When the late, great Steve Irwin burst onto our screens back in the nineties, I was immediately hooked to his khaki-clad, uber-enthusiastic antics, flirting with insanely dangerous animals around the world. “Crikey!” Was his inimitable battle cry as he fearlessly tangled with deadly creatures, all while expertly imparting his profound depth of knowledge to the viewers. That was his genius really, the entertainment value of his magnetic style hooked the audience in giving him a chance to pass on his passion for conservation, educating an entire generation on the plight of these animals without them even realising. He taught us to love and understand many animals that had a bad rep for being dangerous, despite the fact he seemed to be constantly being bitten by them.
Unfortunately Steve left this world way too early after an unfortunate encounter with a giant stingray in the Great Barrier Reef in 2006. The irony of this incident wasn’t lost on the world. The man who had made his living taming the most dangerous animals in the world, had died because he had inadvertently cornered an animal normally thought of as being a total pussycat, and no threat at all.
His death was a great loss to us all, and especially to the world of conservation. Luckily, however, he left behind an equally passionate family to continue his life’s work. Australia Zoo in Beerwah is still being run by his widow Terri, and his two children Robert and Bindi. And what a zoo it is. I have always wanted to visit, I guess primarily as I was such a fan of the big man himself. It’s known as one of the finest animal parks in the world, and I think that title is perfectly justified.
The first thing you notice is how perfectly maintained and manicured the grounds and enclosures are. The staff are super happy in their jobs and extremely knowledgeable and passionate. The animals also look perfectly content in their environments, with no signs of anxiety or stress at all. This is also a very interactive zoo, with displays and encounters at every turn.
After immediately stumbling across an impromptu bird display, we made our way towards the Asian elephant enclosure for the demonstration. Our route took us straight through the kangaroo and wallaby enclosure “Roo Heaven”, where you are free to feed their mob of Roos (yes, a group of kangaroos is actually called a mob!).
Kangaroos are the poster child of this nation, and every tourist wants to get up close and personal with them while they’re here. Apparently, out in the sticks, landowners are pulling their hair out at being overrun by increasing and destructive populations of these bouncing thugs. So much so that they are quietly culled, away from prying eyes. But most Australians live in urban environments and are blissfully unaware of this. They are perfectly happy to enjoy their national emblem, as are we. This particular mob are the smaller Eastern grey kangaroos, not the larger red kangaroo from the outback. They are pretty docile, and the kids had a whale of a time hand feeding them.
The elephant show was a great display of animal husbandry as the elephants showed us how they allow the keepers to monitor their health by inspecting their feet and inside their mouths. Again, the enclosure was beautiful and expansive, and the animals seemed very content.
The other Australian star of the zoo is undoubtably the Koala. And there are several areas here where the fluffy little critters are within touching distance as they hang lazily in their trees. The keepers monitor the koalas throughout the day, and you’re allowed to (very gently) touch certain animals at certain times, with handy signs being moved about to tell you which one is currently “on duty”.
This is the home of the Crocodile Hunter, and no visit to Australia Zoo would be complete without watching the live action show in the Crocoseum. We grabbed our lunch from the enormous cafe next door, and sat down to watch the action. The live bird show kicked it off, and was pretty impressive as the various species swooped and dive bombed the arena. But let’s be honest, what we were all waiting was the saltwater crocodile demonstration. Once upon a time Steve himself would have been in this arena, wrangling a giant Salty for our viewing pleasure, but it was still pretty cool to see the current croc experts persuading this half ton reptile to leap out of the water and wow the crowds.
Bam had been desperate to hold a Koala since we got off the plane, and this is possible here (for a fee of course), but unfortunately she was too short. Apparently they don’t like being too close to the ground! So we had a family photo where the kids got to stroke the little fella while I held him. They are every bit as cute in person as you’d imagine by the way, and I highly recommend it. We also had a picture with the kids holding a large python, as Hunter had been pretty keen to get up close and personal with the reptiles too. Better here than coming across one by accident in the wild I guess.
