Popped into Taronga this morning for about 20 minutes to see if I could see the Cassowary - and got lucky! http://www.zoochat.com/34/cassowary-76543/ http://www.zoochat.com/34/cassowary-76542/ http://www.zoochat.com/34/cassowary-76541/ http://www.zoochat.com/34/cassowary-76540/ This view shows the Casso in part of the long enclosure. This is less than half the enclosure's size, closer to 1/4 of the exhibit. http://www.zoochat.com/34/cassowary-enclosure-76544/ The bird was walking around the exhibit looking for bits of fruit that had been scattered amongst the leaf litter or hidden in forks of trees. Also saw one of the new Koala Encounters areas: http://www.zoochat.com/34/new-koala-encounters-area-76545/ I counted eight small areas like this. It's probably a bit hard to tell from the photo, but the ground is not concrete, but very hard, compressed dirt. And some of the tree trunks that have been fixed into the ground have some epicormic buds shooting. Looks like it will be ready for the Koalas and public fairly soon. My only criticism is the high walls. From what I could see of it, children queueing inside will be unable to see anything at all while they are waiting - not even Koalas in other parts of the complex. The old Koala Encounters on this site at least had an enclosure next to it with quokkas and echidnas. Platypus House is open again, the tank has been redone but didn't see the platypus, only some fish. As I was leaving I saw they now had the fees for using the new Multilevel Carpark (although it was opejn a couple of weeks ago, they didn't have any signage in place). And this sign wasn't permanent, just printed on paper and stuck on the board. http://www.zoochat.com/34/carpark-charges-76539/ Hix
looks like a trip to the zoo is a pricy affair in Sydney! $15 for parking on top of $100-odd for the family admission!
