it was a beautiful sunny day and the Mickey and Coco were taking us to the zoo! We gathered ourselves together and caught the bus at the bus stop just outside the house – it has the best view of any bus stop I have ever known!

The buses are very efficient and reliable, but the journey is quite a long one. The girls were very tolerant.  Tony met us with a free pass to the zoo (what a boon!) and we were soon on the ferry that plies its way between the harbour and the outcrop of rock that is the zoo site.  The girls are quite familiar with the zoo and its excitements.  We had all identified our favourite bits and were soon into it.

The Sky Train, a cable car that carries you from the top to the bottom of the site, is a particular favourite so, making a note to return for the seal show,  we made our way the via giraffes, elephants and tree kangaroos for an overview of the establishment. Poor old Keith, there was no quarter allowed for vertigo. In no time at all we were swinging out over the tree tops.  There were amazing views of the harbour!

The girls had bought a packed lunch (Coco’s enhanced by her new birthday lunch box) but Keith and I had forgotten to bring our bananas so had to buy ours – irresponsible grown ups!

We did the excursion proud – ice creams, photographs, we looked and commented and in my case blanched at the snakes in the reptile house – but we all agreed our favourite was the seal show.  It was great fun and of course, with the excuse of two young ladies who knew the ropes, were strategically placed to get very wet in our seat in the third row.  And so it came to pass – four rather wet, giggly and happy people emerged after the show which we had really enjoyed.  Nothing like a shared experience to eliminate the age gap between us!

Second to the seal show for us all was the koala bears.  When we arrived at their enclosure they were all sleeping but they rather remarkably woke up to the sound of branches of eucalyptus leaves rustling – apparently these have to be treated carefully or the leaves bruise and the kualas don’t like them   Fussy little creatures aren’t they?

Eventually it was time to go home so, managing to get in a second ride on the Sky Train, we set off for home. Back on the ferry, back to the City bus stop and then the winding route up to the Collaroy Plateau. A good day had been had by all!