If asked what I found most interesting during our three days in Sydney you might find it a bit different to hear that I was completely intrigued by the airborne creatures and not the traditional sights more familiar to most.

While I found images like the famous bridge and Sydney Opera House good for a photo opportunity or two, it was the birds and bats of Sydney that captivated me.

We flew into Sydney on a Qantas flight with seats near the wing so the engine was in my line of sight for much of the flight. I noted to John that our plane had Roll Royce engines which was unlike any airplane that I had flown on in the past.

Rolls Royce Engine On Our Qantas Flight

I was a bit alarmed to see that the day after we arrived another Qantas flight out of London headed to Sydney had a problem with its Rolls Royce engine where pieces of it fell off. I hate flying anyway so I did a bit of obsessing about our flight in December when we fly on Qantas from New Zealand to America before deciding to leave it to the Qantas folks to sort it out. Everything about our Qantas experience personally has been good so I am going to go with the assumption that our flight home for the holiday’s will be as well.

Going back to my topic of birds and bats, this little bird kept trying to steal my banana bread when we first arrived. We had stopped for a coffee and a bite to eat in the  Botanic Garden on our walk to our hotel room and I was amazed by the bird sounds and sights all around us.

Sitting with our backpacks while John went inside for our coffee, I saw something that looked unusual from my chair in the shade and I could barely wait for him to come back so I could move in for a closer look.

Fox-faced bats were everywhere and I sought out a volunteer the next day who gave me an education regarding these bats and the problems they are causing for the park with tree destruction as well as the safe way they intend to relocate many of them to another location. They are protected and as I learned, play an important role in plant pollination.

Rainbow Lorikeet

The Rainbow Lorikeets I saw were using their brush-tipped tongues to get to the nectar in the pink flowers above. According to the people who work in the Botanic Gardens in Sydney, the nectar ferments in the heat and makes the already noisy and gregarious birds even more vocal as it makes them a bit drunk.

Sulphur-crested Cockatoo

This was just one of the Sulphur-crested Cockatoos that we saw all over Sydney. I was surprised at first, but quickly became used to seeing these large noisy birds that can live up to 100 years.

I will be back with more fun things to share about Sydney a bit later as it’s time to explore Auckland, New Zealand where we woke up to blue skies and a view of the water this morning.