Crikey! Australia Zoo!

We went to Australia Zoo today, owned by Steve Irwin's family, which is the best zoo ever! When we arrived we went to see the otters, and then there was a talk about the tortoises, who were huge! Zoos have never really made me think about conservation, but the keepers there genuinely care about it and really made us think about what they were saying. After the tortoises we queued up to feed 'the girls' - the three elephants that they have in the zoo who were so cute. From there we saw the alligators and then went to the koala enclosure. They were really active, and even the keeper was surprised at how much they were moving! We were allowed to stroke the koala the keeper was holding, although I really wanted a cuddle as well!

The zoo has a massive auditorium which Steve Irwin built to teach visitors about conservation, and we went there to watch the daily show. While we were waiting his family came on the screen, and there were clips of Steve himself working. It was quite sad to watch, especially when his son kept saying his catchphrases, like 'Crikey!' During the show we saw the elephants, birds and snakes, but the highlight was when Steve's wife Terri came out with the crocodiles.

We had lunch after as it was raining quite heavily, and then went to the see the tigers. Their keepers were in the cage, and made the female one climb up a tree, swim and jump really high for treats. Again they talked about protection of tigers, and it was quite moving. They also brought out the three ten-month cubs, and when we on the safari train back to the main entrance we saw even younger ones in quarantine. At the end of the day we looked around the gift shop, saw the otters being fed and then got on the free bus back to Noosa. I'm really glad we went there, because at the risk of sounding cheesy, it was more than just a zoo with Steve Irwin's name on it - the enclosures were all huge, and they made it interesting for the animals, which I really liked.