Australia Zoo

Crikey!  We saw the Irwins!

Our day at the Australia Zoo

As the kids are fans of "Crikey! It's the Irwins," and maybe the adults in the house too... we decided to take our layover in Brisbane instead of Sydney. 

With a bit of animal care experience in my background, I had high expectations.  This day did not disappoint; I can say it was the best zoo experience I have ever had.  The Irwin's are clearly passionate about animal conservation and making life-long memories with up close encounters of animals. All of this was tied up nicely with a bow when you factored in visitor & animal safety along with an educational and entertainment perspective.


About 30 seconds after we walked through the gate, we had an up close encounter with this adorable echidna.  We discovered that Steve Irwin set two very important standards with all the animals.  All food fed to the animals must be of human grade quality and must be sourced locally. 

As we turned the corner, we saw our first koala as a family.  Ali and Ethan had been so excited to finally see one up close. We stopped for a picture and the kids got to see how truly soft and sleepy a koala is.  Public service announcement: they are not bears.  Repeat. Do not call them koala bears.  Passing on per the locals. Thank you.

 

Ethan had been very curious about snakes in Australia.  This turned out to be a very educational experience for him.  He got a hands-on experience and learned about all the venomous and non-venomous species of snakes and where they are located in the country. 


Seeing this King Cobra and Death Adder was frankly quite chilling. But, I will say, we are in luck.  Of approximately 100 venomous snakes in Australia, there are only 2 venomous snakes around Perth. That's not so bad...

The Tasmanian Devils were very active, which was a treat as they are nocturnal.    

The dingo's were well behaved and not stealing anyone's babies.  One dingo actually walked over to one of the keepers, looked up and wagged it's tail.  It made me homesick for Maggie.  During the croc show that we watched later, they were being led around on a leash. 

The wombats are very curious, especially seeing them up close.  A couple of unusual facts: 

• They are marsupials (but their pouch is backwards)
• Their poop is cube shaped 
• Teeth continually grow
• They walk with a waddle and have adorable faces
• Weigh up to 88 pounds 

The Crocoseum

Yes!  This is Terry Irwin, making the late Steve Irwin proud, I'm sure.  This was a little too close for my comfort watching this enormous croc named Graham being fed.  Graham has attacked 2 people before and was very aggressive in his style today in front of us.  


Robert Irwin was not shy either.  He easily picked up this smaller croc without hesitation and was also involved directly with Graham.  What a show! Besides the amazing work demonstrating the death roll and tail walking, they also had birds flying throughout the crocoseum and the banter on stage between everyone was hilarious.  

We didn't get to see Bindi, unfortunately, as she was helping with a sea turtle that had been admitted to the animal hospital earlier that morning. 

Roo Heaven 

Entering "Roo Heaven" pretty much put Ethan in heaven.  We came back to this exhibit no less than 4 times. It was amazing to see this many roo's lying around digging holes to stay cooler.                                   

Once in awhile, one would get up and hop away and then other's would follow suit and join in on the chase.  It was quite alarming to have a large kangaroo come within a couple feet of you while moving at a pretty good clip.  

They always seemed to appreciate a good scratch behind the ears and a handful of pellets.  Roo's will stop eating when full unlike most animals.

We had a lovely day at the Australia Zoo and would highly recommend it.  

We also appreciated all that the Irwin's and other staff members were doing for all the animals in the bush fires.  

There are so many precious animals in Australia and the bush fires have been destroying so much.  We found this reputable charity to give to.  Every little bit helps.