crocodile. Being the largest kind of reptile in the world, the crocodile is an impressive sight. Its another one of those species that you definitely wouldn’t want to encounter in the wild, but here at the zoo, you’ll be able to get right up beside it. There’s even a ramp that will take you down below the water tank of its exhibit to a clear overhead dome where you might get a glimpse of the reptilian king beside you.
The final section of the zoo takes you into the dark of night. As you wander through the dimly lit Nightfall walk, you’ll be transported under the stars as you come across Australia’s nocturnal species. Among those animals that are more active when the sun sets are the endangered Greater Bilby and various forms of bat life.
There’s also a small section on spiders and other insect life once you leave through to the cafe area nearby, but I found that part of the zoo to be relatively underwhelming. With that said, the rest of WILDLIFE Sydney more than made up for this.
I enjoyed my visit to the WILDLIFE Sydney Zoo, especially having walked past the attraction so many times on my visits to Darling Harbour and always wondering what was inside. There are a lot of things this zoo does right. The animals appear well cared for, viewing windows are massive, there’s plenty of large educational signs in each exhibit and the zoo staff run numerous talks throughout the day about each of the animals (check the website for details).
If you’re only in Sydney for a short period of time and want a chance to see some Australian animals, this is the place to go as you won’t need to dedicate more than an hour or so to see everything this place has to offer. Visiting the WILDLIFE Zoo becomes even more attractive if you plan on visiting the other attractions that are part of the multi-attraction pass when purchasing tickets.
If you’ve got a bit more time to spare, I’d recommend a visit to Taronga Zoo across the harbour for your trip to the animal kingdom. Considering that its further away from the rest of Sydney’s attractions though, you’d have to dedicate at least half a day to spend enough time there. I think WILDLIFE Sydney serves its purpose by being a convenient way to focus on the very best of Australia’s unique wildlife for city goers. Make sure you visit if you don’t have time to get out to see Australian species elsewhere. After all, did you even visit Australia if you didn’t see a koala?
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Its no surprise that Sydney is a city with a great deal of history. The city was the first in Australia to be colonised by the British in 1788. Furthermore, there have been ties to the site of Sydney with various Aboriginal communities for many centuries. The Museum of Sydney is a great place to get an overview of this historic city.
The Museum of Sydney occupies the site of the original Government House in the city’s Central Business District. This small museum is often passed over in favour of the larger museums in Sydney (such as the Australian Museum off nearby Hyde Park). I thoroughly enjoyed my recent visit however and left with a new appreciation of a city that I had previously taken for granted.
The original Government House was quite literally the seat of power in the early days of the colony of NSW. The building that houses the museum on the same site is not the one that was occupied by the NSW Governor many years prior, but relics from that structure are on display through the museum. In the main lobby of the museum, you’ll find the foundation plate laid by Governor Phillip in 1788, a recreation of the building’s sandstone facade and a stone used to mark the boundaries of Sydney dating back to the 1830s.
The forecourt outside the museum is marked in such a way that the building’s original foundations are outlined on the paving and this is visible from a window on the upper floor of the museum. It was surreal to look out while trying to imagine what Sydney was like over 200 years prior. Inside the museum itself, one of the first exhibits you’ll come across is a scaled model of the original Government House. Its amazing to see how much has changed in such a relatively short period of time. Seeing the house amongst all the modern day skyscrapers and high rise towers outside would definitely make for a startling sight today!
The Museum of Sydney is quite small (if you were to just walk through the halls and not look at anything, you would easily cover its area within 10 minutes). I was surprised to see just how much of the city’s history was packed into this three storied building. One of my favourite displays was a replica of the First Fleet. The First Fleet was the set of ships that sailed out to Australia, carrying British convicts that would end up becoming the first European settlers in Sydney. Scaled models of all 11 vessels that made this cruise, with information about the arduous journey are on display and provide a greater appreciation of just how difficult a voyage it would have been. Those that made the trip definitely wouldn’t complain about our long haul flights these days!
The first two floors of the museum really look back at Sydney in the early days immediately following colonisation. Meanwhile, the top floor fills in the gaps, tracing the evolution of Sydney from convict colony to the modern metropolis of contemporary times. Of course, exhibits highlighting the construction of the Sydney Harbour Bridge and Sydney Opera House, two of the most iconic structures are on display here, and the museum theatre also shows interesting documentaries on both of these topics. Again, living near Sydney, I often take these two famous features of the skyline for granted, but it really is amazing that someone came up with these unmatched designs that effectively define modern day Sydney, both to travellers and locals alike.
Other interesting features of the city highlighted include Luna Park, and the various visionaries that served as the driving force behind the city taking the form that we see today. Its all tied together in the Panorama Table, a prominent showcase on the upper floor that traces the full timeline of Sydney’s evolution.
It should come as no surprise that Sydney was also the site of the first contact between the traditional owners of the land and the colonising British. The museum houses an excellent exhibit that looks back on the early attempts to build relations between these communities. Entitled Gardinal Place, the exhibit taught me something new, as I was not aware of the significance of Bennelong, the Aboriginal captive that eventually formed a diplomatic relationship with the first Governor of NSW, Arthur Phillip. In addition to chronicling this chapter of Aboriginal history, the exhibit houses various Aboriginal art works. Australia’s Aboriginal heritage is also on display outside through the Edge of Trees installation. This series of sculptures symbolises the first contact between Indigenous groups and the colonists.
Unlike some larger museums, there’s not a huge amount of interactive exhibits in the Museum of Sydney. The Museum instead focuses on simply telling the stories of the city’s past through plaques and other sources of information. I would recommend a visit to the Museum of Sydney to both tourists and locals alike though. My visit definitely enhanced my understanding of the city’s history and I think its a great starting point if you want an insight into how Sydney got to to where it is today. Admission is cheap and it will only take an hour or so to go through everything inside. I think if you add the Museum of Sydney to your itinerary, you’ll have a greater appreciation when exploring some of Sydney’s older neighbourhoods and tourist destinations.