A zoo called Zoom

It's not only a zoo. It offers 'adrenaline-pumping activities' too, involving high altitude obstacle courses and zip line rides above enormous live crocodiles.

It's in a dome on top of the roof of Cairns casino, and it's much more fun to visit than the gaming rooms downstairs could possibly be.

The animals are mostly free to roam the place, or at least the birds are. They have their preferred areas and best friends, like this king parrot and koala.


Several crocodiles, and useful explanations about the freshwater and saltwater and their differences.

We watched  two young tourists doing the full 'Hi-Zoom' experience. They successfully traversed a long sequence of scary-looking high altitude experiences. They were securely harnessed and attached, but they were a long way up at times, and I hesitated long enough to talk myself out of giving it a go myself.



 If I ever get back to Cairns though......

Count me!

It's been Aussie Backyard Bird Count Week again, and yours truly has been doing his bit. In my case it involves sitting on my roof (I love my roof), for 20 minutes at a time, noting down all the birds that turn up in my field of view.

It goes like this. Noisy Miner, Noisy Miner, ...........Kookaburra, Noisy Miner, Sulphur Crested Cockatoo, ..........a wattle bird or two, .........and what were those little things flitting overhead so quick?  And then another Noisy Miner.

The results go online immediately, and 2017 statistics can be viewed here:  https://aussiebirdcount.org.au/statistics/

The full 2016 results are here: https://aussiebirdcount.org.au/2016-results/
Australia-wide, the rankings were: 1. Rainbow Lorikeet, 2. Noisy Miner, 3. Australian Magpie. Within New South Wales, it was: 1. Rainbow Lorikeet, 2. Noisy Miner, 3. Sulphur-Crested Cockatoo.

I was rigorous with my timings, and of course found that the most interesting birds appeared just after the 20 minutes was up. Look at this beautiful and amazingly cheeky King Parrot, who turned up yesterday to check out our back patio (and me), during a non-counting period.