Saturday, March 25, 2006

Crikey!

March 24th, 2006:

Crikey! What would a visit to Australia be without visiting Australia's most famous son Steve Irwine of the TV show "The Crocodile Hunter" and his famous Zoo "The Australia Zoo"? The man and his Zoo are quickly becoming as famous as kangaroos and koalas, both of which are available at the zoo.

I went with Australian Day Tours again for this trip and this included a return trip to/from the zoo and an entry ticket.

The zoo itself is set on spacious, lush grounds. We arrived at 10:45AM which was perfect timing for the start of the daily shows in a big auditorium at 11:00AM. First off was a snake show where they demonstrated various snakes and what to do if bitten by one. Next up was a tiger show which explained how endangered these cats are. The third show had exotic birds flying around the auditorium and lastly was the Croc show. Sadly, the man himself was off filming elsewhere (though I did nearly bash into his wife later in the day...), so it was a normal person who did the show and he demonstrated what a croc does when feeding (or, more specifically when being fed). It was worth watching but the demonstrator, being normal, lacked the zaniness of Steve Irwine.

The zoo also featured many enclosed areas where you could walk amongst the birds and animals. So, there was a kangaroo park area where you could mingle with and feed kangaroos. Similarly there was a koala area where you could get up close to koalas and lastly there was an enclosed avian area where tropical birds flew overhead or hid in the trees. There were many other creatures at the zoo and all areas appeared to have been elaborately designed to make its inhabitants as comfortable as possible.

I found it all to be a nice, relaxing way to spend the day and it was great to finally meet kangaroos and koalas.