Preschooler SSG and I took advantage of the last Sunday of the April school holidays and used it to visit Taronga Zoo via the ferry.

The weather was perfect and we started the day with a sneaky bottle of soft drink (me) and a Dory ice cream (Preschooler SSG).

There was plenty to see before we even got to visiting our favourite animal friends.  Vice President Pence, his family and their massive entourage had similar plans to ours.

There were police at the ferry stop, a motorcade in front of the bus and those particular looking men with neat dark suits, closely cut hair and a tendency to speak into their wrists all over the place.  Police were discretely standing in the bushes (see photo of what looks like nothing but tree tops above the motorcade photos) and the suits did their best to blend into the crowd of casually dressed for an autumn summer day families.

Satisfied that his beloved giraffes were being well fed by their keepers, Preschooler SSG heeded the siren call of the water…

a paddling pool with probably the view to end all views from paddling pools in Australia.

Meanwhile, I looked on from the sidelines as I guarded the last of the 3 spare sets of clothes I’d brought along in my trusty red ‘excursion’ back pack.

Do you reckon that if I wish long and hard enough that this weather will stay with us all through winter as well?

It’s worth a try.

Our next stop was the seal observation deck.  Where we were lucky enough to spot this seal basking on a favourite ledge of rock.

The fairy penguins next door were swimming at a more blink (or fiddle around with your iPhone) and you’ll miss them pace.  We managed to catch this solo penguin skimming across the top of our frame.

To finish of our visit, you guessed it, more water based play.

Preschooler SSG was oblivious to the farm animal feeding session that was taking place next to him because he had this play area to tackle.

The troughs of water are meant to be pump filled by the children but were also being climbed into and sat in by quite a few.  But somehow, as most things eventually do when a mass of preschoolers descend upon them, it worked.  Those who weren’t keen on getting into the troughs were happy to pump and splash around those who did.  There was plenty of water for everyone.

You can’t say goodbye to the zoo without hugging a koala on your way out.

And then we were homeward bound.  Past the Opera House with its extra vice presidential security detail and onwards to the train at Circular Quay.