Taronga Zoo and Bondi Beach

Sydney, Australia

8th September 2004

I woke up and headed toward Circular Quay in search of food. I ended up eating at McDonalds. One of the disturbing things that I noticed is that the cheapest food that is easily available in Australia was McDonalds. I expected to eat western food during this trip but I could have earned some extra cash filming the Australian version of "Super size me".

After breakfast, I caught a ferry ride across Sydney Harbour to Taronga Zoo. The zoo was quite depressing. You could tell the animals didn't want to be there and the visitors did nothing but torment them. I saw two japanese girls chasing a kangaroo around for bit which sadened me to see. I know these animals would have to fend for themselves in the wild but if they did want to be there, why were they always near the door in the caged areas?

I spent the rest of the afternoon walking around bondi beach. There were a lot of people out jogging getting ready for the big marathon on Sunday. I went out and got pissed with some others from the hostel that night.

One thing that does bug me is that this is the well-worn path that I'm on. A lot of people do this and this holiday isn't special in anyway. Perhaps it isn't meant to be. Perhaps time off work is meant to be a time when you do little as many do on holidays.

I would like to think that my holidays are like those that a high powered CEO takes, only doing daring adventures to further understand themselves but my trips fall into the following categories: working holidays, do nothing holidays which tend to be city trips and going-home breaks when I go back to Calgary to see my family and friends.