May 27, Australia Zoo, Glass House Mountains

We spent most of the day at the Australia Zoo, famous because it belonged to Steve Irwin, the Crocodile Hunter. It was one of the nicest zoos we've visited. The centerpiece was a large collection of saltwater crocodiles. They're the dangerous ones. Some were captured by Steve Irwin and relocated here. They also had a lot of freshwater crocodiles and American alligators.

There were Australian animals; kangaroos, wombats, Tasmanian devils, etc. There were snakes, including the deadly Fierce Snake, the most venomous snake in the world. There were birds; cassowaries, emus, cockatoos, Jabirus.

And there were nonnative animals; tigers, elephants, red pandas, a rhinoceros, zebras, cheetahs, monitors, and so on. There were camels, which are nonnative. But Australia is the only country where they are found in the wild. So they're exported to Saudi Arabia now.

We wandered around then went to the Wild Warriors Show. It was quite a performance with parrots, cockatoos, a Condor, a Jabiru. And there was a crocodile. It wasn't a trained crocodile show. It was designed to teach people how to be safe in crocodile infested waters. And they did a superb job of it. They did have the croc jump out of the water to get a fish, but that illustrated how high crocs can jump. The lesson, don't dangle over crocodile filled waters, or even waters that might have crocs. There are a lots of crocodiles in North Queensland, so the danger is real.

We had lunch and walked around the rest of the zoo, then watched the Crocodile LIVE! Show. It was in a small crocodile pond and one of the young men was just learning to feed the crocodile. One man talked and the other went around the pond. Crocs can sense movement by vibrations, so he would walk and the croc would follow his movements. He fed the croc carefully, drawing it out of the water because a person can run faster backwards that the croc can go forward on land. In water it's a different story. It was a really good day, good weather and a well designed zoo.

Nearby were the Glass House Mts. These mountains are the cores of extinct volcanoes, so they had distinctive shapes. We had a little trouble finding the place we wanted to take a hike, so we stopped early at a rest area.

Pictures - Jeanne with zoo sign, the Irwin family, Freshwater crocs, Roaming lizard on the sidewalk, Binturong, Cassowary, Samson with giant crocodile, Small kangaroo, Jabiru on its knees, Black cockatoo, Green pythons under heat lights, Wombat on a walk, Feeding a croc, Crocodile jumping, Giant tortoise, Feeding croc, Mt. Coonowrin