How Ya Going?: Australia Zoo (August 29, 2008)

Neil and I decided to venture to the Australia Zoo last weekend. We went up on a Friday which was perfect because it wasn't too crowded and the weather was great! The day before, we booked a ride on the free courtesy coach that takes visitors to and from the zoo and we also bought our tickets. We hopped on the bus at about 9 am on the Friday and off we went. I slept for most of the ride there and missed some of the details but Neil was nice enough to fill me in. :)

Once we entered the zoo Neil decided that he wanted to do the elephant feeding which was at 10:30. We had about half an hour to kill and I got the chance to touch a baby alligator! It was pretty cool. They're scaly, but smooth. Apparently the zoo is raising some baby alligators for a new Everglades section that they're developing.

We saw a tortoise that was being fed by one of the keepers before heading to the feeding area. I was a bit nervous about feeding the elephants and opted to stand in the line where pictures could be taken. I maneuvered my way to the front and snapped a pretty good picture of Neil feeding Sian (si-ann) a banana. It was pretty cool. There were professional photographers there as well and they took an even better picture that we picked up later!

After the feeding we made our way to the Crocoseum for a live show. We passed some of the crocs in their 'homes' on the way there, and one of them lives with his girlfriend, which I thought was cute. Charlie and Aimee. :)

It was kind of strange sitting in the Crocoseum knowing that I was sitting at home watching the memorial service for Steve Irwin 2 years ago. It was even stranger seeing him appear on the big screen with a message for the audience. But back to the show…

The first wild animals we saw were a bunch of snakes with the most interesting one being a water snake. A clear pool is located in the middle of the stadium so that you can see everything the goes on in the water. The idea is to give the viewer a look at the animals’ natural behaviours when they’re in the water. So with the snake, it was pretty neat to see it swimming through the water.

The next group of animals they brought out were some wild birds. Macaws, parrots, cockatiels, cormorants, and a crane were some of the birds they brought out. Neil was a bit nervous with some of the birds flying around freely and one of the birds actually flew in between us. *lol* It was kind of funny seeing Neil a bit on edge. :) Just kidding!

I would have to say that the star of the show was the crocodile that they showed next. His name was Graham. And he was a big boy! Apparently they stalk they’re prey using vibrations they get from the ground around them. The head keeper or croc trainer kept stomping the ground around the pool to get his attention and you could see the crocodile’s body moving ever so slightly in the water following his ‘prey’ (who was really a trainer with food *lol*). Anyway, the trainer than managed to draw Graham out of the water for a piece of fresh meat which the trainer eventually threw at him. I know this all doesn’t make much sense, but I guess it was sort of like feeding a cat. You hold out the food and eventually it’ll open it’s mouth and you can sort of throw the food at it’s mouth and it’ll catch it mid-air. That’s what Graham did when the trainer gave him his food and you could hear the snap from his jaws eco through the Crocoseum. It was pretty cool!

They then demonstrated what’s called ‘tail walking’ which is when a crocodile pushes itself out of the water with its tail in order to catch prey that’s hanging over the water. So again, the trainer held out a piece of food for Graham from a ledge that was hanging over the water. It was caged of course, to protect the trainer and for the trainer to have something to stomp on to get his attention. It was really cool to watch the crocodile stalk his prey and then ‘jump’ out of the water at the last minute. Because the water in the pool was clear, you could see Graham’s tail working, wiggling back and forth and then straightening out when to give a push out of the water.

This brought us to the end of the show and Neil and I headed for the next ‘attraction’. As we left the building we stopped to check out a memorial of sorts, for Steve. There were racks filled with things that had been either signed or been left behind with everyone’s messages and wishes for the Irwins and the staff at the zoo. It was so strange, but so nice to see that he touched so many people and still is even now.

We then headed off to and did the 'Kangaroo walk'. Basically, it's an area dedicated to kangaroos and wallabies and you walk through and you can pet them and feed them (if you've got food for them). Unfortunately, we didn't have any food which you had to purchase at the kids zoo. Had I known, I would've been feeding them for sure!! The animals are pretty tame and being able to touch them was awesome!!! Kangaroos are surprisingly soft; I would've thought that their fur would be coarse, not as soft as they turned out to be.

After play time with the kangaroos was over (for us anyway), we head to the Tiger Temple. Unfortunately, for me, we came right in the middle of tiger play time. The trainers were about 4 trainers in the area and one of them was talking about the behaviours that tigers display in the wild, while one of the other trainers was 'playing' with the tigers, while the other two looked on. There were about 4 or 5 tigers; a mother and her cubs. And while the one trainer was talking, the other trainer was 'playing' the tigers doing what they called 'taking hits'. They'd do this amongst each other and with the trainers. Basically, a tiger will run up to another tiger and pounce, and they actually showed them doing this with the one trainer. There was also a small pond in the tigers living space that was right up against the window and this trainer would run into the water and one of the tigers would be following behind him and pounce, while the trainers watched closely. It was the coolest thing I've ever seen because they tigers just wanted to play. There was no biting, or scratching, or even growling. They were actually quite affectionate towards all the trainers, not just the one guy who was playing. Of course, the trainers explained that they still have to be careful, and they can't 'play' for too long, otherwise the animals get too riled up and that's when it becomes dangerous. I wish we had gotten there sooner just so we could've gotten more info and more pictures!

After this, we had a quick break for lunch and then, (and this was the highlight of the trip for me), we took some pictures with the koalas. We actually got to hold one and get our picture taken with it. It was amazing!!! Like the kangaroos, they're really soft. And cute!!! The one Neil and I got to hold was a 4 year old male named Leno.

Before we hopped back on the bus we got the chance to watch another crocodile feeding demonstration. It was the same as in the Crocoseum, only Neil snapped some pictures of the tale walking. Remember Charlie and Aimee from before? Well, we snapped some pictures of Charlie getting fed, while his girl, Aimee, was tanning at the other end of the pen. *lol*

At about 4:00pm we headed back to Mooloolaba.

It was a great day and we have the pics to prove it!!!

A statue of the Irwin family.

A hungry tortoise. Eat up little,...I mean, big, man.

Neil feeding an elephant.

Sian, the now happy because she was fed, elephant. :) And she does look like she's smiling.

Graham the Crocodile looking for food. Or his trainer.
Crocs Rule!!!

This is a part of the Steve Irwin memorial. There were a bunch of staff shirts with their messages to the staff and the family, hats, pictures, drawings, and newspaper articles that people gave. It was kind of strange looking at all of this stuff.