We had a quick breakfast and then headed out to the Australia Zoo along the Bruce Highway. This is not small feat as you need to negotiate at least 15 or 20 traffic circles to get out of Nossa. We get lost at least twice everytime we come or go from our hotel.
The day was overcast and a little drizzly so the drive was not as scenic as it could have been, but it was still pretty cool. Lots of hills and cliffs, thick jungle like forests, and lots and lots of 4 wheel drives on the road.
It took us about 45 minutes to get to the Zoo which is located on a scenic highway through the Glass House mountains. The road has been renamed to Steve Irwin Way since his death.
The Zoo itself is pretty big, at least as big as any other Zoo I’ve ever been to. The central and oldest part of the zoo is pretty much devoted to Crocs. This makes sense as from what I’ve ready it was originally just a croc farm / zoo. This part is surrounded by the newer sections for Kangaroos, Koalas, Snakes, and other Australian wildlife. There is also a new Asian section with elephants and tigers.
The biggest difference between this zoo and others is that it is supposed to be a very hands on experience.
For example we were letting the kids play on the free rides and trampolines in the kids area when we noticed them setting up a large area for something…we walked over and realized it was the setup for the elephant feeding.
Mel and Wyatt were fist in line to feed Bimbo the elephant. They walked right up in front of her and fed her a piece of melon and a piece of cucumber right out of their hands. Pretty cool…I later got a turn of my own.
Another example would be the kangaroo enclosure where you are free to walk up to the Roos and feed them by hand. Wyatt and the kids really enjoyed this part. I think it was the first time that Wyatt has been more interested in an animal than in the trucks and tractors at the zoo. He fed a bunch of different Kangaroos and even struck up a conversation with one while opening up the Zoo map and asking him repeatedly where the Playground was. When the Kangaroo seemed dumbfounded by the question , Wyatt went so far as to show the Kangaroo where exactly the Kangaroo park was on the map.
Other noteable activities were petting a Koala and watching the crocodile show run by Terri ( Steve Irwin’s widow ) in the Crocoseum.
I would say overall it was one of the better Zoo experiences I have had. They do not try to fool you into thinking that the animals are wild animals living in a perfectly reconstructed replica of their natural habitat. They are up front about the animals being tame and sometimes even trained. The premise they have is that if they can make you an animal lover by getting you up close to animals you might be moved to do something to help the conservation effort. Seems like a good idea.
The only bad part about the place is the fact that the Crocodile hunter is dead. It’s a little hard to walk around the place with his picture being everywhere and not feel sad for the guy. He made himself into a world wide phenomenon, built his own amusement park, started a young family, and then died. I got the feeling that his family was really trying to honour his memory by keeping things going but I fear that they might be trying just a little too hard to be like him.
After the Zoo we returned to Noosa along the SunCoast highway to see what things were like along that road. The scenery was much the same but there were some great views of the ocean once we got close to Noosa.
The traffic circles almost claimed Maddie and Julia but we stopped just in time and averted any potential disasters.
After dinner Julia and I headed out for a quick walk to check out some of Noosa. It seems to be the place to go if you are a well to do Australian in need of a second or third home and a place to store your boat. The shops and restaurants are all very nice but the prices were somewhat out of our league. When you look at a map it seems that they really have designed the city more for boats then for cars with canals and rivers everywhere so that almost every development has it’s own waterfront and marina.
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