One of the items on Abby's bucket list while we were in Australia was to go to Steve Irwin's Zoo, officially called the Australia Zoo. I thought the Milwaukee Zoo was beautiful, but I have to say, it truly pales in comparison to the Australia Zoo! This zoo was so incredibly beautiful! Everything about it was absolutely stunning! I can't even come up with enough adjectives to describe how incredible this zoo really is! The Irwin family definitely has a reason to be proud when it comes to this zoo. We are all familiar with the Crocodile Hunter, but here's a bit more history: The Irwin Family
Be prepared, this entry is absolutely loaded with pictures! It was much too hard to pick my favorites, so you're going to see a lot!
Our travel agent set us up on a tour with JPT Tours on the Croc Express. We were picked up at our hotel and taken to the tour headquarters where we then boarded a bus to take us to the zoo, which was about an hour away. Our driver/host has been doing this for many years and was very knowledgeable about the zoo itself. He gave us a lot of great information about the best way to tour the zoo and get the most out of our day at the zoo.
Here's our first view of the zoo at the entrance.
One of the first things we saw was this bird. I have no idea what kind it is, but anyone that knows me knows I love birds, so here you go!
Remember I said how fascinated I was with the Staghorn Ferns growing on the trees at the Botanic Gardens in Brisbane? Well, they are even more incredible and absolutely GIGANTIC here!
We started out by making our our way to the African Savannah Exhibit, as we had booked to have pictures taken with the Giraffes. The zoo has a boatload of "animal encounters" that you can participate in for an extra fee. They are very "hands on" when it comes to the animals, as it helps their conservation efforts when people fall in love with the animals.
We felt like we were in an incredible park, not a zoo! It was just so beautiful!
The Rhinos were resting comfortably in the shade.
There was another "animal encounter" happening here!
The picture below is Bindi's Island Treehouse!
Who doesn't love zebras!
OK, Greg, we're taking a selfie here! Try to look alive, would you?! Sheesh! (Ha, ha!) In his defense, it was incredibly hot! And I mean REALLY hot! For the first time in my life, I actually got sunburned on my head! I didn't realize it until the next night, when I was rubbing my head, wondering why it hurt. For you ladies out there, it felt like I had worn a barrett or ponytail too tight -- that kind of pain. I looked in a mirror and discovered I actually had sunburn in my part! That has NEVER happened before! But, we were basically in the tropics, and the sun is much hotter there than at home in Wisconsin!
We were sitting here waiting for our encounter with the giraffes, along with a bunch of other folks.
One of the other people waiting for their encounter offered to take a picture for us! Thank you kind stranger! Greg looks a little better this time!
The staff are getting ready for our animal encounter! The giraffe we had our picture taken with was pretty smart. He's been doing this a while and knew that he was going to get some of his favorite yummy leaves, so he was heading over to us while we were getting ready for the pictures! I don't recall the type of leaves we had for the giraffe, but when I asked about it, the guide stated that everything the animals eat is locally sourced, and is part of the rules governing the zoo.
It was so amazing to be this close to a giraffe and feed it!
The zoo has all kinds of animals being walked around by their keepers to give people a chance to learn about the incredible animals that we share this planet with!
We had to get to the other side of the zoo to get to the Crocoseum for the show! It's not just crocodiles, though! While there is a lot of room in the Crocoseum, we were there on a weekday, and it's now the slow season, as it's so hot in Australia at this time of year! You'll notice that the front seats (without cover) are empty, as folks really wanted to sit in the shade!
The smaller bird here is actually a wild bird! Apparently it has learned that there are treats to be found here! LOL
TIME FOR SOME
CROCODILES!
CRIKEY!
This croc is freaking HUGE! Enjoy the videos below! They're all pretty short, but very cool to watch!
They have a pretty awesome kiddie pool area that was well used in the heat on this day. We even saw one little boy who was nekkid (not in any of my pictures!)! Nobody cared or batted an eye at that. Can you imagine if that was here in Wisconsin, or anywhere in the States? People would have lost their ever-lovin' minds!
