Feeding Kangaroos and Giraffes, Staring Contests with Emus, and an Egret Walks into a Cafeteria? - I'm still raving about this experience, because I've never been to a zoo quite like this! It started out with a beautiful ferry ride from the Opera House Quay and directly after buying tickets, we came super close to a sea lion! This closeness ended up becoming the “theme” of the park, in which we spent a full day interacting with animals in open enclosures or at least getting much closer to them than you would in the U.S.  This is an absolute must-do in Sydney. TIP 1: I recommend you spend the extra money to go "behind the scenes" and pet the kangaroos, and other animals.  It's something I wish I had done. TIP 2: Take the dusk ferry back so you can get beautiful shots of the Opera House while the sun is setting!

A Baby Koala, A New Reptile House But No More Elephants - We go regularly y to Taronga Zoo, using the Family Flex Pass. It’s tremendous value for locals and can be used by any family member as long as they attend with the children. We love it and it allows us to make frequent short visits. One important thing know before you visit is that the zoo is set over a steep slope, overlooking Sydney Harbour. If you are catching the ferry from Circular Quay (which we do sometimes), then you face an uphill climb. It’s a good idea to jump on the bus to the upper entrance and make your way gradually downhill back to the ferry. Taronga has also recently introduced a new ‘zoo train’ which you can also catch up to the top (it replaces the old cable cars). It’s free with a pass or membership, otherwise there’s a charge. If you’re driving, then the carpark is at the top entrance and the zoo train is the best way of getting back up when you’re ready to go home. If you haven’t visited recently, there have been several changes that you’ll notice. Sadly, we have lost the zoo elephants. They have packed their trunks (haha) and headed to the South Australian zoo which has a larger herd. They leave a real gap. There is also a great new reptile centre. Perhaps the most incredible creature here is the gigantic, prehistoric-like alligator snapping turtle. It’s even more fearsome than the snakes and it always seems to hover right up against the glass. The Australian section, ‘Nura Diya’, with its open spaces and close-up experience of native animals is impressive. Kangaroos and wallabies graze in front of you with no fences in between and emus just stroll casually past you. An elevated boardwalk allowed us to see the koalas at eye level. On this visit there must have been a dozen koalas within clear view and several were very active, climbing trees, and yanking branches down to pull off a whole mouthful of gum leaves. There was even a tiny baby koala snuggling into a nook on a gum tree.

Worth the visit - What a wonderful zoo. All the Australian animals are here as well as others. You can get very close to the koalas, etc. they even have a little Platypus! They have a bird show and a sea lion show that are great, the kids will love it!

The zoo is so beautiful and has diverse cute animals - The zoo is so beautiful as it’s located along the bay and it has a great view of the Sydney skyline. It is a home for a rich amount of different creatures. The staffs are really responsible to keep the zoo clean all the time when we were there which is quite unique as it totally beyond our expectations for a zoo. Meanwhile, it’s sustainable and humane for the living conditions of the animals living there. I saw the history of the elephant temple. The elephant show has been stopped since 30 years ago and they didn’t try to hide this dark history. Now it’s a dissonant heritage of the zoo which is quite inspiring. And the ferry we took to get there from the Circular Quay is so good. You get to see the fantastic view of the Sydney Bay with the opera house and the Harbour Bridge. You don’t want to miss this.

Wonderful zoo, plan 4-5... - Wonderful zoo, plan 4-5 hours, nice view of the city and the animals are well taken care of! Well worth the time!

Zoo visit with trip adviser - Loved the zoo. Was disappointed that the tickets were in US dollars with no advice. So cost was actually alot more than if I had paid at the zoo.

Visiting Several Unique Animals - I really enjoyed visiting this zoo; unfortunately the signs leading to different sections are a bit unclear to me. I wonder whether the signs and the way they were designed have a cross cultural implication, this is my first visit to the country, no wonder I walked around quite a bit. However, I got to see coala bears, feeding of pink kangaroos, seals, beautiful birds (including Australia pelicans), short beaked echidna, primates, silkie chickens, ...Despite having difficulties finding where I wanted to go, the whole experience is very pleasant.

A Bit Sad and Rundown - I went on a cold, foggy Monday morning. The zoo seemed a bit tired and run down. I felt for the animals with many visitors banging on glass or fences trying to attract their attention for their personal gratification even though there are signs asking not to do this. The chimpanzees sat huddled with their backs to the crowds. I hadn’t realised the zoo is built on a steep hill over 4-5 tiers, so there are many stairs and escalators. The giraffes had the best enclosure with Sydney in the background. We caught the ferry there and back which was fun. The bird show was a spectacular highlight! As was the wild kookaburra who swooped down and snatched a piece of someone’s chicken from under his nose.

If you love animals skip this Zoo it will only make you sad. - Dated zoo, very small enclosures with animals pacing back and forth. The view back to the city is great, but that's the only good thing about the place. Poor quality, overpriced food full of bin chickens.

Where are the animals? - Where are the animals? Visited on a Monday mid morning. It is a lovely setting but very few animals to be seen. Maybe this was due to the weather (27) and time of day. Saw a solitary lion, no tigers, no elephants. Signage could have been better. Cafe and food were good as was access from the ferry but you do have to pay for the bus from ferry to front entrance. Overall very disappointed.