Crocs Rule!

The famous saying by the late Steve Irwin has educated Australia about crocodile safety and remains as strong as ever. I hadn’t appreciated before our trip how revered Steve Irwin and his family are in Australia but speaking to the locals it seems as though his death struck a similar chord to that of Princess Diana in the UK.

To see first hand how the Irwin family have involved themselves in Australian conservation, the only place to go is Beerwah’s Steve Irwin Way – the home of Australia Zoo, and owned by them. It was the first major tourist destination we had visited and was the first time it had really sunk in about being so far from home – this was AUSTRALIA Zoo!!!

Everyone speaks of him as though they know him as a ‘mate’ and his family, Terri, Bindi and Robert are also everyone’s long lost relatives. It really is amazing to hear.

The Crocoseum, the designed enclosure to show the public native birds and animals as well as the famous crocodile demonstration, was brilliant.

Parrots and doves flew around the mini-stadium whilst Mossman, the largest saltwater crocodile was exhibited. His slow, calculated movements around the clear waters was easily seen by everyone with it culminating in the lunge from the water to devour some food.

The enclosure also contained examples of the following animals:

Alligators,

saltwater crocodiles (the mean ones!),

koalas (our favourite so there’s a few photos!!!)

kangaroos and wallabies,

dingos,

cassowaries,

all manner of snakes,

elephants

and tigers

were on show split into many different zones that had a shuttle running all day between them. With some it was possible to engage with them whilst others it obviously wasn’t.

The layout was amazing. Wonderfully professional keepers were informative, engaging and courteous and if ever you wanted a real life example of customer service and attention to detail this was your place. Enclosures were immaculately clean, spacious and real due to the location in Queensland’s dense bushland.

Steve Irwin was everywhere and the commercialisation of his name, face and quotes was almost tacky.

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If it hadn’t been for the family’s incredibly strong passion for conservation and understanding that profits from the zoo go directly towards helping animals in the wild, the experience would have been awful. As a result, we were both very impressed and came away feeling as though we’d seen and experienced that was helping a wider conservation project.

Top marks or as Mr Irwin would have said, “What a beaut”!