What do you do when things aren't going your way? Do you reach for the biggest box of chocolates and the TV? Grab a bottle of scotch? Practice your rizla rolling skills? Well here's a different method to banish those blues, Go hug a marsupial.
After mocking the big signs advertising Australia Zoo in my last post, I actually decided to visit the place. With an enforced longer stay in Noosa, due to the implosion of the Long Drive CamperVan trip, I was looking for fun things to distract me. Playing around with wild/dangerous animals sounded like an ideal way.
Going to the zoo is a bit of a retro thing these days. Long gone are the times where the only place you'd be able to see wild or exotic animals was going down to your local zoological park. Now with the aid of Animal Planet TV, David Attenborough, and cheap flights to the places they film, why bother with the zoo when you can go to the real thing? And is it really ok to keep wild animals locked up for entertainment?
Also I was intrigued at the cult growing around the late Steve Irwin, self styled Crocodile Hunter. His style was the anti David Attenborough, who thought the best way to help conserve habitats was going in shouting "Crikey!" and wrestling the most dangerous animals there. Until his demise at the tail of a stingray last year, Steve Irwin had built a massive Zoo in his image (and there are literally hundreds of his pictures around the place), after taking over the management of the place from his parents.
Walking around the zoo even on a freezing cold winters day, you get the sense that it is a pretty well run operation. All the animals seem to have a big enough place to live and big fences are kept to an absolute minimum. The zoo prides itself on being interactive and so you can get up close to some of the more fun animals.
This is how I came to be holding a koala in both hands and trying desperately not to sneeze. It seemed content to sit on my arms and look about. The handler looked slightly concerned that I was going to drop the animal but I manage to keep a vague amount of composure before handed back the eucalyptus loving bear back. And I have to say it was great fun.
After that I went around and hugged/patted on the back/scared a few more creatures just for the hell of it. So the hit list included a red kangaroo, a wombat, a two month old calf, a goat and an Indian elephant by the unfortunate name of Bimbo. What I really wanted was to go and say hello to the two beautiful tigers they had, but apparently they'd rip my head off. As I'm quite fond of my head I thought best to not press the issue with the keeper.
The centre of the zoo is the bizarrely named 'Crocoseum'. A three thousand seat semi circle theatre where shows are held twice daily. The one I attended was called 'Wildlife Warriors'. It was a jarring mix of showing animals off, heavy handed environmentalism and badly performed comedy. Shivering against the wind the enthusiastic audience watched various birds, snakes and a grumpy crocodile called Norman (as in Bates, from the Hitchcock 'Pyscho' film). In between exhibits there were prerecorded pieces from the late Steve and his wife Terri. They were telling people how the had to become 'wildlife warriors' and to recycle their rubbish.
The slightly unnerving aspect to the zoo is that Steve Irwin is in most cases still spoken of in the present tense. The pair hosting the Crocoseum show said things like "lets see Steve's second enviro rule" and even said "Thanks Steve!" after the end of a pre-recorded clip. The tag line of the zoo is "The home of the Crocodile Hunter" like they were expecting him to burst through the door any moment with another "Crikey!" and tales of wrestling another unfortunate animal in the bush.
Only if you go to a darkened corner underneath the seating of the Crocoseum will you then find the tributes to Irwin. A length of tatty builders fence has been installed for fans to place pictures, notes and signed khaki shirts with tributes to the man. It was a interesting it was hidden away in a dank corner, easy to miss if you weren't looking for it.
The main thrust of the zoo seemed to be getting you into the merchandising store where a whole host of stuff was for sale. Tea towls, DVD's and action figures of Steve and Terri were all displayed. Also their children, Ben and Bindi seemed to be marketed just as much as Steve was. The store was flogging kids work out videos, magazines and even a whole children's clothing line based on them. It seems that old line of death being a good career move hasn't been wasted on the management of the zoo.
I left the store with a couple of postcards and a stuffed tiger, but my memory of the place will be the koala hug :-)
After mocking the big signs advertising Australia Zoo in my last post, I actually decided to visit the place. With an enforced longer stay in Noosa, due to the implosion of the Long Drive CamperVan trip, I was looking for fun things to distract me. Playing around with wild/dangerous animals sounded like an ideal way.
Going to the zoo is a bit of a retro thing these days. Long gone are the times where the only place you'd be able to see wild or exotic animals was going down to your local zoological park. Now with the aid of Animal Planet TV, David Attenborough, and cheap flights to the places they film, why bother with the zoo when you can go to the real thing? And is it really ok to keep wild animals locked up for entertainment?
Also I was intrigued at the cult growing around the late Steve Irwin, self styled Crocodile Hunter. His style was the anti David Attenborough, who thought the best way to help conserve habitats was going in shouting "Crikey!" and wrestling the most dangerous animals there. Until his demise at the tail of a stingray last year, Steve Irwin had built a massive Zoo in his image (and there are literally hundreds of his pictures around the place), after taking over the management of the place from his parents.Walking around the zoo even on a freezing cold winters day, you get the sense that it is a pretty well run operation. All the animals seem to have a big enough place to live and big fences are kept to an absolute minimum. The zoo prides itself on being interactive and so you can get up close to some of the more fun animals.
This is how I came to be holding a koala in both hands and trying desperately not to sneeze. It seemed content to sit on my arms and look about. The handler looked slightly concerned that I was going to drop the animal but I manage to keep a vague amount of composure before handed back the eucalyptus loving bear back. And I have to say it was great fun.
After that I went around and hugged/patted on the back/scared a few more creatures just for the hell of it. So the hit list included a red kangaroo, a wombat, a two month old calf, a goat and an Indian elephant by the unfortunate name of Bimbo. What I really wanted was to go and say hello to the two beautiful tigers they had, but apparently they'd rip my head off. As I'm quite fond of my head I thought best to not press the issue with the keeper.
The centre of the zoo is the bizarrely named 'Crocoseum'. A three thousand seat semi circle theatre where shows are held twice daily. The one I attended was called 'Wildlife Warriors'. It was a jarring mix of showing animals off, heavy handed environmentalism and badly performed comedy. Shivering against the wind the enthusiastic audience watched various birds, snakes and a grumpy crocodile called Norman (as in Bates, from the Hitchcock 'Pyscho' film). In between exhibits there were prerecorded pieces from the late Steve and his wife Terri. They were telling people how the had to become 'wildlife warriors' and to recycle their rubbish.
The slightly unnerving aspect to the zoo is that Steve Irwin is in most cases still spoken of in the present tense. The pair hosting the Crocoseum show said things like "lets see Steve's second enviro rule" and even said "Thanks Steve!" after the end of a pre-recorded clip. The tag line of the zoo is "The home of the Crocodile Hunter" like they were expecting him to burst through the door any moment with another "Crikey!" and tales of wrestling another unfortunate animal in the bush.
Only if you go to a darkened corner underneath the seating of the Crocoseum will you then find the tributes to Irwin. A length of tatty builders fence has been installed for fans to place pictures, notes and signed khaki shirts with tributes to the man. It was a interesting it was hidden away in a dank corner, easy to miss if you weren't looking for it.
The main thrust of the zoo seemed to be getting you into the merchandising store where a whole host of stuff was for sale. Tea towls, DVD's and action figures of Steve and Terri were all displayed. Also their children, Ben and Bindi seemed to be marketed just as much as Steve was. The store was flogging kids work out videos, magazines and even a whole children's clothing line based on them. It seems that old line of death being a good career move hasn't been wasted on the management of the zoo.
I left the store with a couple of postcards and a stuffed tiger, but my memory of the place will be the koala hug :-)
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