We've touched a koala...have you?

Today was AMAZING! Flat out our best day so far in Sydney. 

We got to sleep in a bit today (we all got up between 8 and 9 which feels like a treat compared to the last couple of days). After breakfast, we walked across the harbour to Sydney Wildlife World. At first it seemed pretty run of the mill. It started with bugs and little guys. We all kind of thought that it was going to a pretty quick trip through. Then, however, things got awesome. We got saw the lizards of Australia. There were some crazy ones. Dad got into a staring match with a frilled-neck lizard (think the hissy, spitty one from Jurassic Park). It would just watch Dad and, every once in a while, stretch out his neck. It was pretty funny.

After the lizards, we saw the nocturnal creatures. Some of them are freaking adorable. I would like to take them home. Then were the birds. I fell in love with the painted finch. It looked like had a rainbow. Birds are awesome as long as they are not flying at you. 

Then, the magic happened. We went to the rooftop and there were koalas. They were sleeping in the trees. Turns out koalas get to sleep 16-20 hours of sleep. We are kind of jealous. After cooing over them for a little while, we actually got to touch one!  We were all able to touch Charlie (he was today's touching koala). He was sleeping the entire time. His fur felt very similar to wool. After petting Charlie, we got to have our pictures taken with Frasier, who was also sleeping. They were just adorable.

After the koalas, we found the kangaroos. They were also excellent. They didn't hop around too much; mostly they walked on all fours. They were eating, but there were a few moments of hopping and fighting. We watched them for about 20 minutes. We are easy to amuse. After the kangaroos, more koala time!! We went to the second habitat and saw Precious and her joey, Elle. Elle was out of the pouch but still clung to her mom. Excellent. We also saw a wombat. Well, we actually saw its belly. He was sprawled out on his back, sleeping. 

The last thing we saw at the wildlife world was butterflies. They had about 30 different types of butterflies and they were all fluttering around us. One even landed on Dad. Laurel, who is creeped out by butterflies, stayed outside and watched a snake demonstration being shown to a herd of school children. 

After awesomeness of Wildlife World, we stopped back in the hotel and then went over to Circular Quay (pronounced Key) to so some shopping. We found some great little shops and saw the Harbour Bridge from a couple new angles. We then stopped for dinner at this great little burger place. Traci achieved her goal of eating kangaroo. It was pretty darn good. Then we walked back down to the harbour and went to the Sydney Opera House. It was beautiful. We took another bazillion pictures, including a few more of the bridge. After that, we got some gelatto and walked back the hotel. Now we are all a bit tired, but pretty thrilled with our day. 

Tomorrow, we go to the zoo! Yea for more animals!