Taronga Zoo

Recommendation: Only buy the zoo tickets while in China.
Take advantage of the Sunday Opal card - ferry rides are cheaper and more frequent.
After getting off the ferry, there's a cable car. Suggest queuing up right after disembarking as it gets crowded, with about 20 minutes wait time.
The zoo is quite good. If you want photos with koalas, book at 2 o'clock and pay for it.

Became a big fan of the koalas and giraffes, hehe.
Saw a very active koala that was climbing up and down, moving quite agilely - really impressive.

It's a zoo you need to take a boat to reach. You can see some animals unique to Australia, like koalas and platypuses. There are also various types of turtles and frogs. The other animals are just average.

A paradise for cute animals - perfect for taking little ones.
Book e-tickets online, and you can get there right after getting off the ferry.

Truly deserving of its title as the most beautiful zoo. From Circular Quay, it's about a 15-minute ferry ride to the Taronga Zoo wharf. Right across from the wharf is the cable car that takes you up the hill - if you have pre-purchased electronic tickets (I bought mine on Mafengwo), you can show them and go straight onto the cable car. The zoo is built along the bay, and walking downhill along the designated route isn't too tiring. The unique Australian animals like koalas, kangaroos, and platypuses are must-sees. Unfortunately, the kangaroos barely moved, and the koalas were completely still - they wouldn't even show their faces.

Zoo tickets bought on-site are AUD 47 per person (sorry, I forgot if it's 42 or 47), while on Mafengwo they're 91 RMB per person. You can book tickets up until the day before your visit - I booked mine just yesterday. Just show your email voucher at the entrance, and staff will stamp your hand, then you're good to go. The koalas in the zoo are different from wild ones - they're cleaner and their fur is neater, haha. Turns out Taronga Zoo is also a great spot to take photos with the Sydney Opera House and Harbour Bridge in the background.

The tickets we bought included the ferry fee. Following the instructions on the ticket, we found the ticket office and then followed their directions to the wharf. It's essential to check the last ferry's return time before departing - Taronga Zoo is very large, and it's easy to spend half a day just walking around and exploring, so you need to plan your time well.

Upon arriving at Taronga, there are no physical tickets to exchange. Instead, staff members stamp visitors' hands before boarding the cable car - this serves as your admission ticket.

Take the cable car to the summit, where you can get children's headbands and park maps from the visitor center, then find the entrance - welcome to Taronga.

Inside the zoo, there's a farmhouse building decorated like a regular home, but if you open the cupboards, you might find some surprises... like cockroaches. Outside the farmhouse, there's a small farm with poultry - chickens, ducks, geese, etc., and a water play area. Australian children are very nature-oriented ~ well, who could be more in tune with nature than Australians?

This zoo is built on a hillside, and you can see the Opera House in the distance while riding the cable car - it's in a great location. You can buy tickets at the ferry terminal, though prices are better online. The zoo isn't particularly large - you can see everything in 3-4 hours.

Remember to take the cable car for an aerial view of the zoo; go visit Australia's native animals like kangaroos and koalas; and be mindful of the temperature - winter in Sydney ranges from 8-20 degrees Celsius, and it can get quite cold in windy areas without direct sunlight.

It was pretty good with plenty of performances to see. There was an option to take photos with koalas, but it required paying and waiting in line. Given the crowds, we decided to skip it.

You can get there quickly by taking the ferry from Circular Quay.

Google Maps is very convenient. For trains, it tells you which platform and what time. For ferries, it shows which wharf to use. Sydney's train system is different from many places - trains don't always use fixed platforms for each line, and short-distance (city) and long-distance trains seem to be mixed together. So you need to check Google Maps or the station's display screens to find the right platform.

Of course, the wharf for Taronga Zoo ferry might be fixed. You can buy tickets directly at the zoo ferry wharf at Circular Quay. The ticket includes the cable car and entrance fee (you must take the cable car to reach the zoo entrance). This saves you the hassle of walking and buying tickets after arriving at the zoo.

This must be the zoo with the best views. From the giraffe enclosure, you can see the CBD and the Bridge, plus get up close to kangaroos. And there's the koala too, though it's always sleeping 😂

The giraffe viewing area has an observation deck, which is an ideal spot for overlooking the beautiful Sydney Harbour.

Taronga Zoo isn't very big - it's much smaller than zoos in major Chinese cities. However, you can get quite close to the animals, and staff members provide explanations, creating a relaxed atmosphere that makes you feel close to nature.

The zoo has a cable car that goes to the ferry wharf by the sea. You can choose between return or one-way tickets - if you're taking the ferry, choose one-way; if you need to return to the zoo entrance, choose return.

