With five full days to spend in Sydney, we were looking at one of the longest stretches in a single city, and we were psyched! In case we needed any additional ammo in our arsenal of excuses for "touristing hard," my mom Lynn had flown all the way from the beautiful, foreign land of New Jersey, so we were going to do it all while in Australia's most famous city. 

So naturally, we went to the famous Taronga Zoo! Our friends and Sydney-born-and-raised locals Alex and Matt had met up with us at the Sydney Fish Market earlier that day and decided to come along to the zoo as well. 

Travel tip: one of the best things about Taronga Zoo is its location. Take the 12 minute ferry ride across to enjoy AH-MAZING views of the harbor and the Opera House as you cruise into and/or out of Circular Quay, the city's main harbor port. 

The zoo has so many animals, from elephants and giraffes to native species like emus, kangaroos and koalas. We took tons of photos, but these are the highlights. How cute is that baby gorilla?!

Even though we'd see many of Australia's most famous critters in the wild in the coming weeks, we just couldn't wait. There was one animal in particular that I had been waiting my whole life to see in person. (Anyone who knows me knows it was the PLATYPUS!) It was dark in the platypus building, so we don't have photos! But no worries, it's just an excuse to seek out at least one more platypus encounter before we leave Australia!