Our last day in Sydney was reserved for the famed Taronga Zoo. The zoo has a beautiful location overlooking the harbour and we headed there at about 10 AM. Sheila was not happy that we missed the 9:35 ferry, but since we didn't have any other major plans for the day, it worked out just fine.
We spent the day walking around the zoo and getting better looks at all our favorite animals, reptiles, and birds - both Australian and otherwise. We saw giraffes, tigers, bears, tapirs, and more. We were glad we did the "animal encounters" at Healesville sanctuary not only because it was a lot cheaper there, but because it was a lot less crowded. Sheila still couldn't get enough of looking at the koalas. The platypus house at Taronga was better lighted than the one at Healesville, so Jay also was happy to get a better look at the platypus. We had a raging argument about the plural of platypus. The Healesville Sanctuary boards consistently used platypus as the plural of platypus (as in, "Platypus are nocturnal animals ...") and so we thought we had settled the matter and that the plural of platypus is platypus and not platypii or platypuses. But, there was ONE board at Taronga Zoo that referred to platypuses and so the discussion was reignited.
The kids took control of the cameras and took hundreds of pictures of the animals. They seemed to have a lot of fun. While I didn't think it was worth going all the way to Australia to see African animals, the kids insisted that we do every part of the zoo and we ended up wandering the zoo until about 4:30 PM.
We got back to the hotel, rested a bit and headed to our "gala vacation ending dinner." The Park Hyatt has an expensive in-house restaurant imaginatively called "The Dining Room." Given Sheila's desire to be a chef (and her following of MasterChef Australia), I decided it was worth splurging on one fancy dinner to end the trip on a high note. I ordered executive chef Andrew McKee's signature dish, tamarind and molasses glazed Blackmore Wagyu beef brisket, beetroot, horseradish. Sheila ordered the crisp roasted goose breast, parsnips, bread sauce. The food was classy, expensive, tiny in portion and absolutely delicious. Jay chose a pasta off the kid's menu. The food was all mouthwateringly amazing. We also had dessert, with Jay choosing dark chocolate fondant, fig marmalade, banyuls sorbet, Sheila going with hazelnut dacquoise, milk chocolate ganache, milk ice cream and my electing to try the chestnut and green apple cake with vanilla chantilly. Believe me, it tasted as good as it sounded.
We got back to the hotel, rested a bit and headed to our "gala vacation ending dinner." The Park Hyatt has an expensive in-house restaurant imaginatively called "The Dining Room." Given Sheila's desire to be a chef (and her following of MasterChef Australia), I decided it was worth splurging on one fancy dinner to end the trip on a high note. I ordered executive chef Andrew McKee's signature dish, tamarind and molasses glazed Blackmore Wagyu beef brisket, beetroot, horseradish. Sheila ordered the crisp roasted goose breast, parsnips, bread sauce. The food was classy, expensive, tiny in portion and absolutely delicious. Jay chose a pasta off the kid's menu. The food was all mouthwateringly amazing. We also had dessert, with Jay choosing dark chocolate fondant, fig marmalade, banyuls sorbet, Sheila going with hazelnut dacquoise, milk chocolate ganache, milk ice cream and my electing to try the chestnut and green apple cake with vanilla chantilly. Believe me, it tasted as good as it sounded.
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