Never been there myself. Have heard mixed responses from people.

What do people think?

i enjoyed it, but i've always liked zoos.

I've been up that way and it's a bit out of the way really. You have to drive north of Brisbane for about an hour from what I remember. It's not a bad experience but I would recommend Taronga Zoo in Sydney over it. What was really cool was I did a behind the scenes thing at the zoo ...something like this... Zoo Tour Behind The Scenes For 2, Sydney CBD, NSW - RedBalloon Days - Australia

Hi

I've never been to any zoos in Australia. The closest place like that that I ever visited was Cohunu National Park in Perth, WA.

I haven't been myself, but my sister went a few years back, and did say it was more like a giant Steve Irwin ad than about the animals, which is a shame, but then that was pre the accident, and I guess that's quite a while ago now....

We went there in August. It was fun, but....


we were aware that it wasn't the best zoo in Australia, but Steve Irwin's fame meant that our 11 year old son had his heart set on it and we were happy to oblige.

On the way there we called in to visit a friend who lives in the area and she told us that in the locals' view it has gone down the pan a bit since Steve's death. Firstly that Terri, his widow, seems to be going down an even more commercial route with the zoo, and also with their chidren. You can't go anywhere without seeing "Bindi"; hearing "Bindi commentary" or Bindi singing, or beaing assaulted by Bindi produce in the shops. Poor child has my sympathy.

Also, since Terri has been running things, Steve's family have removed themselves from the zoo (which was set up by his father initially) which makes me think that this talk of family strife may be true.


However...with all of that said, we had a lovely day. You can see the Croc shows (the least exciting part of the day for me, to be honest), feed kangaroos, cuddle koalas, feed the elephants and wander around all the other animals. When we went in I saw how small it all was and wondered if we would manage to fill the day....we were the last to leave, the staff were about ready to lock us in I think!

I got the impression that Steve's passion is still there, and the motto of the zoo seems to be that they want you to learn to love these animals so that you will then strive to protect them in the wild.


Hope that helps

Interesting comments there BM and yes I've always perceived it to be more of a commercial operation in that it had Steve as a front man which kind of had a small zoo crossed with circus presentation using crocs as the feature show.

It only really came to light here on Steves death just how huge he was overseas and particularly the US and all that partly courtesy of many documentaries that he did for Discovery Channel television whilst there would be a lot of Australians cringing of the thought that people overseas might think we were all going around dressed in Kaki outfits saying Crikey! - there were even a lot of less than complimentary postings on various sites here following his death which was more greatly mourned overseas.

But he was a character, and a great family bloke it seemed, one with a passion for wildlife and very dedicated employees within the organisation. He may have had his overseas exposure shrinking his boots a tad for back here one of the last deals he was trying to push before his death was to get the Queensland Premier at the time, Peter Beatie to nudge the local council a bit on his attempts to have a sizable plot of land allocated for the Zoo to grow on to - not clear if he thought his own persona warranted a freebie or whether he thought the council was just being too obstinate.

There have also been references on the net and in television interviews with Terri re how is Bindi and it would seem that Bindi had been already drawn intio the Zoo popularity/commercialism well before Steves death and allegedly following in Dads footsteps is something she thrives on, latest TV interview footage here also showing young Bob well on his way getting into the act too.

I think a lot of people do have concerns on Bindi, and hopefully she handles life well throughout her own in future

There has been a few revelations over different legal/financial and family issues, and suppose there's always two sides to a conflict, but reckon you've summed up the situation well with and I've never been there, but do sense it with the family, though it has been questioned by some whether roping and wrestling crocs is the way to love one!.

Terri's latest stoush is with a mining company that wants access to about 100,000 odd hectares in northern Queensland that was bought as a conservation area, and so she has the passion there too it would seem.

Wildlife onservation is all about having large tracts of land left untouched and though that is well done with National Parks, and some other charitable type organisations, if the Australian Zoo and the Irwin family are prepared to direct some of their profits/wealth towards that, then all you can say is good on them.