Today was an awesome day!!!!!!

We were blessed to get free passes to Taronga Zoo today so Chris and I grabbed the opportunity (and took an emergency day-off) as something like this is a once in a lifetime chance to spend a day in Taronga Zoo for free (thanks to our family friend who gave us passes).

Taronga Zoo is the biggest zoo in Sydney and also the most expensive (AUD$41.00 per adult). Chris and I have never been to this zoo before. We really waited for my parents to visit and decided that it would be best to explore Taronga Zoo with them. Then came the surprise yesterday when a family friend told us that he got us passes for today.

Located in the north side of the harbour (hence, the very nice view of the Sydney cityscape), Taronga Zoo is home to more than 2,660 animals.

The zoo is segregated in different areas:

(1) Wild Australia where you can find your Aussie favorites: Kangaroos, Koalas and Emus.

(2) Australian Nightlife where you can find Bats and Rats. This was a scary area for me. It was so dark inside this cave-like rooms, then they have this sound effects that you usually hear when you watch a horror movie.

(3) Great Southern Oceans where you can the Penguins, Pelicans and…

…Seals!!!

We watched the Seal Show at 11:00AM and it was very entertaining. It was so fun watching them, they’re so smart and funny.

Near the Great Southern Oceans area is where you can find the Gorillas. They weren’t particularly a member of any area, but they are placed in the middle of the zoo.

(4) Wild Asia is where you can find the Elephants!!!!

This photo was taken during the Elephant show at 1:00PM. This was also an entertaining show.

(5) African Waterhole was our last stop as we wanted to save the best for last—this is where you can find the Zebras…

and the high-and-mighty Giraffes!!! I love them…I was soooo in awe of their cuteness.

I want to bring one home!!! hehe.

Some animals (like the Tigers and Bears) were asleep during lunchtime, probably because they just had lunch and were too full, hence, it made them sleepy (parang tao rin hehe). So we didn’t have decent pictures of those sleepyheads.

We spent a good five hours in Taronga Zoo and I felt like a kid the whole time we were there, especially that we’re with my parents. It reminded me of our trips to Manila Zoo when I was a kid. I vaguely remember the animals and the place but I remember the feeling of hanging out with my parents and being a kid in awe of the spectacle of nature infront of me.

This is a very memorable experience for me as for the past two years, I’ve dreamt of sharing my love for the zoo with my parents. Chris and I have been to zoos in other countries but this one tops them all, simply because we shared this awesome experience with my parents.

Photos of animals courtesy of my Husband Chris.

It was an eventful weekend for us as we watched the Jon Santos Live & In Persons show on Saturday (4 April 2009) at Burwood RSL.

Hilda joined us so she can hang out with us and my parents.

The greatest surprise was seeing a fellow East West Banker in Sydney, Anna!! According to her, she saw Chris first and thought “Asawa ‘to ni Ivy ah!” She immediately looked for me. Then she saw me just a meter away from Chris and screamed, “Ivy!!!” She just recently arrived in Australia and is visiting Sydney for a few days. Ayan, nadagdagan na kami uli ng isang taga-East West Bank dito. 🙂

It was such an entertaining show—the crowd loved Jon Santos!!! He’s such a great impersonator/actor/comedian. Ang galing galing niya. We were truly entertained.

My favorite was his impersonation of Ate Vi.

We didn’t bring our DSLR with us but will share some photos soon from our friend’s camera.

The show was Jim Paredes’ (in collaboration with Mega-Rhythm productions) first time to produce a show in Australia and it was a successful run, the place was jampacked.

After seeing Jon Santos performed live, I recommend that should you ever get a chance to watch his show, please do so. He is really good and he’s an actor/comedian all Filipinos can be proud of.

Sunday was spent with some friends from the Philippines who are visiting Sydney for a few days.

We picked up Vince (our Kumpare), Irene and Nap in the City on Sunday morning and went straight to Featherdale Wildlife Park to meet up with the other half of the group.

We took them to Featherdale so they can experience touching a Koala and feeding Kangaroos.

From there, we went to up to Blue Mountains where we were greeted with the bluest landscape one can ever see.

Thank God for a very nice weather.

The happy crew: John, Shawie, Louie, Teena, Irene, Vince, Nap, Ibyang, Chris.

Our last stop was at Max Brenner, Westpoint Blacktown where we enjoyed lots and lots of chocolate goodies–from drinks to Belgian waffles dipped in melted chocolate. Yummmmy.

It was long day for us but we all enjoyed it. It was nice showing our friends around Sydney and to hear about updates about the Philippines and simply catch up.