Next up were the dingoes! Greg gave the whistle he gives to our dogs. I scoffed at him when he did that, but the damned things actually came over to us when he did that!!! What the heck?! Who'd have thunk it??? Certainly not ME! Yea, I paid for that. Ha!
Tasmanian Devils are the largest living carnivorous marsupial in Australia. I did not know they were marsupials. Did you?
They sure have some funky creatures here! This is a Shingleback lizard. The sign below says they are related to blue tongued skinks, but I'll darned if I knew what that was!
Another encounter! The largest raptor in Australia is this beautiful Wedge Tailed Eagle.
Who wants to hold a Koala Bear?!
A "fresh" Koala is being delivered here. To protect the animals, the koalas are only allowed 30 minutes of handling at a time. They are taken to trees to rest and refresh themselves.
In the picture below, the caretaker is explaining to me how to hold my hands to properly hold the koala.
It was so incredible to hold this beautiful creature! They cling to you just like a human baby! Their fur is so soft!!!! I hated having to give him up when we were done!
Abby had her own Koala Encounter!
At various trees within the zoo, you'll come upon these signs!
And sure enough! There really was!!!!! Sometimes you really had to look for them, because they were camouflaged so well!
Did you say Kangaroo? Yep, this was "Roo Heaven!"
Roo Heaven kind of reminded me of petting zoos with goats and deer. The shops at the zoo sell bags of food so you can feed them. I thought they would be like goats, and really gobble the food up. I was surprised at how docile they were! I also thought their fur would be much coarser, like a deer, but it's really super soft!
Even Greg made a friend!
Just another cool bird!
Some more of those fabulous Elkhorn Ferns and more of the beauty of this incredible zoo!!!
Next up was the funkiest looking bird ever! The CASSOWARY! It's name is even funky! These prehistoric looking birds are a smaller than an ostrich, but wowsers, check out those legs and feet! That "thing" on it's head is called a "casque" and grows with age. The largest are found on this particular species, the double-wattled cassowary, which are found here in Northeastern Australia in the Rainforest. Interestingly, the females are brighter and more colorful than the males. Probably because the males are the ones to sit on the eggs (for 50-52 days) and raise the young for about nine months after they hatch.
Cassowaries can run at up to 31 mph through the dense forest and can jump up to 4.9 ft.! They are good swimmers, crossing wide rivers and even swimming in the sea! Cassowaries feed on the fruit of several hundred rainforest species and usually pass viable seeds in large dense scats. They are known to disperse seeds over distances greater than a kilometre, and thus play an important role in the ecosystem. Germination rates for seeds of the rare Australian rainforest tree Ryparosa were found to be much higher after passing through a cassowary's gut (92% versus 4%)!
The Binturong is an interesting little animal with an interesting "smell!"
As a bird lover, and having owned Joey (my Red-Lored Amazon Parrot) for over 30 years, I just can't imagine living in an area where these gorgeous creatures actually live in the wild! This bird here is a yellow-tailed black cockatoo.
Meet Daisy the American Alligator!
And then there's Fang 1, another American Alligator!
The Rhinoceros Iguana gets it's name from the horn on the end of it's nose.
Inside one of the shop areas! We didn't even notice it at first! Crikey! That's a big croc!!!!
They even have Bindi's Mirror Ball Trophy from Dancing with the Stars and the dress she wore in the finale on display! As fans of the show, it was so cool to see these, and totally unexpected!
And who doesn't want their picture taken with a gigantic crocodile when at the Australia Zoo!
All in all, it was an absolutely FABULOUS day at the Australia Zoo! It was hot. Very, very hot. It was hot enough and there was enough walking involved that Greg started to have a really difficult time. Abby and I had a bunch of shopping to do, so we found a place for Greg to sit down in the air conditioned gift shop while we did our shopping.
Our final picture from the zoo -- you know how everyone loves to take pictures of their exhausted children after a big day? Well, here's Greg! LOL (It looks like the woman behind him is pretty exhausted, too!)
