Sunday, January 1, 2017 | Language: English | Currency: Australian Dollar | Population = 5.25 million

Taronga Zoo in Sydney is home to more than 4,000 Australian and exotic animals.

We were lucky enough to be chosen for a behind-the-scenes tour by a Taranga volunteer training a new person. Well, maybe luck wasn’t the real reason. I think we were the only ones there when the zoo opened at 9 a.m. on New Year’s Day. Sleeping in those Bali beds really paid off.

We saw pelicans.

We saw peacock.

We saw black swans.

We saw Laughing Kookaburra.

We saw emu.

We held possum.

We played with wallaby.

We fed echidna.

There were sleeping kangaroo.

There was awake kangaroo.

And of course, there was everyone’s favorite, the koala.

This is a shy joey on the back of its mother. It was hard to get a good shot but it was something to see in person.

The koala is a great climber. It climbs by clasping the tree trunk with sharp claws on its front feet and bringing the hind feet up together in bounding movements. Opposable toes on both the front and back paws provide good grip. Today we learned koalas are born with two thumbs, one as backup should one be injured. Without the ability to grip high in the Eucalyptus tree, they would have no defense against predators.

There were giraffe, non-native to Australia. Not sure why.

We had a great time.