I must admit I was a bit unsure about Australia Zoo. It's done such a good job of selling itself over the years, I thought disappointment might be the order of the day. And the crass commercialism might be a bit much for me, and would they actually be treating the animals humanely?
It wasn't really like that though. It was a rather better, more rewarding, and at times quite a spectacular experience. I thought it was well worth the unusually large entrance fee. And I've no doubt its educational value and the conservation activities it carries out do indeed outweigh any indignities inflicted on the odd individual animal.
There are of course animals from all over the world, in mostly generous enclosures. You can spend most of a day strolling the grounds. You get to see (and pet) beautiful non-venomous snakes, and the enthusiastic young Bindi look-alikes show off their eagles, owls, and kookaburras for you.
There are feeding shows involving many of the animals, which include a respectable collection of tigers.
The enormous 'Crocoseum' stadium was the location for the most spectacular event. Not only were crocodiles wrangled, but there was the most unexpected display of bird wrangling, the like of which I'd never before witnessed. A series of parrots mainly, did amazing tricks, like high-speed aerial acrobatics. One red tailed black cockatoo even stole a $5 note from a designated audience member, and then returned it to her!
Here it is flying up to grab it.
Now it's on its way back to return it.
The crocodile feeding was a bit of an anticlimax, maybe because Australia Zoo founder Steve Irwin was filmed doing so much of it.
A good day out anyway. Five stars. Crikey!
