Australia Zoo - a return visit

One of the last things we did before leaving the Sunshine Coast in Australia was a return visit to our favorite place - Australia Zoo!  This place is definitely a highlight of our trip and our second visit did not disappoint.  It was as amazing as the first with many new experiences yet again.

We arrived early to watch the Elephant feeding.  We had no idea that it was US who would be hand feeding the 3 Elephants!!  They provided a few quick instructions and then we got in line to feed the elephants their morning snack. 

 



There were huge buckets of fruit & veggies and the elephants were suppose to eat all of it so we could feed them as many times as we wanted.



Kalyssa was too scared to do it herself so we took turns carrying her to feed them.  We fed all 3 elephants multiple times - it was awesome :)

 

They do this feeding twice a day - it was so much fun!



The Elephant enclosure was beautiful - unlike the barren area the Calgary zoo elephants roam around in




The whole park is so stunning - this is the entrance to the Africa area



more bamboo forest

 



The Tiger temple.  The keepers were sitting inside the enclosure along with the tigers - it was hilarious!  Then one of the keepers took one of the tigers on a leash for a walk....we didn't see them walking around so it must have been in a non-public area.  Which is good as I'm pretty sure we didn't want to come across a tiger on a leash!

 



More of the beautiful scenery around the park

 



The zoo's new Africa park.  The giraffes, zebras & rhinos roam around free in a huge area

 



You can see the Rhinos under the rock below.  They have a new baby rhino who we heard runs in circles around the enclosure.  But he was unfortunately dozing in the shade when we were there.

 

We ran into 2 camels on leashes going for a walk.  Kalyssa was great with them!

He was very friendly & gave Tom a kiss!

Then Kalyssa gave him a kiss back!  Mom missed getting a picture of it but we have one from the zoo photographer!

 Back to the Crocoseum to see the whole Wildlife Warrior show.  We had to move seats early on as it was ridiculously hot and we nearly melted sitting there!

They walk up & down the aisles during the show with animals.



The birds are amazing - they fly in from way outside the stadium right to where they are suppose to




The huge Condor was very cool



Tilman seems to really like birds

 Of course the crocodile feeding was the 'main event'


The crocs always seem to do what they are suppose to - thank goodness!



We were pretty close to the feeding this time - so cool!

Back to the Park


Here is another native animal - a Echidna.



They looked & moved like a porcupine

Back to the Wallabees and Kangaroos

We love the wallabees - they are so cute & gentle

 the Kangaroos



Roo`s are pretty cute too & K was in heaven with so much Roo food!

Tilman looked bored with the whole thing!



Kalyssa 'reasoning' with the Kangaroo about her food

She loves feeding them so much - it was very hard to get her out of there. The only thing that worked was the guys below - Koalas!



Trying to tell the Koala what to do - haha!




Checking out the Eucalyptus leaves - they smell just like you'd imagine.....like cough drops

So the tortoises were....ahem, 'getting busy'  Lol!



The turtles were funny - they came to us thinking we were going to feed them or something



Some of the greenery/flowers around the park



 Another Croc feeding

 Kalyssa standing right next to a croc on the other side of the fence but she was more interested in the Iguanas



Again - checking out the fearless Iguanas




Casper - a leucistic Croc (albino)



More flowers around the park

 We missed this area the first time - it was called Koala Island.

Tilman was just trying to survive the heat

The Koalas were pretty active here - climbing & walking on the branches

The keepers were concerned about this koala as he wasn`t moving very well. We overheard he had just returned from the rehab center at the zoo.



This is a Cassowary.  They are the largest land mammal in Australia

 We took a tram that goes around the park - both kids loved the train ride but Kalyssa was getting tired

We got to see the Rhinos again & they were going for a walk



The keepers were taking a cheetah for a walk



Kalyssa needed to go in the stroller to get to the car & was asleep before we got out of the parking lot!