Australia Zoo Photo Gallery

We had originally planned to just spend about half a day at the zoo, and then take a drive up into the nearby Blackball Mountains. However, after arriving shortly after the zoo opened, we soon realized with so much to see and do we would likely spend the day there. When we bought our tickets, we saw that for an additional fee, you could spend time petting and playing with some of the zoo's new residents, three Bengal tiger cubs. We couldn't resist this, and all signed up for a session with the cubs for later that afternoon.

The zoo is impeccably kept and well thought out in design and flow, but I think what impressed me the most was the quality of the staff. Everywhere you looked there were Australia Zoo staff to answer questions and more often than not taking different animals out for walks. As you walk around the zoo, you feel like you are constantly be asked if you want to touch, pet, or feed various animals. All our questions were answered pleasantly and knowledgably.

Two young Tasmanian Devils being taken for a morning walk

Feeding the elephants

Several kookaburra at the zoo

Australia Zoo staff member showing us a friendly kookaburra

Large Komodo dragon

Harriet, the 173 year old Galapagos tortoise

Young dingo out for a walk

We watched a boa demonstration and an impressive crocodile feeding demonstration at the Crocoseum, the new 5,000 seat stadium at the zoo

They demonstrated how the big saltwater crocodile, "salties" sneak up on their prey. The water in the crocoseum pond is clear so spectators can see the movements of the crocs. These 10-16' crocodiles can swim just below the surface in just a few inches of water and not make a ripple. In the usual murky water of the croc's natural habitat, a croc can easily sneak up on potential prey. They also showed how the croc will follow the vibrations of the staff members footsteps along the edge of the water. They also showed how a croc can push quite far up out of the water on its tail, in the wild the crocs can grab prey that may be sitting in the branches of trees that overhang the billabongs that the crocs call home.

Tail walk

Although, a few people do get attacked by crocs, the message of the demonstration is if you understand the crocs you can appreciate this apex predator and avoid injury. If you avoid the water and water's edge in areas where crocs live and don't climb any trees that overhang these waters, you'll remain safe.

Agro, the largest croc at the Australia Zoo and a croc warning sign found on all the croc enclosures

After being classified as a problem crocodile, Agro was caught by Steve Irwin and brought to the zoo. Agro is thought to be 30 years old, is 15 feet long and weighs 1,300 pounds. He is very aggressive and has "eaten" several lawn mowers and weed eaters, but has yet to snack on a tourist!

Our next stop was to the kangaroo pens. We had purchased several bags of roo food to feed the roos and wallabies that roam the zoo.

Kangaroo and large joey heading for the pouch

Feeding grey kangaroos, we really liked the little "hand-grabbers" that would keep you there until they finished the food

The zoo of course, has a large number of the mellow and very cute koalas

Koalas at the Australia Zoo

The Australia Zoo also had an impressive collection of snakes, many of which are quite poisonous and indigenous to Australia. The  Zoo also has a couple of huge pythons. One, Lilly, was the largest snake we had ever seen. She had to be easily over 20 feet long, and was sporting a rather large bulge in the middle from a recent goat meal!

One of Australia's more dangerous inhabitants

The zoo was home to numerous other animals, most found in Australia. We saw camels, wombats, red and grey kangaroos, all sorts of lizards, emus, dingoes, foxes, and the very odd looking cassowaries.

Cassowary

The highlight of our trip to the Australia Zoo, was the opportunity to pet and play with the three Bengal Tiger cubs.

Kel petting one of the cubs

Another cub playing with his favorite apple toy

Kel and Cath posing with the third cub

We had a fantastic time at the Australia Zoo, and we would highly recommend making time for a visit if you every find yourself on the Sunshine Coast.

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