Sydney: Saturday

On Saturday I did some siteseeing with a rep from the printer, David, and his wife Donna. Such nice people. We started out at the Taronga Zoo. Officially opened in 1916, it is located on the shores of Sydney Harbour in the suburb of Mosman. It's divided into eight different zoogeographic regions and is home to over 2,600 animals. Kangaroos and cockatoos and koalas, oh my! The zoo is an open-range design, with walls and fences replaced by concealed moats which divide the animals from the visitors, creating the impression of actually being with the animals in the wild. It's one of the largest zoos of its kind. There is also the Sky Safari gondola which gives riders a magnificent view of the animals below and the Sydney skyline on the horizon.


For lunch we went to the Sydney Fish Market. Australia's fishing zone is the third largest in the world and is known for bountiful catches and high-quality seafood. The Sydney Fish Market is a commercial enterprise, located on Blackwattle Bay, just west of the Sydney central business district. It incorporates a working fishing port, wholesale fish market, fresh seafood retail market, a delicatessen, a sushi bar, a bakery, a gift shot, a fruit and vegetable market, a florist, a seafood cooking school, and indoor/outdoor seating for visitors eating at Doyles Restaurant. I'll take a plate of fish and chip, thankyouverymuch.


After lunch we did a bit of shopping at Birkenhead Point. Located in the suburb of Drummoyne, the area was once largely industrial. It was originally a salting and boiling down works and then a rubber importing company that eventually manufactured rubber tires. In 1977 the site was redeveloped into a waterfront shopping center. Apartments were added in the 1990s and the designer shops made way for bargain outlet stores.


David and Donna dropped me off at my hotel late in the afternoon so that I'd have enough time to get ready to go out for the evening. I had tickets to attend the showing of Mary Poppins at the Sydney Capitol Theater. Adapted from the beloved books by Australia's own P. L. Travers and the classic 1964 Walt Disney film, the stage production of Mary Poppins fuses various elements from both the books and the film. Some elements from the children's books that had been omitted from the film were restored, such as the walking statue, the ladders rising to the stars, and the trip to Mrs. Corry's shop. Some elements from the film were removed, such as the scene in which Uncle Albert gets caught on the ceiling laughing and the dancing penguins in the "Jolly Holiday" sequence. And the cast included many Australian theater icons. I absolutely loved it. Practically perfect in every way.


More to come . . .