There's a dedicated ferry line from Circular Quay to Taronga Zoo, also costing $6 one way. Just ask the staff and they'll tell you which wharf to go to. If you see lots of parents with children heading in one direction, you can't go wrong following them. The ferry ride from Circular Quay to the zoo takes about 15 minutes.

The zoo wasn't very crowded - even less crowded than Chimelong. You can only view koalas from a distance; if you want to get close and take photos, you need to pay extra. The kangaroos were all resting in the shade under trees.

Kangaroos, koalas, platypus, alpacas, tigers, giraffes

Taronga Zoo is almost like an open-style zoo with a beautiful environment. When we arrived, there was a long queue at the cable car entrance. Although it looked crowded, most people were from the ferry, and the line moved quickly - we only waited about 10 minutes before getting on the cable car. At the entrance, we showed our electronic booking tickets on our phones, and staff stamped small red marks on our hands, which left us a bit confused about its purpose.

Inside the park, it was bustling with visitors. You can see Sydney's CBD, Opera House, and Harbour Bridge across the harbor - great views! In the reptile house, you can see various endangered tree frogs, snakes, lizards, and other reptiles. There are playful meerkats and baby birds running around everywhere.

Deep in the zoo, there's an enclosed aviary called "BLUE MOUNTAINS BUSHWALK," which simulates a Blue Mountains bush walking experience. Walking through the aviary, you hear crisp bird calls everywhere. Birds, lizards, and small kangaroos are all within reach - it really makes you feel completely immersed in nature. It's an amazing experience! The bushwalk area has two doors that are designed so one must close before the other can open - an interesting design that effectively prevents birds and small animals from escaping. The area has many species of birds and animals that interact freely with visitors, with no barriers. Visitors are very conscientious, maintaining relative quiet in the area and never doing anything to frighten the animals and birds.

I bought tickets online, which included round-trip ferry tickets and the zoo cable car. I printed the confirmation and exchanged it for tickets at Wharf 6 at Circular Quay.

At the zoo, you can take the cable car to the summit and walk down while exploring. Or you can hike up and take the cable car down. There are maps available at the entrance. I spent a long time looking for my favorite meerkats who stand guard, haha, and saw a platypus for the first time - I thought it would be big, but it was small and cute, swimming so fast I couldn't even get a photo.

On the ferry, there was an elderly lady guide, a handsome young man, and the captain. The elderly lady was very humorous, constantly joking with the handsome guy, haha.

From the summit, you can see another view of the Harbour Bridge and Sydney Opera House.

I bought the zoo tickets online in advance and exchanged them for ferry and entrance tickets at Circular Quay. After getting off the ferry, the cable car ride was included in the ticket price, so we took it up to the zoo entrance. In Australia, you can't hug koalas everywhere, and Sydney is no exception - you can only get close-up photos (with the keeper holding the koala next to you), which costs extra and needs advance booking. At the koala enclosure, we saw one sleeping nearby - just taking photos like this was nice, thinking we didn't need to spend extra money... From the zoo's high points, you can still see the Sydney Opera House and Harbour Bridge in the distance. Finally, I bought a green-labeled kangaroo plush (made in Australia), though many of the stuffed toys were made in China...

Australia has many iconic animals like kangaroos, koalas, and Tasmanian devils.
You can see all of these at the zoo.
You can take a ferry from Circular Quay to get to the zoo - it's also a great experience!

The whole zoo is worth visiting, with many unique Australian animals. The service is very thoughtful, with different recommended routes painted on the ground based on different preferences and time schedules.

The first stop was my favorite - the giraffes. I had seen photos online of giraffes framed with the Opera House in the background, and it was perfect for taking photos.
There's a whole family of beautiful African Reticulated Giraffes, and you can get really close to them for photos during feeding time.

The adorable koalas - even though we later saw many wild ones in the National Park, honestly, it's easier to photograph these captive ones up close.

The bird show is a must-see program with an unbeatable backdrop. Although I didn't find the show itself particularly special, the stunning harbor view in the background made it really enjoyable.

Taronga Zoo is located on a hillside on Sydney's North Shore, covering a larger area than the city zoo. You can find Australian iconic animals like koalas, kangaroos, wombats, platypus, dingoes, Tasmanian devils, native birds, as well as other animals including chimpanzees, penguins, otters, rhinoceros, seals, raccoons, and various reptiles. You can get close to free-roaming kangaroos, but koalas can only be viewed from a distance. For koala photos, you need to book and pay before 2:30 PM on the day of your visit. The zoo features different animal shows daily. We watched the bird show around 3 PM - it was spectacular, almost like magical performance.

The zoo is famous for its prime location - from the giraffe enclosure, you can overlook the entire Sydney Harbour, with perfect views of the Opera House and Harbour Bridge.

This is a hillside zoo with two ways to explore: you can either take the cable car up and walk down, or walk up and take the cable car down.