Mini holiday in Sydney

My fiance Daniel and I visited Sydney 2 weeks ago primarily to attend a 3 day conference about wealth, success and happiness.  There were about 12 speakers who each told of their financial success and offered advice relating to business, internet marketing, real estate, stock trading etc.  It was eye opening to see what others have achieved in their lives and to see that this could be possible for anyone if they are willing to put in the time to see it through.

We went down a few days early so we could explore the city and visit Taronga zoo.  You would not believe the obstacles we came across on one of the days.  We headed out early (on a Sunday) with the goal in mind to go to Paddington Markets, as we'd gone past them the day before, and then go straight to the zoo from there, be there by 10:30am.  So we head out of the hotel and as we weren't exactly sure where to go and we didn't have time to waste, as we wanted to go to the zoo as well, we hopped in a taxi.

Well the roads we needed to go down were blocked off so the taxi driver took a detour.  We spent about half an hour going 200 meters.  Then a young lady ran in front of the taxi (she didn't look before running across the road) and of course the taxi driver crashed into her.  She was ok though, luckily he wasn't driving fast.  She would have had some nasty bruises though.

Then we get to the street the taxi driver was trying to get on since taking the detour and it was blocked off also!  We decided to walk the rest of the way, which was about 2 blocks, in the sun.  40 minutes later we reach where the markets usually take place only to find they don't open on a Sunday, oh my gosh!  This was now 10am already and we had just spent all morning trying to get to markets that were not open.

We hopped in another taxi to get back to the city as we needed to hop on a ferry to get to the zoo.  On the way back the roads were blocked still and we had to walk again (not as far this time) to get to the ferry but on the way we discovered the reason the roads were blocked:

There was a fun run being conducted through the city.  We of course were on the wrong side of the road and had to literally dodge between the runners to get to the other side that we needed to be lol.  We ended up making it through and jumped on the ferry, now off to the zoo.  Does anyone else have days like this?

Here's a pic of Dan and I on the boat, with the Opera House in the background:

And here's the Harbour Bridge:

Finally arrived at the zoo.  The animals were all gorgeous (I'm an animal lover).

I'm certain this lion just spotted lunch!:

There was a bunch of us standing outside the glass and the lion had her eyes fixated on someone because every time they moved the lion would move her head and stare intently.  Scary.

This was one of the most beautiful pelicans I have ever seen, the photo doesn't do it justice though.  It was immaculately groomed, definitely well looked after.

Giraffes, with a view of the harbour!:

Can you spot the Chameleon?:

This baby elephant was just adorable!  It was rolling around in the water having the time of it's life with the elder elephants looking on in awe.  So cute:

All in all it ended up being a great day, and week, out and about in Sydney.