Australia’s famous for its endemic marsupials like kangaroos and wallabies. We wanted to see these unique creatures up close and personal while we were in Sydney. Fortunately, there’s a spot to do this right on Darling Harbour called Wild Life Sydney Zoo.
Wild Life Sydney Zoo
Located alongside the aquarium and Madame Tussauds, Wild Life Sydney Zoo is a small zoo dedicated to those animals native to Australia. This was great for us because that’s what we wanted to see. We got there just before it opened at 9 am and skipped the line because we pre-bought our tickets online.
Petting a wombat
My only experience with wombats up to this point was a children’s story called Where To, Little Wombat and a stuffed animal. They’re a lot bigger in real life. Like a furrier version of a large hog.
Like most zoos, there are talks by zookeepers throughout the day. Immediately following the wombat talk, a few of us were allowed to go into the wombat’s habitat and pet him for a small donation to a wildlife conservation fund. We went in one at a time and got a briefing from the keeper about how it would work and what to do if things went wrong. Like if we were approached by a rock wallaby, for example.
The actual petting was over a fence while the wombat ate some veggies. I listened to his contented snuffling sounds as I petted his soft fur. It was very cool.
Kangaroos
This kangaroo looked stoned.
We got to the kangaroo exhibit at the same time as a school field trip of what looked like 3rd graders. Needless to say, we waited until they were almost through before going in.
The zoo’s website states that you can go into the kangaroo habitat and walk around in the same space that they do. That’s true. It’s also true that there’s an area for the animals that you can’t walk in and the kangaroos learned long ago to stay in that area. Throughout the day, there are sessions where the keepers can lure one of them past you with some snackage and you can pet it. The keeper brought two kangaroos over but the one pictured above sat with its back towards us and pretended to ignore us the whole time. The fur on the other one was soft like a rabbit. We took our turn with the field trippers and moved on.
We also got to pet a sugar glider and stand within inches of a koala. Holding a koala is a key tourist goal, and lots of places with lead you to think you can do so for a fee. In New South Wales, however, it’s against the law. Tourists can get close but not touch. The truth is, koalas are very solitary creatures who like to sleep about 20 hours a day. Being used as a tourist attraction stresses them out. Get close, take the picture, and move on.
Other Options
If Wild Life Sydney isn’t your cup of tea, there are other options. Some friends of ours visited Featherdale Zoo in the Blue Mountains. You can read about their adventures here. There’s also the famous Taronga Zoo, of course, on the shores of Sydney Harbour.