Territory Wildlife Park
I arrived at TWP around quarter past nine, payed for my entry and wasted a bit of time talking to the person at the counter about the VIP Nocturnal Tour, as she couldn't tell me about what was actually gonna happen there. (One of the options according to her would have been snake-handling, which I wouldn't spend money on.)
I had a quick look at the terraria at the entrance area and met the keeper who was doing the feedings and talks that day. So I followed her to the Woodland Walk for the 9:40am Wallaby feeding. We took the zoo-"train".
The thing I should probably mention in the beginning is, that TWP covers a large area and the different enclosures are pretty far apart, so you're reliant on the bus/train that drives around the park every half an hour (s.
map).
The other thing is, that all the presentations and talks are back to back, which doesn't leave you a lot of time to look at anything else, because you're busy getting from A to B in time.
The feeding was ok. The keeper handed out some food but then proceeded to put the rest of it into the feeding station right away, so of course the wallabies didn't have any incentive to take food from the visitors. She did a little talk in which she also mentioned the newly moved in Black Wallaroo at Rocky Ridge that I hadn't known about before coming (nice surprise that
).
She also said that the 'roos are somewhat hard to find outside of feeding times. I didn't come back to check but with the size of the enclosure I believe it.
Afterwards I went for my first quick round through the Nocturnal house (
species list) where I saw everything except Boobook, Melomys, Sheathtail Bat and NB Bandicoot on the first try.
I didn't see a keeper to ask about the VIP programme though...
I decided to chance my luck and walked back to the entrance to book it anyway.
Once that was done I rushed to the Flight Deck for the 11am show (seems like they're very strict on when they close the gates for that and everyone tells you so about five times). The show is fairly standard with the usual Black-breasted Buzzards, Kites, etc. I felt like it was missing a bit of a
roter Faden (common thread?) and ended too abruptly and without warning.
Next I had to walk back to the Nocturnal house for my (as I was the only one) VIP tour at 11:45am.
First we went into the Sugar Glider/Hare Wallaby enclosure and I got to feed the SGs and pet the HW. After that we threw some insects into the NB Bandicoot enclosure and I got to see it up close without a window between us. Then we went to the open kitchen area, where I got to hold a young Quoll that my supervising keeper is raising atm (sharp claws!).
When we were finished she showed me where to look for the Sheathtail Bats, which I wouldn't have found on my own.
Some time later I boarded the bus and drove up to Oolloo Sandbar for the Archerfish/Barramundi/Tarpon/Freshwater Whipray feeding at 1.10pm. Out of the three presentations I went to this one was the best. After the feeding another keeper was there with a baby croc that you could pet.
I doubled back past the Dingo enclosure (didn't see any) to the aquarium. The aquarium is quite large and contains mostly freshwater exhibits that are very nicely decorated. I really liked having such a big aquarium dedicated to native species as part of the zoo (zoos without one always feel a bit like they're missing something for me) although there could have been a bit more variety in species.
Next I wanted to have a quick look at the walk-through aviary. Turns out there's ten walk-in enclosures that are not marked on the map on the way up to it and so the quick look took waaay longer than expected. I also saw wild Agile Wallabies there and a handful of Orange-footed Scrubfowl at the subsequent Monsoon Forest Walk.
Billabong walk was a bit of a waste with only a group of Pelicans. (Also saw a wild snake in the underbrush.)
I hopped the train again and drove towards Paperbark Walk. There's no enclosures here either but more wildlife (like kookaburras, bee-eaters etc.) than at the other walks.
Last I had a look at Rocky Ridge for the Black Wallaroo which was grazing right at the fence, which made for some awkward photo angles.
As it was close to closing time I took the train for another round and met a birder with whom I wandered about for a bit at the entrance- and parking area (saw Friarbird, Bowerbird and some other stuff). I decided to make another stop at Fogg Dam, but he was too tired from his trip over the last few days, so we said our goodbyes and I was off.
This was my favourite zoo and my favourite Nocturnal House of the whole trip and I'd like to come back (if only to get a proper picture of the Rock Ringtail).
The one thing that I didn't like was that everything is so scattered. While I don't think that is much of a problem if you can do repeat visits (maybe it's even an asset then, as TWP is the best zoo for spotting wildlife on this trip), when you only have one day you don't wanna waste half of that on driving and walking between exhibits.
Animals checked off my list:
Antilopine Wallaroo
Nabarlek
Short-eared Rock-wallaby
Rock Ringtail Possum
Spectacled Hare-wallaby
Northern Brown Bandicoot
Golden Bandicoot
Black Wallaroo
Bare-rumped Sheathtail Bat
(?)-Friarbird
+ a bunch of fish
Animals I didn't get to check off my list:
Grassland Melomys
Next up:
Fogg Dam
(Not too happy with them as they also ripped me off with some hidden fees on return.)
)!
