Australia Zoo Part 1- Dingos and other critters

Australia Zoo was the second animal themed outing on my holiday. It has a very different feel to Currumbin, the paths are wide, flat and concrete, there are lots of signs (which is good because its big and the paths are twisty so easy to get lost). I did feel some of the enclosures were a bit robust and interferred with you seeing the animals easily – the otter one definately was. And yet others were very open and easy. I guess some parts of it are older when they designed things differently.

When you go, take a map and tuck in an outside pocket because you will refer to it a lot. And it also had useful things like times of different shows, and essential facilities. I left my tripod at home because I never ended up using it at Currumbin, so didnt want to carry it around. That meant I could carry the camera round instead.

The Zoo has a range of interesting encounters but they were really expensive, so unfortunately I couldn’t partake in any of the ones I was interested in, which was a shame. So we just wandered up until lunchtime, then we headed off to see the Tigers, and then the Free Flight Show.

So I will do several posts, highlighting some of the animals I got to see up close for the first time, and some new experiences I had. Dad took his camera as well (he is a Nikon shooter) and we both had some challenges in the different light environments. It was a fairly overcast day which meant for nice even lighting, but some of the areas were very shaded due to trees or shelters, so much tweaking of setting was required, and the occasional lens change. Fortunately when the torrential rain shower came through we were under cover having lunch so no damage to our camera gear 🙂

Huge Staghorn fern – several metres across

Dingo asleep in warm sunny sand

Cassowary

Willy Wagtail

Above are various critters we met on our travels around – below is the bird for me that was the highlight of this visit – the Jabiru or Black Necked Stork. This bird was very tall – nearly 5 feet but the coloring of the feathers on the head and neck is fantastic.

Below is a shot I got of one bird who was behind a solid enclosure and this was all I could see of him – but it shows the wonderful iridescent feathers and fabulous colours.

Jabiru

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