Hope you all enjoyed sharing our day at the Australia Zoo!
Love, peace and prayers to all!
Julie and Greg (and Abby!)
A "fresh" Koala is being delivered here. To protect the animals, the koalas are only allowed 30 minutes of handling at a time. They are taken to trees to rest and refresh themselves.
In the picture below, the caretaker is explaining to me how to hold my hands to properly hold the koala.
It was so incredible to hold this beautiful creature! They cling to you just like a human baby! Their fur is so soft!!!! I hated having to give him up when we were done!
Abby had her own Koala Encounter!
At various trees within the zoo, you'll come upon these signs!
And sure enough! There really was!!!!! Sometimes you really had to look for them, because they were camouflaged so well!
Did you say Kangaroo? Yep, this was "Roo Heaven!"
Roo Heaven kind of reminded me of petting zoos with goats and deer. The shops at the zoo sell bags of food so you can feed them. I thought they would be like goats, and really gobble the food up. I was surprised at how docile they were! I also thought their fur would be much coarser, like a deer, but it's really super soft!
Even Greg made a friend!
Just another cool bird!
Some more of those fabulous Elkhorn Ferns and more of the beauty of this incredible zoo!!!
Next up was the funkiest looking bird ever! The CASSOWARY! It's name is even funky! These prehistoric looking birds are a smaller than an ostrich, but wowsers, check out those legs and feet! That "thing" on it's head is called a "casque" and grows with age. The largest are found on this particular species, the double-wattled cassowary, which are found here in Northeastern Australia in the Rainforest. Interestingly, the females are brighter and more colorful than the males. Probably because the males are the ones to sit on the eggs (for 50-52 days) and raise the young for about nine months after they hatch.
Cassowaries can run at up to 31 mph through the dense forest and can jump up to 4.9 ft.! They are good swimmers, crossing wide rivers and even swimming in the sea! Cassowaries feed on the fruit of several hundred rainforest species and usually pass viable seeds in large dense scats. They are known to disperse seeds over distances greater than a kilometre, and thus play an important role in the ecosystem. Germination rates for seeds of the rare Australian rainforest tree Ryparosa were found to be much higher after passing through a cassowary's gut (92% versus 4%)!
As for eating the cassowary, it is supposed to be quite tough. Australian administrative officers stationed in New Guinea were advised that it "should be cooked with a stone in the pot: when the stone is ready to eat so is the Cassowary" (Cassowary are protected species, so obviously, this is a very old observation!) I'll have more pictures in a future post on the Daintree Rainforest, where we were fortunate enough to see a couple Cassowaries in the wild!
The Binturong is an interesting little animal with an interesting "smell!"
As a bird lover, and having owned Joey (my Red-Lored Amazon Parrot) for over 30 years, I just can't imagine living in an area where these gorgeous creatures actually live in the wild! This bird here is a yellow-tailed black cockatoo.
Meet Daisy the American Alligator!
And then there's Fang 1, another American Alligator!
The Rhinoceros Iguana gets it's name from the horn on the end of it's nose.
Inside one of the shop areas! We didn't even notice it at first! Crikey! That's a big croc!!!!
They even have Bindi's Mirror Ball Trophy from Dancing with the Stars and the dress she wore in the finale on display! As fans of the show, it was so cool to see these, and totally unexpected!
And who doesn't want their picture taken with a gigantic crocodile when at the Australia Zoo!
All in all, it was an absolutely FABULOUS day at the Australia Zoo! It was hot. Very, very hot. It was hot enough and there was enough walking involved that Greg started to have a really difficult time. Abby and I had a bunch of shopping to do, so we found a place for Greg to sit down in the air conditioned gift shop while we did our shopping.
Our final picture from the zoo -- you know how everyone loves to take pictures of their exhausted children after a big day? Well, here's Greg! LOL (It looks like the woman behind him is pretty exhausted, too!)
Hope you all enjoyed sharing our day at the Australia Zoo!
Love, peace and prayers to all!
Julie and Greg (and Abby!)
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