Farewell, Sydney (August 22-25)

Our morning ritual in Sydney included going down to the excellent Organic Republic Bakery just around the corner, for a freshly baked rye sourdough, two cups of “Flat White” (order a regular cappuccino and you’ll get lots of cocoa on top), and a croissant or Pain au chocolat for the kids. Daniel, who at 6am was already very jaunty, liked to accompany me or Lilach on these trips.

We spent most of Monday at the Sydney Aquarium, and all of Tuesday at the Taronga Zoo, arriving rather early and leaving only when the gates were closing. The zoo is beautifully located at the top of the hill on the north side of the bay, overlooking the city and the opera house. The animals – with numerous Australian ones being the main attraction for us – are kept in nice and spacious enclosures and many of them are part of species conservation efforts. Daniel and Tamar especially enjoyed the nocturnal animals exhibit, and spent a very long time locating the shyer inhabitants.

Wednesday was devoted to visiting two different bookstores, and on Thursday we thought it would be a good idea to get some cloths for the kids. I therefore left the house without a camera, wearing a decent pair of trousers rather than my hiking pants. After buying some cloths and picking up Lilach, we decided to visit Centennial Park again for a last farewell. We found a family of swans, and Tamar insisted on feeding the parents grass from her open hand, despite them being rather protective of their five goslings and a bit frightening. Eventually the offering was taken.

While admiring the beautiful flower beds nearby, we came across a volunteer birdwatcher, who was counting birds in the park and was eager to show us some of the less frequently encountered species. We followed him for over an hour through muddy bogs, seeing such wonders as a sleeping Barn Owl, a pair of nesting Tawny Frogmouths (more precisely, the male was nesting during the day, the female resting nearby), a Brush-Tail Possum in a nest box, and a huge colony of Greyheaded Flying Foxes. He told us that this was in fact the same colony that used to live in the Botanical Gardens, and was driven out of there since they were causing damage to the rare imported trees. Here, in a swamp full of paper-bark trees (Melaleuca sp.), they seemed to be happy, and so did the trees. Needless to say, at this point my trousers were thoroughly smeared with mud, and I regretted we had neither my camera nor the binoculars with us. At least Lilach had her camera in her bag (a testament to the merits of compact cameras), so we could document some of the sights. When we parted, the kind man gave the kids some information cards and brochures, and provided detailed instructions on where we could perhaps spot a Powerful Owl napping on a large oak tree. Searching for and finding this beautiful bird – the largest owl on the continent – was a thrilling experience. Equally thrilling for Tamar and Daniel was a nearby giant eucalyptus, one of whose branches hung above the lawn at a very inviting angle.

We spent ten days a couple of hundred meters from Bondi Beach – one of the Sydney’s best beaches – and never visited it. So this was our last destination on Thursday afternoon. It was a rather windy experience, but the sea was beautiful, North Bondi could almost be mistaken for Positano, and we only left when the fear of pneumonia became imminent.