Episode 18: One Italian, a Pinch of Burger, and the Tongue of a Roo…

August 30, 2012

During our entire trip, Maurizio, the office’s head honcho, had been our unofficial ambassador to the best of Sydney. Maurizio is Italian (obviously), a pizza aficionado, surfer and all around super guy. He took Judy and I under his wing and indoctrinated us to work/life Sydney style: Morning coffee before work, lunch at a little restaurant around the corner from the office called Primavera, and the Sydney afternoon espresso break.

He was also bad for our waistlines. Maurizio was responsible for our pizza crusade. Maurizio also led us to the 3 foot-high cardiac arrest called the Italian Burger, as well as the best Thai restaurant we’ve ever been to three nights in a row – North Sydney’s own Limelight.

When Judy said she wanted to see a kangaroo, Maurizio suggested Featherdale Wildlife Park.

The place was adorable! Little roos hopping here and there. Furry koalas… Parrots that were orange, and blue, and yellow, and red… Storks with shiny, purple faces and black long beaks standing on one leg… It was a menagerie of Australian oddities.

Judy pet the super soft Koala who couldn’t be bothered to move even an inch.

She hand-fed the roos with seeds that visitors carried inside ice cream cones. Yes, the roos ate the cones too!

Near the end of our self-guided tour, we reached a pen that housed the larger roos. They were huddled together some distance away from the path, apparently too aggressive to permit the visitors to pet. As we were looking, one stuck his tongue out at us! It was hilarious. I caught it on film. It was so hilarious that we made the rest of the day a tongue out day.