Crocodile Hunter at the Austrialian Zoo
Thursday, March 15th
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After getting here and reading the local literature I learned that the "Crocodile Hunter" that we know from the Animal Planet on TV is based at the Australian Zoo. This is a zoo that is pretty much owned and operated by Steve and some others. I talked to the kids at home and mentioned that going to see the Crocodile Hunter was an option. They about freaked out so I knew that this is something I must do. So I got in the car and drove there and toured the zoo. By out standards it is a very small facility. The good part is you can see that it is not some big corporate high finance place. It is very low key and low budget. The good part is you can see everywhere you look that their entire focus is to support the animals and conservation concerning animal preservation. In other words they really care about what they do. I would highly recommend a trip to the Australian Zoo if you are ever on the Sun Coast of Australia.
As it happens the local paper has a front page article this morning on Steve. Seems he was fined by the police for not reporting a crocodile attack and injury at the zoo. I will bring the newspaper back. You can see what a celebrity he is in these parts. The whole story was that on Friday night last week they had a big flood here (I was in that flood also). He and crew were trying to tend to the crocodiles during the flood when one guy got bit very bad. They were so consumed with surviving the flood and saving the animals that they forgot to report the incident. So it was all pretty innocent but like in the US when the press got hold of it they blew it out of proportion. When I got to the Zoo there were still TV crews there filming the story.
Entry
From the highway this is a view of the entry to the zoo. As you can see it is a very humble place. Do you see the crocodile carved out of wood at the bottom of the picture? Several of these were interspersed throughout the zoo.
Students
Just as I arrived 3 busloads of students pulled up. They reminded me very much of the LCC students. They all had uniforms, on difference is they all wore these cute little caps. I think we ought to make sure Mrs. Carlson takes note of this. Also, Mrs. Carlson, if you will look at the picture you will see one boy with his shirt not tucked in. I heard his teacher take him aside and make him correct this deficiency!Also another thing is they all carried a clip-board with sheets to fill out on everything they saw. I was like a science experiment. They had to take notes and make drawings of all the things they observed. I kind of felt guilty as I took all these pictures while beside me these kids worked so hard writing down page after page of notes.
Zoo Map
A big map of the zoo was on display at the entry. It is pretty big so I hope you can make it out from this picture. Remember to see the bigger version of the picture, click on the picture.I walked through the zoo and took lots of pictures. I know each of you wants to see as much as you can. After I return I will print all of them so you can see the ones I did not post here. Many times, as you will see, if I didn't know what kind of animal I was looking at, I took a picture of the sign that accompanied the animal. Hopefully that will help you identify them. Hope you enjoy the tour.
Kangaroos
Most of the animals at the zoo are behind lots of fences to keep you safe. Suddenly you realize that you look down are you are in the pen with the Kangaroos. So you just walk up to them and touch them at your leisure. They are very friendly and seem to love the attention.One of them was solid white as you can see from the pictures.
Dingos
More than just dogs.
Tasmanian Devils
Not just a cartoon, eh!
Camels
I didn't have a clue that camels live in Australia.
Kolas
Looks like I arrived during nap time. Oh yea, they sleep 20 hours a day!
Otters
These guys are just nuts. It is so fun to watch them, however it is very hard to get a picture of them. They never slow down.
Birds
There were many different varities and very hard to identify them.
Reptiles
You would know that they would have some very different types of reptiles.From the sign you can see that they have many venomous snakes. Of the 10 varieties of venomous snakes, Australia has 9 of them!
Crocodiles
You would know that I have save the best for almost the last. It is very hard to get good pictures of them and I'll bet you can guess why. Yes I wanted to come home with all my extremities in tact.In the one picture of the croc approaching the guy. They were doing a demonstration. To get the croc to come across the water to the guy, he has a whole chicken in his hand. Immediately after I took this the croc snapped and the guy dropped the chicken in his mouth and then ran. The croc swallowed the chicken whole. That's why it is hard to get pictures.
Misc
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