what was the point of this thread again?
Aussie Deja Vu
- Thread starter snowleopard
- Start date
It was so I could wake up to read enlightening, sympathetic dialogue. It is always a joy to have such an experience. Thank you.
Many ZooChatters outside of "Oceania" have no idea that there are really only 4 major zoos in Australia (although at $50 a pop I suppose that Australia Zoo could be a 5th contender) and that they all have very similar animal collections. The Aussie and Asian zones of each of the 4 zoos are borderline identical, and any ZooChatter planning a cross-country jaunt (as I did in 2007) might not be aware of the situation. This thread has created some interesting facts and circumstances and I've found it to be far more worthwhile than the mounds of dreck that gets posted on ZooChat on a daily basis.
FriendOfTheZoo
Well-Known Member
So which Zoo's exactly did you visit again?
Personally I would just do one or two zoo's, and do lots of animal encounters.
Personally I would just do one or two zoo's, and do lots of animal encounters.
From 1986-88 I lived in Bunbury, Western Australia, and visited Perth Zoo and 3 other minor wildlife attractions. In 2007 my wife and I spent 6 weeks travelling all over Australia for our honeymoon, and we visited 14 attractions. In hindsight I actually wish that we had been to many more, as this past summer we toured 50 zoos/aquariums in 50 days across the U.S.A.
Taronga Zoo - Sydney area
Sydney Wildlife World - Sydney
Sydney Aquarium - Sydney
Melbourne Zoo - Melbourne area
Healesville Sanctuary - Melbourne
Phillip Island Wildlife Park - Melbourne
Melbourne Aquarium - Melbourne
Adelaide Zoo - Adelaide
Monarto Zoo - Adelaide
Cleland Wildlife Park - Adelaide
Warrawong Wildlife Sanctuary - Adelaide
Crocodylus Park - Darwin
Kuranda’s RainForeStation - Cairns
Alice Springs Desert Park - Alice Springs
FriendOfTheZoo
Well-Known Member
Impressive! You must be made of money to be able to afford that! Jeepers!
A lot of the smaller zoos in your Aussie list are just Aussie animals, so yes a tad boring. Anything with "Wildlife" or "Sanctuary" in the name, I would have thought would be a dead giveaway?
You should have done a driving holiday, and gone to some of the less expensive zoos that are away from those main cities. Halls Gap, Mogo Zoo, Pet Porpoise Pool, Darling Downs, Alma Park.
And there's a few big zoos etc not on your list: National Zoo & Aquarium, Sea World, Underwater World?
Has there been any further movement on this, or is it still a hopeful dream rather then reality? The potential for a great open-range facility in the West is there, but who is going to fork out the necessary cash to get it going? Perth Zoo? Unlikely. WA government? Certainly not in this economic climate.
I certainly wouldnt call National Zoo and Aquarium big in terms of size, but they have a nice collection including snow leopards, Sumatran tiger, puma, red panda, De Brazzas guenon, black and white colobus and black and white ruffed lemur.
Sea World also has the only polar bears in Australia, so I'm surprised snowleopard didn't visit?
Also Mansfield Zoo now has added white lions and I think they might have some other exotics, so that might be added to the list of small zoos to visit along with Hunter Valley Zoo (crab eater macaques and maybe a few others).
I'm not so sure about that - the quantities of iron ore are still reaching record levels so royalties are very healthy..add to that gas, other minerals (even future uranium) and the flow on effects of increasing development, and I'd say WA will continue to be the fastest growing state economy in Australia for many years to come...so I reckon they could pave Perth roads in gold (or perhaps in the fur and feathers of displaced native wildlife) and still have money for an open range zoo(?) The western side of the wheatbelt would be the best place as all the native vegetation was removed years ago to look like an African savannah....