How lucky am I to have landed up going to Australia Zoo on Steve Irwin Day. When I found out it was Steve Irwin day I did think it was going to be jam packed & not so enjoyable as it turned out it was the best possible day that I could have gone and I am just thrilled that I went there.
So who is the Crocodile Hunter you ask?? Well that would be Steve Irwin of course - that mad guy beloved by all Australiand who does croc shows on TV right?? Wellllllllll not actually. That was what I thought before I got here and then I went to Australia Zoo & I now understand how tragic the 4th of September 2006 actually was for the animal world. He was in fact a wildlife warrior and yes I agree he was a bit nuts but that would be down to how much he just LOVED animals.
How it started - my new South African friend Paula decided that she didn't want to be alone for the day so she would rather try and tag along and see if there were still tickets which there were so we hopped in the bus with our German friend Sebastian who Paula had picked up on the Greyhound or something like that who was a real honey & trying his best to avoid the thousands of Germans travelling along the East coast who will always talk German when they are amongst fellow Germans whereas he prefers to speak english as it makes it easier to meet people.
On the way to the zoo they played us a dvd telling us the story of how Steve Irwin came to be the home of Australia Zoo with his wife Terry & later his kids Robert & Bindi. I have to say that I found this story so very sad as he is gone, especially the story about meeting his wife & it being love at first site & lose his little Staffie who was his best friend in the early days. To see a grown man get tearful remembering the loss of his dog is truly a special thing to see. As I said this man loved animals in a way I have never seen before.
I arrived at the zoo feeling a little emotional and we went straight to the museum to watch an amazing wildlife show & to see Bindi sing a beautiful song about Whales & to listen to Terri talk about her late husband & the work that the zoo is doing and to bring on the heroic leader of the Sea Shepherds to tell us about their work on the Steve Irwin that has a lot of support from the Zoo. Needless to say I landed up teary eyed a couple of times through all of it but I was just thrilled to be there to celebrate the life of such a remarkable man. After the show we wandered around the 'zoo' and saw all the animals of which most were Australian & got up close and personal with a Koala & Kangaroo. My understanding is that this is really more about rescuing animals that are being threatened than showing them off. Every crocodile in the zoo has landed up there as a result of locals trying to shoot them etc when the humans get too close to their territory & although not the ideal place to be they are safe and alive and well. We went back to the crocoseum in the afternoon to see an Australian Band called Thirsty Merc who were great.
What I just love about this place is that their motto is conservation through exciting education. Some people that I have spoken too have said that they were dissapointed and it didn't have as many animals as they would have liked etc etc etc but I am just not sure that they get that this place is so much more than a zoo & that conservation costs money and that the funds have to come from somewhere.
For me, this was definitely one of my Australian highlights and must be an amazing place to work to have such an amazing involvement with animals.
What I
