Sand Sculptures and the Zoo

After stumbling across information for the Hawkesbury International Sand Sculpting Championships, we decided to get a car for the weekend to see the sculptures and go to Taronga Zoo. The championships for the sand sculpting were held last weekend in Windsor and the finished products would be on display for two weeks. Considering they are out in the elements and not even on a beach, they held up very well. The theme this year was Mystical Creatures. Here is a picture of one of the sculptures:

In the afternoon, I drove Wesley over to a nearby bike path so we could bike around part of a 6 kilometer track called Bay Run. You are probably wondering why I don’t just bike to the bike path. Well, biking uphill on busy roads with an extra 25 pounds strapped to the front of your bike is not my idea of an easy trip. Transporting the bike in the car is not all that fun, but at least it gave us the chance to bike on some flat ground for a little bit. I am still trying to get Wesley used to wearing a bike helmet…

On Sunday, we drove to Taronga Zoo which is on the north side of the harbour and looks over the city. So you can get an idea of what I mean, here is the view as you look at the giraffes:

We mainly went to the zoo to see some tiger cubs that were recently born, but we also had not been there before and it was on our Sydney Things to Do List. You might hear a lot about the list as we finish up our time here in Australia. We thought we were going to have a pretty overcast day but the clouds disappeared early and it ended up being a pretty hot day. (Welcome to weather in Sydney.) We had forgotten Wesley’s hat and sunscreen, so we ended up buying him a hat in the gift shop. Generally, the hat did not seem to bother him, but he did try to take it off every once in a while:

It is a fairly large zoo with tons of animals. I think we barely scratched the surface. Although, we did make sure to see the main attractions. Here are a couple pictures I took:

We actually planned on staying longer but the zoo did not have milk for sale which we intended to feed Wesley. Yes, you read that right…milk. So, we did have to cut our trip short but I think we might try to go later when Wesley is a little older and able to enjoy the animals a little more. Here is one more picture of him on an elephant statue: