Wild times at Taronga Zoo
Brights lights, big city and cute creatures on an urban Sydney safari.
Guests enjoying the Sunday evening dinner sitting at Taronga’s Wildlife Retreat are distracted, staring out the windows and filling the room with “ooohs” and “wows”. The food is delicious and the decor delightful, but they aren’t the source of their excitement. Me-Gal restaurant, the stunning circular venue at the heart of Taronga’s high-end accommodation offering, looks across the harbour towards Sydney’s CBD. There, against the canvas of the night sky near the Opera House, hundreds of little coloured lights are creating intricate 3D images.
The Star Trek Enterprise flies into view, followed by a Paw Patrol puppy and a Top Gun fighter jet. There’s Kenny from South Park. Oh my god, the lights killed Kenny. The restaurant erupts with laughter. The one-off show has been put together by Paramount Studios as part of Vivid Sydney using 600 carefully choreographed drones fitted with LEDs. In less than 10 minutes the display is over but we sit, mesmerised, as the changing colours of the Harbour Bridge and office towers reflect in the water.
Meanwhile, down in the grounds of the zoo, the animals are tucked away out of sight for the night but the darkened pathways are alive with creatures. Families are swarming around glowing lanterns shaped like bees, cicadas, gorillas, jellyfish and more. The Wild Lights experience is a ticketed zoo event open to all for the duration of the festival but Wildlife Retreat guests can skip the queues, hopping straight on to the Sky Pass cable car for a birds’ eye view of the action before strolling around.
The lanterns are impressive but they’re not a patch on the real thing, many of which live virtually within reach of guests of Wildlife Retreat at Taronga. The complex, a not-for-profit but luxurious enterprise comprising 62 guestrooms and suites in five lodges, each named for an Australian animal, opened in October 2019 to great fanfare. Designed by Philip Cox’s Cox Architecture, it sits lightly on Cammeraigal country, with concrete, steel and timber creating a harmonious haven just a short ferry ride from the CBD.
The natural world is ever-present in the calming interiors, especially in the round N’gurra Lounge, where standing lamps are topped with twiggy nests and resemble the lanky legs of water birds; petite lights in the shape of regent honeyeaters hang from the ceiling; the bar and reception counter are adorned with tiles that resemble gum leaves. At the retreat’s heart is the Sanctuary, a spacious open-air enclosure with a man-made creek and garden beds filled with native flora, verdant from Sydney’s long soaking.
On an afternoon tour with guides Jane and Ryan, we have barely walked five paces before an echidna boldly waddles down the path, sniffing at shoes and prams as we stand transfixed. Tammar wallabies, rescued from Kangaroo Island after the bushfires, hop around the undergrowth. We learn that when water was in scarce supply on KI, they called on their “superpower” ability to process salt water to survive. A shy bettong ventures out to munch on corn while long-nosed potoroos pootle in the leaf litter. Jane tells us how zookeepers were surprised when some of the five female red-necked pademelons from the Byron Bay region suddenly had babies, despite the absence of a male in the Sanctuary. The clever marsupials can put a pregnancy on pause, waiting until conditions are suited to new life. And then there are the short-finned eels, which travel 5000km to New Caledonia to spawn, the babies hitching a ride on bullsharks to return to Sydney.
“You can’t make this stuff up. Every animal’s got a story,” Ryan says. And the best storyteller of them all has to be Echo, a superb lyrebird that used to reside in Taronga’s aviary. When he started being amorous with human visitors, an enforced “time out” saw him banished to a space adjacent to the Sanctuary. You’ve got to give him credit for trying, though. He’s still attempting to impress any ladies within earshot with his remarkable mimicking of fire alarms and babies crying, while flaunting his feathers and dancing from side to side.
In the early morning, with the sun’s golden rays reflecting off high-rises across the harbour, Echo is back at it, emitting car alarm wails, kookaburra and curlew calls and the static of two-way radios. Contrary to what you might think, it’s an utterly enchanting sound to wake up to. As I take in the view, a koala waddles across the ground of the enclosure beneath my window to snuggle in the crook of a nearby tree.
We head to Wollemi Aviary, the second largest enclosure of its kind in the southern hemisphere, on another guided tour. Scaly-breasted parrots have congregated noisily in a sunny corner. They shoot like arrows over our heads and harass a brush-tailed wallaby, which then hops over to assess its human audience with gentle brown eyes and a remarkable lack of fear. A platypus emerges from a watery hideout to briefly show off its swimming ability and a Tasmanian devil creeps out of its den for a snack.
Which reminds us, we haven’t had breakfast yet. It’s time to head back to Me-Gal. Thanks Taronga – it’s been wild.
More to the story
Stay in style for Vivid Sydney:
■ Its location at Walsh Bay places Pier One Sydney Harbour in easy reach of three vibrant installations: Celestial, Ephemeral Oceanic and Light Sentinels. The hotel has a Discover package for two that includes two nights’ accommodation, daily breakfast, $100 dining credit and welcome bubbles; from $499 a night.
■ Crown Towers Sydney at Barangaroo has first-class seats to the festival in its Opera King rooms. Stay one night and enjoy a bottle of Piper-Heidsieck, buffet breakfast at Epicurean, valet parking and a noon checkout; from $1100 a room.
■ Sydney Harbour Marriott Hotel at Circular Quay’s Vivid package puts guests in the picture with an upgrade to an Opera House or Bridge View room. Also included are daily breakfast and a $100 dining voucher; from $449 a night, twin-share. The hotel is also hosting a laneway exhibit, lounge and dinner.
■ Get a different perspective on the lights from Crowne Plaza Sydney Darling Harbour, which is offering $50 dining credits on midweek stays that make use of the state government’s $50 Stay NSW or NSW Parent vouchers; from $258 a night (midweek) in a classic room.
■ Take in views of the illuminated Harbour Bridge from InterContinental Sydney, in the old Treasury Building, built in 1851. The InterContinental also invites guests to use the $50 Stay NSW or NSW Parent vouchers; two complimentary bottles of wine and a gourmet treat are included; from $445 a night (midweek) in a King Harbour Bridge View Room.
■ BridgeClimb Sydney has several offerings that make the most of the spectacle, including a two-hour night-time photography masterclass with Glen McKimmin ($199), and a Pylon & Picasso art session ($109) conducted on the southeast pylon. The three-hour Vivid Climb experience has participants in prime viewing position when the lights go on; adults $288.
In the know
The Ultimate Package at Wildlife Retreat at Taronga includes afternoon Sanctuary tour, morning Wollemi Aviary tour, three-course dinner and breakfast at Me-Gal restaurant, two-day access to the zoo and parking; from $729 a night, twin-share; accessible rooms available. As a not-for-profit operation, the retreat supports the work of Taronga Conservation Society Australia. The Vivid Sydney add-on package features VIP access to Wild Lights, Sky Pass tickets on the cable car, cocktail and in-room gift; an additional $109 a person. For non-guests, tickets to Wild Lights are $26.95 for adults, $19.95 children, $24.26 concessions; entry at 5.30pm and 7.30pm.
Penny Hunter was a guest of Wildlife Retreat at Taronga.
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