I don't know what it is about the city of Surfer's Paradise slash Gold Coast but everyday at 5am the sun is already bright and the birds loudly chirping and the street cleaning crew going around vacuuming the sidewalk. Yes vacuuming the sidewalk with super powered leaf blower looking devices. It is one of the most obnoxious sounds to wake up to. I wasn't too mad at it this morning, however, since I had to be up at 6am anyway to get dressed and ready to catch my bus to the Australia Zoo.
I booked the "Croc Express" which was recommended by the zoo website. It was a bit expensive but included admission to the park. It also left quite early, brought me to Brisbane where I got to look around for about five seconds before moving on to the Zoo. The Zoo is surprisingly far outside of the city so I was very happy to be out of the van. The driver said that he would pick us up promptly at 3:50pm and that the official policy of the tour group is not to wait for anyone who doesn't make it on time for pickup. I found this extremely stressful, especially given the epic adventure I had after being left behind at the last animal sanctuary I visited in Cairns.
Immediately when you walk into the zoo you're greeted by a bronze statue of the Irwin family. There are photos of Steve Irwin plastered everywhere in the zoo and of course of Bindi and Robert. The signage for each exhibit was great, like being in an episode of the Crocodile Hunter it was informative but fun, written as if you could hear Steve explaining it himself.
I followed the advice of the driver and hustled my way to the Africa exhibit which is the last, and furthest part of the park. On the way there I saw the information booth selling animal experiences, where you can go into the enclosure and get up close and personal with one of the animals. They do it for all sorts of creatures with the tigers and cheetahs being the most popular (and most expensive). The tiger one was much earlier in the morning, and the only reason I regretted not driving myself to the zoo, because you take the tiger for a walk and then pose for photos with it. I looked at all the available animals that weren't sold out, briefly considered the cheetah, but then I saw the dingo. When I left for my trip my dad told me to be careful of all the wild animals here and not to get eaten, "I don't want to hear that you were eaten by a dingo like that lady." He meant the famous quote from a woman exclaiming that a dingo ate her baby, which I believe was later found to be untrue. So inspired by my dad's words, I booked an afternoon animal experience with the dingos.
I had some time before the dingos though and made my way to the Africa exhibit. it was pretty far from the entrance but not unreasonably so. I walked through the South Asia exhibit and was fascinated by how much time and effort was spent on the surrounding architecture around the animal enclosures. The detail was amazing and it really felt very authentic. For a while tough between Asia and Africa there isn't much. There is Bindi's Treehouse which sits on the opposite side of the river from the Africa exhibit, which I skipped, but I understand that's where they would film her show while it was on. From across the river it looked like another magnificent structure.
Eventually I made it up the hill and along the winding river to the Africa exhibit. When I passed through the initial sign I wasn't impressed. It was just more winding sidewalk and a few trees, nothing great, but then you walk up to the top of the hill and in front of you is literally a piece of the African bush. I've been on safari in South Africa and it felt like I was right back in Kruger Park again. Only this time there were so many giraffes. They were all hanging out in the shade of the trees eating while the rhinos laid inside a rock cave and on the opposite end of the enclosure was a lone giraffe being fed carrots by people and a bunch of zebras. It was so cool to see them all roaming around this huge space.
At the far end was an African safari themed concession stand and a giant inflatable water slide. More importantly were the meerkats. They looked like something out of one of my favorite nature shows, Meerkat Manor. A couple of them were on lookout while a few others ran around or dug holes. I was surprised how close the fence of the enclosure was to where they were actually hanging out, it was only a few feet difference and the animals didn't seem phased at all by all the large hairless apes gaping at them.
After soaking in Africa I made my way all the way back through the park again to head towards the Crocosseum where the main animal show of the day is done. Luckily my timing worked out well to see one of the tiger shows as well. The handlers use the time to engage and stimulate the tiger to make sure that he stays sharp. When it was done they put some branches up next to the glass so that the tiger would come up right to you to rub up against them. They also announced that the blind tiger would be out in the afternoon, which I was disappointed that I would be missing since the time overlapped with the dingos. I've seen a few videos about the blind tiger and how he navigates and interacts with the others at the zoo and it really is amazing.
As I was making my way back through Roo Heaven, which compared to the other feed the kangaroo experiences I've had truly is a small slice of paradise for the kangaroos. At the other animal sanctuaries they just throw them in a pen with some dirt on the floor and no where to go. At the Australia Zoo they have a huge forested enclosure to do their thing and it was so cool to see them blend in with their natural surroundings and act actually wild and not like they're in a petting zoo.
Suddenly there was such a crowd of people around me. Here I thought I was going to be early to the Crocosseum show but it turns out I was just on time. The herds of people making their way to the open air auditorium was a little overwhelming. Still I was happy to have a seat and enjoy the lunch I brought with me. The show itself was amazing, again like watching an episode of the Crocodile Hunter live and without the Irwins. The tour driver had said that they were just in the zoo running the show this past Saturday which was a little disappointing to be so close to seeing them and yet so far. Still I was so amazed by the show and how amazing the animals were trained. One of the birds flew to a random man in the audience and back just on the signal of holding up a five dollar note.
After the show I did some shopping, saw some more animals, and then it was dingo time. The dingo experience was again amazing. They brought the four of us, 3 women who were a family and me, into the enclosure and had us sit down then brought the dingos over. One of them was named Jira and I was so excited since JIRA is a product that I work with constantly in my professional life. Now here was a dingo with the same name with her paws on my leg and licking my face. We posed with them on the rocks and then afterwards got to sit down in the dirt with them and pet them while they enjoyed a snack of chicken frozen in an ice block. The handlers told us so much about them and where they came from. It was really so cool.
The rest of my time in the zoo was a bit of a blur. I went back and saw all the other exhibits I missed, walked through the koala jungle and the tropical bird open air area. Once I was sure I saw everything I did some shopping and bought my dingo photos then ate a snack while I waited for the images to get transferred to a flash drive for me to bring home. Part of purchasing the exhibit is that you get one of your photos in a magnet for free which was great - I of course picked one with Jira on my lap. Overall I was really impressed with the Australia Zoo. The care and time they take to really make an enjoyable experience for the animals is amazing. Being from New York I've spent a lot of my life going to the Bronx Zoo, and I've also been to the San Diego Zoo, but I think Australia Zoo might just be my all time favorite zoo experience. There really is nothing like it anywhere I've been in the world and you can really feel the spirit of Steve Irwin's love of animals and conservation efforts throughout every staff member, experience, and animal exhibit.
Here I was worried that I might miss the bus but I was there early and sure enough he left right on time. A few naps in the van and a couple hours later I was back in my hostel. I picked up some discounted food from the nearby supermarket, put in laundry, and sat to watch a movie with everyone. While I was watching my move the girls group from Saturday night walked in and found me. They said that they asked the front desk to let them in my room because they were looking for me to join them for Sea World today, which I found incredibly sweet but also kind of shady on the part of the hostel staff to just let anyone in my room. We made plans to go out and enjoy our last night in Gold Coast together and I can't wait to see what happens (and also to finally sleep in tomorrow, even though I'm still stuck on the top bunk because the other girl in my room took the bed under me and I wasn't here to ask the staff to switch).
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