The mercury had, by this point, hit about 33 degrees. So we took half an hour to let the kids cool down in the splash park before wandering around the rest of the park.
The African enclosure at the far end of the zoo is incredible, with Hippos playfully bathing in luxurious mudpools while Giraffes gracefully scamper by. There are so many other areas to wander around here, with dingos, tigers, cassowaries and giant tortoises among the thousands of interesting critters to marvel at.
The last thing that deserves a mention at this marvellous establishment is the particularly well equipped animal hospital. This facility includes an operating theatre, x-ray room, ICU unit and pathology lab, and was set up by Steve to care for all Australian wildlife in need in memory of his mother Lyn who was the original proprietor of the zoo. For a small fee you can have a sneak peek through the windows and see the hospital in action.
What a day! Back to the Airbnb for a BBQ and a beer before driving back to Brisbane the following day and returning our rental car, our next stop was visiting an old friend.
I was 12 years old when I met my old pal Dave Timms. We had come from different schools and went through the trauma of doing our entrance scholarships together, and consequently were the best of friends for a few years. Unfortunately Dave had to leave our school early, about 4 years later. Although I saw him a handful of times after that, life pretty much got in the way and we fell out of touch like you do with a lot of old friends. Luckily, these days we have that magical window on the world called Facebook, and it’s now pretty easy to connect with people (or spy on them, such is the dichotomy of trust I have with it) you might otherwise never be able to track down again. So through the magic of Facebook we got back in touch a few years back, and when I figured out that we were heading to the sunny shores down under, Davo was top of my list of people to look up.
Dave and his wife Sam have carved out a beautiful life for themselves, moving down under in 2010 and raising two lovely kids and one crazy Labrador in the sunny suburbs of Brisbane. Life seems good. We stayed with them for a couple of nights, and saw what the great Australian dream was all about. Everybody fantasises about moving to a part of the world where the sun always shines, yet precious few actually achieve it. It’s dangerous really: dangerous to bring my wife here and fuel her already sizeable emigratory appetite. The problem is we are pretty well established in the UK. We have businesses, family, friends, kids signed up for school etc. It’s a young man’s game really, moving to the other side of the world that is. I guess we’ll settle with travelling about and seeing it all for the foreseeable!
Anyway, Dave was just the same! Well, I mean apart from his alarming Australian accent, and his grey hair, and his grown up outlook. I’ll start again, Dave was completely different! Nah, I jest. We sat, ate, drank beer and chatted rubbish about our old adventures and old friends as if it was yesterday. Yes we had both got older and more grown up (well, maybe not me), but it was still exactly the same dynamic as 30 years ago. I felt like we could have easily slipped out for a cheeky fag and a tinny of John Smiths down Lower Backway at any moment.
I’d like to say Dave was the perfect host, but in all honesty it was his beautiful wife Sam who was the perfect host. She fed us and watered us (constantly) and made us feel perfectly at home, all while keeping the household and their twin children ticking along like a well oiled machine. It was a lovely stay, catching up with an old mate and getting to know his family. Perfect. Bam even became best of friends with Gracie, Dave and Sam’s daughter. They spent hours swapping makeup tips and creating TikTok videos, and even sharing a bedroom. Unfortunately her brother, Ollie, had a party to go to and couldn’t make the paddleboarding trip, but he and Hunter managed a little bit of gaming together before technology failed us (or more likely we failed it) and they both retreated to their iPads for safety.
We shared an Aussie BBQ by the pool, a comedic but perfect paddleboarding trip to the local bay (think paddleboarding, but when you leave the paddle at home) and a lovely lunch at a local vineyard. There were laughs, smiles, some tears, and lots of hugs. So many bloody hugs! I’m not the huggiest of people, but how could I resist hugging me old China Plate Davo.
The next stop for us was Surfers Paradise for a couple of weeks, and Dave kindly offered to drive us all the way down there after lunch. We said goodbye, but only for a few days this time, not another 30 years! Next weekend we’re gonna hang out again, and continue this rekindled bromance!