Birding in the Rain

So Jonah learned an important lesson today. We should make sure that all our activities are done through the Inn for reasonable prices. We kind of got ripped off, but that's ok. Also it probably would have been better organized. As we were walking by some guy invited us to do a birdwalk at a sanctuary. Jonah was all for it while I was simply quiet. Then I started whining that this would make us miss lunch. He didn't care. So we got on a glass-bottom boat and rode out there. Glass-bottom boats are pretty cool, you can see the reef below you. The magic was probably a little lost on us because rather than looking down on the reef we had been in the reef mere hours before. Anyway we get to the island sanctuary place and see a bird right off the bat: chickens. domesticated chickens. as we started scaling a hill we saw another bird or two and even a flicker of a gecko before it hid (for those counting that's birds, mammals, reptiles, amphibians, and fish, as well as tons of inverts in one day). Then we found a Tropicbird

It's baby is underneath. No you cannot see it

This island was a sanctuary for them, which was quite nice. When we went to a different point and were able to see a lot of them flying around a little cove. It turns out that these birds are quite graceful in the air, soaring and swooping, but are terrible on land. We're talking worse than ducks, worse than even penguins. I had a video of one trying to walk, but the internet is evil and hates me. Their legs are too short to really walk so they kind of hop/scoot. It's pretty funny. I'll put the video on facebook soon. There some others birds like boobies and frigate-birds

This is a red-footed boobie, what did you think I was talking about?

Fun animals fact: frigate-birds are sometimes described as pirates. They steal food from the tropic birds and so earn the name. So that was fun, but it wasn't an unexciting walk. When we got the view of the boobie our guide looked up and said "looks like rain." With in seconds it started pooring on us. We survived, but where soaked. The weather in the tropics is even less predictable than Maine! So we survived and finished the walk...and found that there was no boat waiting for us. There had been snorkelers, so we assumed they'd get bored before we finished and be waiting for us...Nope. An hour or so later the boat shows up. Apparently someone got sick so they all headed back, and then had to come all the way back out to get us. It was pretty boring/annoying. Sigh. Then it was nap time. Long day and it wasn't even dinner time yet.

Sightseeing Like Tourists

One hears Sydney and two to three things come to mind. The Opera House, some weird bridge, and the Olympics. We just missed the Olympics by about 12 years, but we did stroll over towards the Opera House. All I can really say about it is…huh? For those of your unfamiliar with the opera house, it is one of the oddest architectural structures known to man. The crazy Aussies decided it would be a great idea to build a really abstract opera house, maybe it helps with the acoustics, maybe they’re just determined that nothing be normal.

It Kind of Looks Like the Pope's Hat

So we stroll on over and start ooing and ahing at it. We were staring out over the harbor and vaguely watching the seagulls and other activities of the bay, basking in the radiance of the city. We kept looking blankly and watched two gulls fly across making lots of noise, but then my mom exclaimed, “those aren’t seagulls those are cockatoos!” For anyone who doesn’t care about birds please skip the next bit, you will be alerted when to resume. We were pretty sure she was right and looked across the harbor. From there we saw a tree that seemed full of cockatoos. Of course we had to walk over and investigate. We found ourselves in the botanical garden, and every few feet we went a bird would appear to show off. There was a killdeer on steroids with a yellow beak, then an ibis, then parakeets, etc etc. The farther we walked the louder and louder the cockatoos got. For those unfamiliar, cockatoos are possibly the loudest creatures on earth, rivaled only in volume by the lion, whose roar can be heard for five miles across an open plane, and a wailing child, who emits by far the least pleasant sound known to man. (Note to reader: we had all agreed not to go birding within the city of Sydney. We failed.) Eventually we decided to about face and return to the Opera House. Of course a pelican appeared to see us off (pelicans are awesome).

Cockatoos, the Houdini's of the Animal Kingdom

NONBIRDERS RESUME READING HERE. We returned to the Opera House for a very important reason, to use the bathroom. Normally I would leave this detail out, but this was the most incredible bathroom I’ve ever seen. I did not take pictures though, that would’ve just been weird. The stalls had a wave formation to them, so they were all different sizes. Also the sink had a similar theme and it looked at though the water simply flowed off the back onto the floor (there was another tray to catch it so I did not spill water all over the floor of this famous Opera House). The other attraction was the bridge. We looked at it, looked at it some more, took some pictures, and then left. alright, we were too tired to walk over it.