Crickey. Its Australia Zoo!

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Having recently bought a book on venomous snakes and spiders we decided to go in search of the live species at the zoo so we could help identify them if necessary! There are ten of the most poisonous snakes in Australia some of them in Queensland so where best to go than Australia Zoo!

The drive north took about an hour and a half on the Steve Irwin Highway and took us pass the beautiful Table Glass Mountains surrounded by pineapple fields and vines growing on nearby slopes.

The huge signs with Steve grappling with a crocodile directed us to the entrance where a bronze sculpture of the Irwin Family greeted everyone as they entered the zoo. Among the many attractions were Cassowaries with their strange red and blue heads, Emus, Dingos and Tasmanian Devils. The crocodiles were everywhere both salt water and river all very sleepy and enjoying the warm rays from the sun. Some of the old fellas were huge not something you would want to met along a river bank!

Seb and Dominic had the opportunity to handle a 20’python for kicks! Not my idea of fund, fortunately he was quite sleepy too!!!!!!!! the other snakes we saw were all behind thick toughened glass and slithered along the other side of the glass as we peered into their enclosures. Just hope that is as close as we will ever get to some of these little or not so little fellas.

The Koalas enclosure was very interesting and we listened to a keeper informing us about the whys and wherefores of the strange little marsupials who sat wedged upon a branch of a tree eating eucalyptus leaves. They are certainly very fussy eaters and seem to live a very uninteresting life eating and sleeping at least 20 hours a day! They were certainly very cute and my favourite animal of the day. We also wandered through the wallaby and kangaroo enclosures and were amazed at how tame the animals were and how they were quite happy to be stroked and patted whilst lying on the ground. It was great to be able to get up close and personal and study them more closely. The faces on the kangaroos were most intriguing and some looked like little old men. I look forward to bringing my niece Isabel next time so she can enjoy touching the animals at close range.

The main arena event was somewhat tacky and a disappointment, since Steve Irwins death a large amount of advertising and promoting of his daughter Bindi, has taken place and you have to listen to her voice as she promotes her fitness video and adventures in the wild with her father, even the little brother is in on the act! The replacement compares guide you through the conservation programmes of the zoo and how to deal with a snake bite along with a bit of slap stick and joke telling. The snakes they bought in were just placed on the grass and left with no explanation about any of them, along with flying doves and parrots with bright primary coloured plumage and other colourful species that squawked their way around the arena. Eventually a very large crocodile was coaxed out of his watery pen and walked along the bottom of the shallow pool into the open for all to see. He was not very interested in the food the keepers were trying to give him and he remained submerged for quite some time until eventually he was enticed up out of the water and snapped up the raw chicken carcass that was being waved about in front of him. Wow what teeth he had and how fast he snapped up the meat once aroused from the watery shallows of the pool he had some pretty mean teeth and a mighty tail long. One cannot help but wander how the shows used to be when Steve performed and presented them with his continual banter and antics. And still the show goes on!!!

As far as Zoos go it was certainly the cleanest and well kept place we had seen for a long time and interesting to learn about some of the indigenous animals we will possibly encounter out in Aus. An expensive day out though but worth the trip.

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