Did you guys ever sing that song when you were little? “We’re all going to the zoo tomorrow, zoo tomorrow, zoo tomorrow! We’re all going to the zoo tomorrow…” My favorite part was always, “…and we can stay all day!” Maybe because I loved this song, or because my Mama knows everything about every animal and made zoo trips into the most fun adventures, or maybe because animals are awesome, but I’ve always loved zoos. I’ve been to lots of the best zoos: Memphis, St. Louis, San Diego, Lincoln Park, even Prague, but the Taronga Zoo in Sydney comes in at my absolute favorite zoo in the world.

The Taronga Zoo is located in Mossman, a short ferry ride from Circular Quay. If you’re planning to visit, you can use your Opal card to board the zoo ferry– no need to stand in line and pay for separate tickets (like we did because I’m dumb.) Donnie and I enjoyed some sun on the lovely ride over (and those are not our feet.)

Once we docked, we walked up some stairs to board the Sky Safari. The Sky Safari is a motorized gondola that takes visitors to the top of the zoo. The zoo is built on a very steep incline, so starting at the top allows you to walk down as you progress. Donnie and I shared our gondola with a kind of creepy, pretty sweaty man who refused to even say hi. But we still enjoyed the views on our ride up!

Once at the top of the zoo, we followed the main path down around the habitats. We got to see a koala walking across a tree branch, which is pretty rare, as koalas sleep about 20 hours a day and are almost always sitting, sleeping, or eating.

The zoo was so shady, with paths covered by luscious foliage and pretty flowers. The animal habitats were large, well-maintained, and most of the animals were up and about as the day was nice and cool. The paths were pretty easy to follow, although we did somehow miss some of the Australian Wild area, even though Donnie memorized the map and was a great navigator!

The most impressive views are at the giraffe enclosure. Also, the giraffes were hilarious and really fun to watch.

After pulling ourselves away from our long-necked buddies, we moved on to visit some more animals. It was hilarious listening to the little kids running around the zebras yelling about the “zeh-brahs!”

The highlight of the day was the seal and sea lion show! They had three seals, one from California, one from New Zealand, and one from somewhere I can’t remember. Donnie had never seen a seal show, so he really loved it. The seals waved, jumped off the dock, jumped super high, splashed the audience, and were all around adorable.

We spent an absolutely magical afternoon at the Taronga Zoo. I plan on acquiring season passes and bringing all of our visitors here. The only thing that would make this place better is if they had some pandas!