So Close, Yet So Far

People often ask me how I find all the things I do. I guess I read a lot. I always check out the listings in the local newspaper and free magazines. I look at blogs, which then lead me to other blogs. I take fliers or remember to google things I see on posters. What I loved to do in Sydney though was look at the bus map. I’d see where public transport would take me, then do a little internet research to figure out what was there.


One of the largest green sections on the Eastern Sydney bus route is Centennial Park. Every time I opened the map, I told myself I needed to go, but for some reason it took me four months to get there. If you go to Sydney, don’t wait that long.


Along with neighboring Moore Park and Queens Park, Centennial Parklands offer about 890 acres of oasis. Three minutes from the busy street, you reach the duck pond and feel miles (or kilometers) away from everything.


Sydney birds always amazed me, and Centennial Park is the place to see them.


You can get so close to cockatoos, swans, pelicans and flocks of other birds I’ve never seen before.


Wander a little more and suddenly you wish you didn't give all your breadcrumbs to the birds.


I absolutely loved this park, and wish I had more chances to visit. If you want a leisurely walk, a spot to picnic, somewhere to escape the city, a field to play Frisbee, a bike path, a gorgeous run, a hill to roll down, a tree to climb, a place to ride horses...nearly anything...Centennial Park all the way.

Getting Close to Nature

At Featherdale Wildlife Park kangaroos and wallabies hop around freely so you can feed them (but also have sanctuaries where people aren’t allowed to go). This albino wallaby and her joey were in a protected area though.


The koalas are in open stalls, and there is usually at least one outside on a branch that you can touch and get a picture with (without having to pay extra like some zoos here make you do).


Many birds, like ibises, geese and this pheasant, are able to roam wherever they like in the park.


They let emus walk around too, which is a little scary, especially when you’re carrying kangaroo food because they’re just as hungry, but twice as tall. At least they keep the cassowaries, like this one, mostly enclosed. These guys have the body of an emu or ostrich, the neck of a turkey and a horn like a rhino. They freak me out.


They have some brilliant looking birds. This one reminds me of a villain glaring from behind his cape. I think he just had an itch though. Do birds get itchy?


This bird was my favorite because we made a personal connection. I realized if I bounced up and down or side to side, the cockatoo would imitate me. If I raised my arms, he’d flap his wings. He also knew how to say hello and bye-bye. He was my buddy.


And if you weren’t convinced already that Featherdale is worth the 50-minute train ride from the city, there are penguins.

Sydney Birdies

I’ve been big on birds here. Part of it is that so many exotic looking birds are quite common in Sydney. The other reason is they’re easy to get up close and photograph. (Sometimes too close.)


These photos are from a trip to Featherdale Wildlife Park, but I’ve seen them all in the wild, and by wild, I mean public parks in Sydney. Up top is the crimson rosella, followed by an inquisitive rainbow lorikeet.


Cockatoos are more common than the others around the Sydney CBD (central business district). They’ve got a loud squawk and of course, their natural habitat seems to be the trees just outside my window every morning.


Kookaburras also have an interesting call. They’re often called “laughing kookaburras” because, well, I’m sure you can put two and two together. You can listen to their laugh track here.

I might as well throw in this GQ shot of what I think is a noisy miner at Hunter’s Bay yesterday.


And one more seagull photo to add to the collection.

Scarier than a pigeon and just as dirty, it’s the ibis

Not long ago, I sang praises of Sydney’s parks. What I didn’t mention were the parks’ primary residents: Australian white ibises.

I first saw these birds when I was checking out Victoria Park within an hour of arriving in Sydney. They seemed pretty exotic to inhabit the area between Broadway and City Road, but soon I started seeing them everywhere. On campus, in Darling Harbour, Hyde Park... I’ve seen more ibises than pigeons.


Just the other day I realized they sleep on one leg like flamingos.

I did some research and learned that Australian white ibises began to flock to the city during the 80s because of droughts and other problems in their natural habitats. At their urban peak, more than 10,000 ibises nested in Sydney. The population has diminished because they do not seem to be reproducing as before and because governments started taking action. The main culling method is to apply canola oil to the eggs so the embryos can’t get air, rather than killing live ibis.

The birds can be quite a nuisance, especially when you try to picnic — a band of them surrounded my friends and I as we ate lunch in The Domain. Ibises typically eat bugs and small water animals, but have taken a liking to Sydney garbage as well. A lot of people would be glad to be rid of the smelly, dirty birds, but there are also movements to protect the species in the city since they cannot be sustained in other environments.


I’m sure if they just started eating shrimp and turned pink like flamingos, they’d have a lot more supporters.

The Seagull Obsession Continues

This guy finally held still long enough for me to get his picture the other night in Darling Harbour.

For the Birds

During our orientation on the Mornington Peninsula (the Aussies pronounce it, “peninshula”), we took a small boat ride across the water. We got a glimpse of a few dolphins and saw a colony of seals, but another highlight was the seagulls, which I’m obsessed with because of Finding Nemo.



We thought we’d be going for dinner at a restaurant at the other end of the bay, Instead, our guides wrapped our meals in paper and served us soggy fish and chips right on the boat. Appetizing, right? It wasn’t so bad once the salt and ketchup made it to where I was sitting on the second level. (Aussie Fun Fact #2: they call ketchup, “tomato sauce,” prompting the inevitable question, “Then, what do they call tomato sauce?” So far, I’ve just heard tomato sauce, but my guess would be pasta sauce. I’ll have to go to a grocery store or Italian restaurant to investigate.)



Anyway, my friend Bianca was less than thrilled with her supper so, to the delight of the flock around us, she chucked most of her fries overboard.



This one bird was particularly adept at catching the chips midair.