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Cliff
CHARLESWORTH (47B) & his wife Pauline [Reporter: Greg PECK] Day Eighteen – Thursday 5th May Today
was earmarked for a trip to Beerwah, in the lee of the Glasshouse mountains,
so that we could pay a visit to Steve Irwin’s "Australia Zoo". We
set off at 08.00 hrs and ran smack into some really heavy traffic as soon as
we turned off of the National Route 1 (Pacific highway) and onto the Gateway
tollway, within 500 metres of the interchange we were at a standstill.
Unfortunately, this is not at all unusual at that time of the morning.
The problem is due to The
Mount Tibrogargan, an ancient
volcanic plug We
arrived at Australia Zoo before 10.00 hrs and made our way into the Zoo
grounds. Entry was $29 for us pensioners and apart from food or drink,
souvenirs etc, covered the cost of anything else inside, such as the
"train" that traverses the Zoo grounds. The first thing that Cliff
and Pauline commented on was the cleanliness of the place and the unfailingly
cheerful demeanour of the staff. We checked out the alligators and the Snakes
first off and the sheer numbers of deadly snakes impressed the hell out of
them both. Especially the sheer size of the lethal taipan
and king brown, both of which regularly exceed 3 metres in length. We
were lucky enough to see a keeper working, very carefully, in the wombat
lodge, with five sleeping wombats in occupancy. There is a myth that Oz's
large marsupials are docile and gentle critters but that is far from the
truth. The wombat is a grumpy creature with a very sturdy body and teeth like
a rats, but about five times larger and longer. If annoyed, they use their
bodyweight and immense strength to bowl you over and then inflict savage
bites. They are known to kill dingoes or domestic dogs that make the fatal
mistake of going into a burrow after the resident wombat. The wombat simply
crouches, waits until the predator is standing directly above it and then
suddenly stands up. It then uses its formidable musculature to crush the
predator to death against the burrow roof, definitely not an animal to be
taken lightly.
Indian elephants [Photograph: Margaret Peck]
Pauline and Margaret in the aviary – two very dangerous
birds! [Photograph: Gerry Peck] After
a shufti at the Indian Elephants, the colourful parrots and other avians in the huge aviary, we moved through the Kangaroo
paddocks towards the "Crocoseum", this
is where the Irwins or their staff put on the
shows.
Pauline and an inmate of the kangaroo paddock [Photograph: Margaret Peck] First
out were some snakes, both venomous and constrictive types, the snakes had
obviously read the script because they did exactly as they were supposed to
do at any given moment. Next came the Sumatran tigers, smallest of the
sub species presently extant but still very impressive. It was very
interesting to see the positive way that the handlers and animals interacted
with each other, real affection was evident.
Sumatran tigers in the “Crocoseum” [Photograph: Margaret Peck] A
motley collection of birds were then given free rein to fly around the Crocoseum, again, the way that the birds responded to the
handlers was indicative of absolute trust and affection. Finally came the
highlight of the show, a rather large saltwater croc went through his paces
but unlike the previous performers, showed no interest in being friendly with
his handlers. He was really mean looking, very much on the prowl and when he
closed his jaws on the food his handlers gave to him, it sounded lake a
manhole lid dropping down from a reasonable height! Once
the live show was over, we went into the huge al fresco canteen and selected
our lunch, all of us choosing the American burger and chips. Very tasty too,
especially when washed down by an orange drink.
[Photograph: Margaret Peck] Australia
Zoo has a wide selection of small animal exhibits and in each instance the
layout and size of the sectioned off area is just about spot on for the
animal it contains and designed to give the animal maximum visual and
physical stimulation. Because the weather had turned a tad cooler than is
usual for this time of the year and was obviously threatening rain, some of
the outdoor enclosures inhabitants had decided to take the day off. All of
the giant tortoises and some of the outdoor lizards had shared this sentiment
and were snoozing in odd corners. Fortunately the ever active otters more
than made up for that with a helter-skelter display of sheer joie de vivre.
The large and rather menacing cassowaries were active too. This very large
bird has been known to kill by striking out with its huge toed feet, it has
one elongated claw like a small scimitar and it can disembowel a man with one
lightning fast kick.
Cassowary [Photograph: Margaret Peck] Cliff
was taken with the music being played by an Aboriginal musician who was a
full on, one man band. He somehow managed to play all sorts of instruments,
including a harmonica, a flute, a guitar, drums and a rack set up with three
didgeridoos. The result was some hauntingly beautiful music with an
unmistakable Aussie theme. Cliff promptly decided to lash out and purchase
two CD's of the bloke’s music.
Aboriginal musician [Photograph: Margaret Peck] We
took a trip on the Zoo's transport system, so that we could cover more ground
without wearing ourselves out and checked out the latest Zoo arrivals, four
young cheetahs. As a bonus, we also got to see all four young tigers again
too. Once again, the obvious rapport between the animals and the handlers was
manifested very clearly. After watching spellbound as the cheetahs
demonstrated that wonderful grace and speed for which they are justly famous,
we finally moved on and had a hand-feed of the elephants. Contact between
public and the animals is encouraged at Australia Zoo, as the Irwins feel that this helps to get people onside with
regard to conservation issues. It is quite normal to meet a handler strolling
along with something exotic on a leash. They even had a huge wedgetailed eagle flying from handler to handler, this
was hugely impressive!
Handler with wedgetail eagle [Photograph: Margaret Peck] Another
striking feature of the layout was the fact that a covey of kookaburras and a
mated pair of tawny frogmouths have taken up residence in a small and open
enclosure near the original canteen facility. Totally blasé about the camera popping
mob just a metre or so the other side of the low fence around their small
area of paradise, they wait for the grub they know will be brought out to
them. These casual "lodgers" have got on to a damn good lurk!
Kookaburras [Photograph: Margaret Peck] The Irwins are investing the money from their Croc Hunter
movies and various other royalties into expanding the facility. Eventually it
will span 315 acres and much work has been started on already. Various
projects, including a huge moated island for the
primate section are starting to take shape. When it all comes to fruition, it
will be one of the premier breeding Zoos in the world and it is a credit to
the Irwins and their staff.
Cliff
and Pauline had a great day out and apart from a three minute shower during
the early afternoon and another that caught us on the way back to the car
park we got away with it lightly. We could see the heavy rainfall lashing the
high hills a few kilometres away and were well pleased to have missed the
worst of that. The journey back was not as bad, with the fairly heavy traffic
moving well and no delays on the Gateway. Once
home, we sank a beer and had a nice bit of steak, along with the last of the kartoffelsalat, accompanied by peas, corn and 3 bean mix.
No sooner had we finished our scoff than the security company that monitors
Greg and Tammy's alarms informed us that they couldn't contact them and that
the alarms had been triggered. A mad dash to “ Published: May 2005
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