Sydney Taronga Zoo

07/25/2024:

After getting up, I got ready and walked to the Opera House. From there, I took a ferry to Taronga Zoo in Sydney. It's funny because every time I use my bank card for transportation, I am only charged 1 AUD. However, as I found out today, that is not normal, because all the other people had to pay 8.20 AUD for 3 bus stops. Maybe I discovered a loophole in the system 😉
Once I arrived at the zoo, I first went to see the kangaroos, then the cute koalas were admired, and then it continued to the other animals. Unfortunately, since 07/01/2024, it has no longer been allowed to touch koalas in the zoo, as I would have loved to do that. But this law is very good for the animals. In a conversation with a zoo employee, I learned that a few people had pinched the koalas quite hard to make them show a reaction and that there were even people who threw the koala around... The zoo visit was interesting; I saw capybaras and red pandas in real life for the first time. However, my highlight was a mother seal playing catch with her baby and showing the baby how to jump out of the water. I stood in front of this pool for about 30 minutes and must say that it was incredibly cute.
After the zoo visit, I took the ferry back and chilled in the Botanical Garden. In the evening, there was a pasta night at the hostel where you could eat pasta for free.

07/26/2024:

Today, the weather was ideal at 18 degrees and sunny to chill in a park and just sleep on the grass all day :D It was very relaxing. When I was back at the hostel in the evening, I checked the letters, and finally, the letter with the TFN arrived. So I can now start looking for a job and work. In the early evening, I booked a flight for the day after tomorrow (07/28/24) to Cairns. I hope to get a fruit-picking job somewhere nearby. Since Cairns is further north, the weather there is already significantly better than here in Sydney. Usually around 25 degrees and sunshine! However, I have only heard that Cairns is currently heavily crowded with backpackers because the weather there is better than in Sydney or Melbourne, and thus all the non-Australians want to go there.
Around 9:00 PM, a Philippine guy moved into my room. He is only staying for one night as he is flying back to the Philippines tomorrow, but so far, he is the nicest person I have met here.