21 September 2008
Sunday we drove up to the Mount Stromlo Observatory. It was quite a pleasant drive with excellent views all around from the top. Apparently there was some sort of bike ride on because we had to battle with dozens of cyclists all the way up and down. Very impressive riding though, I certainly couldn’t have made it up there on my little three-speed…
The observatory was state of the art at one point but the whole thing got completely burned during the fires here in 2003. There are some photos of the telescope burning and other damage here. We were able to peek inside the buildings and it was just utter devastation. So sad. Apparently, this observatory is why it is so dark in Canberra. I’ve been quite startled by how dark all the streets are at night and I’ve been told that this is partially due to regulation – all the street lights are intentionally dimmer than one might expect and are designed to limit the amount of ambient light and only throw their light down to the ground. Anyway, it’s very dark on Canberra streets at night, even with streetlights so I hope they are getting some good readings up there.
On the way back from Mt Stromlo we decided to stop at the zoo. I’ve asked a few people, reasonably long-time Canberra natives, and nobody has ever been there. But we are out of towners, and I love zoos, so we decided to give it a go. It is technically called the National Zoo & Aquarium but that’s a bit of a misnomer. I suppose it is “national” because it is in the nation’s capital, but it is hardly bigger than the Franklin Park Zoo in Boston. In addition, the “aquarium” part is a bit of a stretch too as there weren’t a whole lot of swimmy things and the “aquarium” building also was home to a fair number of reptiles (the snakes were quite impressive actually: a couple of boas and a python – boy am I glad not to run into them out in the woods). It was also, at AUD 26.50, quite expensive I thought (like most things in Australia).
But our scepticism was wiped out rather quickly and we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. Right at the entrance, there is a little cafe facing an exhibit of Black-capped Capuchins which was completely open. They were surrounded by a moat of water and then a low fence, but nothing else. They were hysterical and fun to watch. We were able to get quite close (probably 3 meters when they were at the water’s edge) so it was very engaging. We must have hung out there, walking around the island, for about 20-30 minutes when we first got there, and again at the end. Here’s a link to the Zoo Map.
The next thing we saw were snow leopards! Such beautiful, beautiful animals. They had their habitat set up in a gully and you walk over it on a grated bridge. The leopards were sleeping up in the shade right under the grate and were only about 3 meters away and so we got a very close look.
Beyond the leopards were the brown bears. I do like bears. One was taking a tub while we were there – in the little pond they had. Very cute. Back around we went past the capuchins again and past a variety of different marmosets - so very cute. The ones with the white tufts off their ears are the funniest.
Throughout our visit we encountered other visitors who were doing the “zooventure” tours where they are guided by zoo staff and can enter the cages with some of the animals and/or hand feed them. We saw a group of 4 people in the marmoset cage with the little monkeys crawling all over them! It was excellent and I think when we go back when people visit we will do that. Later on, we also so a group of young girls (maybe 10-year olds – I think it was a birthday party) feeding the Sumatran tiger by hand. The guide would put some meat in a pair of tongs, and the girls would feed it to the tiger through the fence. We were so close! The girls could have touched him, though the guide obviously instructed them very carefully to keep their hands back and take a sturdy stance so they wouldn’t fall towards the cage if they lost their balance. It was very cool to be that close. The tiger is truly a beautiful kitty!.
There were lots of other great exhibits – beautiful cheetah, lions, sun bears, giraffes, etc. but some of the highlights were the RED PANDAS!! When we came upon the sign, for the red pandas, there was a very small enclosure with some trees in it – too small I thought for any animal – but they were all up in the trees over head – snuggled into crooks of the trees, swaying in the breeze. They were adorable! Here’s a link to some images of red pandas in Google images and in Flickr.
The other memorable exhibit was the area where you could go right in to the enclosure with the animals. We were able to actually pet kangaroos and emus. It was very cool. They also had a very crazy little tasmanian devil in an enclosure. It was just racing around and around in a circle – funny looking guy. Here are some pictures.
We also stopped by Floriade, an annual bulb flower festival here in Canberra where tulips and other bulb flowers are planted in various designs. Here are some images. It was nice to see all the flowers, but hard to see the designs from the ground.
Okay, back to work now. This weekend will include the AFL grand final between the Cats and Hawks. AFL is Australian Football League, which is Australian Rules Football (also known as footy) which is not soccer or rugby, but don’t ask me how. Anyway, colleague from work is having an Aussie BBQ to watch the game, match, whatever its called. Should be fun.
But we still plan to go camping there this summer!