Twinning Around Australia: May 19 - Australia Zoo with comments by Mr C and Mr L

Mr L and Mr C’s comments

"We were out of our minds – you don’t see crocodiles being fed every day, owls awake in the day and the trained vulture was epically cool. We think the crocodiles were the best bit of the zoo, their jaws have almighty power and they are fierce animals. You should definitely go to Africa and Bindi’s Island which are a long way from the entrance. Africa has African animals and Bindi’s Island has a three storey tree house.

We also learned about tigers at the Tiger Temple and that they are endangered - Asian tigers are no longer found in the wild and there aren't many Indian tigers left. We can help save the tigers by not eating products made with palm oil because they destroy the tiger habitats to get the palm trees for their oil".

It is interesting how being a parent changes your choice of destinations. I have been to the Sunshine Coast on many occasions and even lived in Brisbane for 6 months and did not have the desire to visit Australia Zoo. However, it had always been on our list for this trip and the boys were very keen to go. The other cool thing about a zoo, is when the weather is cool and drizzly the zoo is the place to be. Queues, what queues, not many people go in wet weather. But animals move about to keep warm instead of finding a shady spot and sleeping. We had some light drizzle in the morning which cleared away to a fine afternoon.

We easily spent the whole day at the zoo and still missed a couple of the enclosures. This zoo is easy to get around and there are a lot of animal presentations and even a show in the main auditorium. There is a lot about Steve, Bindy and Robert, but mostly it is still all about Steve, oh and the animals. The staff walked around with animals letting the kids and adults touch and pat them, and there was always a handy photographer nearby just in case you wanted to buy that special shot. However, they do let you take your own which was great.

The show was probably the highlight of our day. Firstly, it wasn’t just crocs, there were really cool birds, doing cool things, snakes, a dingo, and yes the crocs – one small one for fun and Monty a SERIOUS croc. The kids were spell bound the whole time, actually so was David.

But really for 7 year old twin boys a zoo is all about the animals and there were many more than we had expected. It was also nice that one of the exhibits had no fences between people and animals (not the crocs or tigers) so we were able to get really close to the lemurs in particular. This is a big zoo and we walked away really feeling that we had got our money’s worth (although entry like all zoos is not cheap).