Zootastic at The Cairns Tropical Zoo

The  Cairns Tropical Zoo is located at +Palm Cove about 20 kilometres north of Cairns, Queensland +Australia  . It is run by the Freeman family who opened the zoo in 1980 and have been bringing wildlife encounters to local, domestic and international travellers ever since. The park has many different types of animals you can interact with including:

Reptiles - Snakes, Monitors, Dragons, Lizards, Alligators, Crocodiles Saltwater & Freshwater

Birds - Cassowaries, Cockatoos, Raptors, Parrots, Emus, Brolgas, Pelicans, Water birds, Finches and many more.

Mammals - +Koalas , Wombats, Kangaroos, Macropods - Eastern Grey, Pademelons, Cotton Top Tamarins, +Red Pandas , Lemurs, Dingoes and many more.

My daughter and I decided to check out their latest experience called Zootastic 5. This is a brand new experience that allows groups of no bigger then 4 people get a personalised behind the scene interactive tour where you get to feed, pat, hold and get a photo with 5 of the most popular animals in the zoo.

This is how our day went:

We arrived at the zoo at 9:00 am and were greeted by the very friendly staff on the front desk where they gave us our program for the day. We had to meet our handler at 9:30am so we decided to check out the animals that were close to our meeting point. We didn't make it very far as we found Trawler the Cockatoo he was very happy to have a chat with us but be warned he swears and curses as he was given to the zoo by a fisherman who had him on the boat but he kept eating all of the electric wires so they had to give him away to a good home.

Trawler the Cockatoo

After we had finished having a laugh with Trawler we were greeted by Alex our guide for the morning. We wasted no time in heading to our first attraction the Lemurs. We were allowed to go in to there pen and hand feed them some grapes and corn on the cob. The Lemurs were very happy to see us (by us I mean the food) and came straight over to us and started taking the food out of our hands. These animals have to be some of the cutest primates on the planet with there big eyes and funny little hands.

Maddi and I feeding the Lemurs

When we had finished with the Lemurs we moved on to the next attractions feeding a Cassowary. Cassowaries are one of the largest flightless birds on the planet they stand between 1.5 and 1.8 metres tall (5-6 feet) and can weigh up to 60 kilograms (130 pounds) and have a middle toe that is about 12.5 centimetres (5 inches) long and is used to defend themselves. There have even been human deaths reported from the Cassowary disemboweling them with this claw. But as scary as they sound they are a beautiful animal that plays a very important part in our rainforest ecosystem. Cassowaries feed on the fruits of several hundred rainforest species and usually pass viable seeds in large dense scats. They are known to disperse seeds over distances greater than a kilometre, and thus play an important role in the ecosystem. Germination rates for some rare rainforest seeds are found to be much higher after passing through a cassowary's gut (92% versus 4%).

Feeding the Cassowary some grapes

Next was my favourite part of the day the Crocodiles!! Alex first took us to see some Alligators and explained the difference between Alligators and Crocodiles. Main difference is that Alligators do not posses the gland that helps them excrete salt from their bodies. Which means Crocodiles can live in both fresh and salt water where as Alligators can not. Not to mention the big difference in temperament Crocodiles grow much bigger and are much more aggressive. We were allow to hold a baby Alligator before Alex went in to the cage and fed Sultan a 5.5 metre (18 foot) male before we had a go at feeding him from a pole.

Maddi about to hold the Alligator

      

Note how hard to it is to see Sultan in the water. He is one big lizard!!

While on reptiles our next visit was with a giant 4.5 metre (15 foot) python. Now I will let you know I am terrified of snakes so the whole time the guys were bringing this big guy out I was getting paler and paler so I wasn't really listening to what Alex was saying about this guy but I will find out more and up date later on.

Big snake funny thing is they are not slimy like I expected

Next was Maddis' favourite part of the day the Koalas. Probably one of the laziest animals I have ever seen +Koalas rest motionless for around 16-18 hours a day sleeping most of that time. They spend 3 of the remaining 6 hours eating. Great life if you ask me. We got to hold the Koala and have a picture with him.

Maddi and I with one of Australia's Icons

Last but not least we went in to the bird aviary to feed some of the local birds. The Cairns Tropical Zoo would have to have one of the biggest collection of native Australian birds in the world and some of most beautiful ones as well.

Maddi feeding the Rainbow Lorikeets

Map of the Zoo and the attractions

   

 

The Zootastic 5 experience lasted for approx 1 1/2 hours, when we were finished we were left to explore the rest of the Zoo and check out the other animal shows that were on offer through out the day. Thank you so much Alex our guide for the day his experience and love for the +Animals really showed through out the day.

Report Card

This experience is suited for anybody young or old. It is a really great way to see some of the coolest animals in the world up close and personal. It is great value for money as entry to the Zoo for the rest of the day is included in your price and compared to other animal experiences in Australia it is quite cheap. There is a small amount of walking through out the day but nothing to strenuous. The park has all of the amenities you could need with a licensed restaurant, plenty of toilets and even a chapel if you want to share your special day with some of the animals.

Prices:

Zootastic 5 

Adult or Child - $125 self drive to the Zoo

Adult of Child - $150 with return transfers from Cairns

Cairns Tropical Zoo Entry

Adult - $33

Child - $16.50

If you would like to experience Zootastic Contact me here

The Great Barrier Reef with Great Adventures

The +Great Barrier Reef  what can I say they don't call it great for nothing. The worlds largest coral reef system spanning almost 2600 kilometres long (approx 1550 miles) made up of approx 2900 individual reef systems and 900 islands making it the worlds largest single structure made by living organisms and is visible from space! It is located in the Coral Sea off the coast of Queensland, +Australia .

