Opened in late 2006, Sydney Wildlife World shook the tourism world when it announced it would house several thousand animals -- a veritable Noah's Ark? Well, no, unless you count all the insects that is, and leave elephants and most of the other large creatures to be stranded over at Taronga Zoo. Still, this place has some highlights, and you can get quite close to several of the animals, including kangaroos. You get to see a cassowary up close (a flightless bird about the size of an emu, but armed with a dangerous spiked toe) and some endangered yellow-footed rock wallabies. Throw in a few snakes and lizards, some smaller birds, a few nocturnal marsupials and, of course, the inevitable koala, and you have a collection that becomes worth the entry money to see them.