I actually managed to have a quiet weekend....the first one since I've been here! I haven't been able to shake off this cold, so I thought it would be a good idea to take it easy, and I've managed to save some money too. Well actually, what I've saved from my weekly budget I'm just about to go and spend, I need a suitcase to be able to move all my stuff to Grants in a couple of weeks!

Had a great day yesterday, Dave and I went to the zoo, we had such a good laugh, it was like being a kid again! To get to the zoo, the best way is to get the ferry over from Circular Quay. It's amazing to see the zoo as you approach it as it's set out on a hill by the waterfront. When you get there, you can get on a gondola which takes you to the top of the zoo and then you work your way down again, the view from up there is great, being on a gondola reminded me of going snowboarding in Austria, except of course there was no snow.

View from the gondola (I only remembered to take a pic near the top, so it's not the best)....

The first animals we saw at the top were the koalas, I absolutely love koalas, I get really excited whenever I see one, they're just so cute, there was a chance to get into the pen and touch them, but there was a big queue and as I'd patted one just a couple of weeks ago, we decided to go and see the rest of the animals. It's such a great zoo, it's set in 28 hectares of landscaped gardens and exhibits (so my guide book tells me) and like I said the view is fantastic, I'm sure you don't get many zoos like this across the world! As I said before we had such a laugh, we were just talking in all sorts of stupid accents, I like Dave, he's very intelligent, and he really makes me laugh too, I must say I am a bit of a ditz when I'm with him, not much chance of an intelligent conversation with me!!

Dave is going to kill me for putting this one up...

and me being silly too.....

We saw so many different types of animals, there really are some bizarre ones in Australia. I was quite chuffed cos I finally saw a wombat, quite a big animal, I was a bit disapointed as the elephants weren't there, they'd been taken to Dubbo zoo, but we saw the usual giraffes, tigers, lions, bears, mountain goats (there is a funny story there, but I think you probably had to be there to laugh, so I won't tell it) crocodiles etc. I'm getting better when it comes to going in the reptile house now, some of you may not know but I've got a massive phobia of snakes, it really took a lot for me to go in there, at first it was ok, I was quite calm side shuffling against the far wall so I wasn't so close, but then I saw a python or something very big when I didn't expect it, which just freaked me out, so I had to run out of there, but that's quite a good step forward for me.

Towards the end of the zoo there was a bird show just about to start, so we sat down to watch. It was really impressive, I've never seen a bird show like that, the birds were really well trained, there were owls, eagles, cockatoos and many more in the show, they were flying from keeper to keeper directly above the audience. They even put a glove on a little girl's hand and an eagle came and landed on it, she was really brave, I would have screamed and run a mile probably!! I still find it weird that in Australia they have cockatoos in the wild, and they're the most amazing colours. At the end the guy was giving a small talk about caring for the environment and not dropping litter on the floor, while he was talking, he dropped some paper on the floor, and a little bird came along, picked it up with his beak and then put it in the bin, it was really funny!

We eventually made it down to the bottom and while we were waiting for the ferry, Dave bought me a baby koala which was really sweet ;o)

Me and a very large koala

It was quite a long day actually, we'd been walking around for 4hrs, I was really tired when I got home so I just crashed and watched a couple of films.