Map of the Great Barrier Reef

Living in Cairns we are spoilt with options to visit the +Great Barrier Reef  so through out my blog I will be showing different ways you can explore the reef depending on what suits your needs.

I have decided to start with +Great Adventures - Cairns Great Barrier Reef & Green Island Tours outer reef option as I wanted something that would suit my children. Great Adventures travel to a platform which is like a man made island on the outer barrier reef. This is perfect for people who don't want to spend a huge amount of time in the water as there are several dry activities to participate in during the day.

Here is the way our day panned out:

We met at the Reef Fleet Terminal in Cairns at 9:45am, where we were greeted by the friendly Great Adventures Staff and received our boarding passes. Once on board the boat we were served tea & coffee while the crew ensured everything was ready for our 10:30am departure.

Our trusty steed for the day 'Reef King'

Once under way we had a short 45min trip to Green Island a 6000 year old coral cay island where we had a 15 minute stop to pick up some guests from the resort.

Pulling in to Green Island notice all of the coral in the water

Leaving Green Island we were offered a great range of cakes and slices on our 45 minute journey out to the platform located on Moore Reef. 

The Moore Reef Platform

We arrived at the platform at about 12:20pm and were greeted by 2 turtles as the boat was docking which got everyone pretty excited. The platform was quite spacious and was very well laid out with one end dedicated to snorkel and diving equipment, the other was the serving area for lunch, upstairs was the sundeck and underneath us was the underwater observatory.

Layout of the platform/pontoon

We decided that we would try some snorkeling first off and were helped into our gear by Hide (Hid-ae thought I would throw that in as my son was calling him hide as in seek all day) one of the Japanese instructors and set off to see what we could find. The reef was in good condition and we came across several different types of corals including Stag Coral, Plate Corals, Brain Corals and Boulder Corals along with plenty of marine life such as Hump Head Maori Wrasse, Parrot Fish, Coral Trout, Turtles and White Tip Reef Sharks.

Some Blade Corals, Stag Coral and Plate Corals

A Parrot Fish that has been chomping on the coral

After having a snorkel for about an hour we decided to head back for lunch. Lunch is a hot and cold buffet served on the platform served between 1-2:30pm.  You can choose to eat on the boat in the air conditioning or on platform in the breeze. The food was very good and plenty to choose from including mild curries, creamy potato, 4 different cold salads, fresh ham, prawns, chicken, pasta and rice dishes.

Lunch Time

While we were waiting for our lunch to settle we decided to have a go on the Semi Submersible tour which is a purpose built boat that you actually sit about 2 metres under the water and look out the sides as it takes you around the reef. Really cool experience as there is a marine naturalist giving commentary on what we were seeing. We were lucky enough to see a White Tip Reef Shark and tons of beautiful coral and fish.

Inside the Semi Sub (my flash did not work so this is one of the companies photos)

When we returned it was about 2:30pm so we jumped back in the water for another snorkel before we had to go. Just before we had to board the boat to go back home we went down and checked out the fish feeding from the underwater observatory. The underwater observatory is a big glass wall approx 15 metres long and 2 metres high underneath the platform. It looks straight out over the snorkeling area so it is like a massive aquarium.

Underwater Observatory (again sorry my flash didn't work so this is one of the companies pics)

After we watched the fish go crazy on the special fish food the instructors were giving them it was time to go. When boarding the boat we were offered Tea & Coffee and some cakes and slices for our return trip back to Cairns. Awesome day thanks some much to the staff at +Great Adventures - Cairns Great Barrier Reef & Green Island Tours 

Report Card

This trip is perfect for people who do not want to spend a lot of time in the water or for families with younger children. It offers plenty to do over the 3 hours that you are at the reef with the semi sub, snorkeling, underwater observatory, fish feeding and heli flights. The lunch had a great selection of hot and cold dishes and there was plenty for everyone. The staff were very good and helped out with everything.

The only drawbacks I see in this product is that the numbers are big up to 300 people on board and with the late departure you only get 3 hours actually at the reef, but in saying that it is perfect for people not wanting a long day out.

Besides that my family had an awesome time with +Great Adventures - Cairns Great Barrier Reef & Green Island Tours and will definitely recommend this to others.

Prices:

Adult - $208

Child - $107 (age 4 years - 14 years)

Family - $529 (2 adults & 2 children)

all prices include government taxes and levies

About Me

G'day everyone a quick introduction my name is Geoff Benson I am a local of Cairns, Queensland +Australia . I am currently the manager of +Cairns Visitor Information & Booking Centre a small independently owned travel agency in the middle of the Cairns city. I pretty much organize peoples' dreams for a living and love doing it. I am putting this blog together to share some of the awesome attractions and experiences that Australia has to offer and what I get to promote with so much passion on a daily basis. Hope you all enjoy following along and seeing what Australia has to offer.

My beautiful lady Cristy and I.

Where I work.

The Cairns City.

Please feel free to ask questions or leave comments on any of the posts that I put up here and if you enjoy reading them please share them with your friends. You can also contact me by hitting one of these links as well.

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