Australia Zoo

Australia Zoo began in 1970 as a small reptile park run by Bob and Lyn Irwin and grew under their son Steve into one of the largest privately owned zoos in the country, still run by the family after his death in 2006. Its centre is the Crocoseum, a stadium seating thousands where crocodile feeding, free-flight bird displays and snake handling are staged daily. Around it are enclosures of crocodiles, tigers, elephants, giraffes, koalas, wombats and a large kangaroo walk-through. The Australia Zoo Wildlife Hospital next door treats tens of thousands of injured native animals, funded partly by zoo revenue. The site is large, hot in summer and takes a full day to cover.

History

Bob and Lyn Irwin opened the Beerwah Reptile and Fauna Park on two acres on 3 June 1970, Bob a herpetologist and Lyn a pioneer of wildlife rehabilitation in south-east Queensland; it became the Queensland Reptile and Fauna Park in 1982 and opened a crocodile environmental park in 1987 for saltwater crocodiles relocated from the wild. Their son Steve took over in 1991 with his wife Terri, renamed it Australia Zoo in 1998 and put the earnings of their television series The Crocodile Hunter into conservation and new exhibits; the Australian Animal Hospital opened beside it in 2004, Steve Irwin died in 2006, and a new animal hospital followed in 2008 (Wikipedia, Australia Zoo).

What you'll find

• The Crocoseum - daily staged crocodile feeding and bird displays.
• The crocodile enclosures - a large collection central to the zoo's identity.
• The kangaroo walk-through - open feeding area with grey kangaroos.
• The wildlife hospital - the treatment facility for injured native animals.

When to go

April to October for tolerable temperatures; summer is hot and humid with animals inactive. The main Crocoseum show runs at midday. School holidays are extremely busy and queues form for the popular encounters.

Things to know

Entry is expensive, particularly for families, and animal encounters cost more again. The zoo is large and walking it in Queensland heat is tiring. The presentation style is showmanlike, which some visitors love and others find overdone.

Nearby

The Glass House Mountains are minutes away; the Sunshine Coast beaches lie east.

Key facts