Cairns Koalas and Creatures is Cairns' newest zoo, which opened in March 2024. It is a small facility located at The Pier, a shopping centre on the Cairns Esplanade. I visited in late November 2024, and the provided species list is accurate for that date. Admission is $20 for an adult, $12 for a child - more if one desires to have their photo taken holding a Koala (a common practice in zoos in the area, and one with it's fair share of ethical issues).
The first display seen upon entry is a reef tank displaying a handful of species of local marine fishes, such as Margined Coralfish, False-eye Wrasse, Emperor Angelfish, Bluestreak Cleaner Wrasse and Regal Tang. The tank does have signage, but it is very poor, most species are unsigned and several species are signed that are not on display. No scientific names are provided whatsoever. This will become a recurring theme with the signage in this facility.
Next is a tank that is modelled off a mangrove forest, but is freshwater and no species that actually inhabit mangroves are displayed. Signage is similarly bad as the reef tank, with four species signed, only one of which is actually displayed - the 'Mitchell River Rainbowfish'. I had no idea which species this was supposed to be (as no scientific name is provided), but it seems likely that they are Chequered Rainbowfish. Additionally, the tank houses Spangled Perch and a freshwater mussel species.
Next is a small, dim aviary seemingly intended to represent a rainforest habitat, housing Red-winged Parrot, Rainbow Lorikeet, Noisy Pitta, Rose-crowned Fruit-Dove and a flock of very out-of-place Gouldian Finch. The birds did not seem to be in good shape, being scruffy in appearance, inactive, and generally stressed. Signage was still lackluster for the birds, but at the very least was accurate to the species on display.
Adjacent to the aviary is a series of terrariums housing a handful of common herptiles of rainforest habitats, including Boyd's Forest Dragon, White-lipped Tree Frog, Jungle Carpet Python and another unspecified subspecies of Carpet Python (possibly Coastal Carpet Python?). Two terrariums bore no signage and I could not locate any animals within them - one supposedly houses millipedes. I paid little attention to the text plastered all over the walls of the facility as most of it is extremely basic flavour text with little in the way of educational value, but I couldn't help but notice that a paragraph about snakes on the side of a terrarium was clearly generated with AI. Shameful.
Next is the Queensland Koala enclosure, one of the worst I have seen. It houses three individuals in a small indoor exhibit with zero privacy for the animals, and no attempt made at any kind of naturalism. Additionally, the koalas are frequently handled for the aforementioned photos with visitors. Absolutely abysmal.
The final display is two simple open-topped terrariums with a desert theme, housing three species - Eastern Bearded Dragon, Common Bluetongue Skink, and Pygmy Spiny-tailed Skink. Very little to be said about these unremarkable terrariums, besides the fact the signage is terrible, signing the former two species merely as 'bearded dragon' and 'blue tongue lizard'. Again, no scientific names are given.
The facility is extremely small (everything can be seen in easily less than ten minutes), and exhibits are unremarkable at best and downright poor at worst. While the admission fees are the lowest of any zoo or aquarium in the Cairns area, I do not believe it is good value for money - a visitor to the Cairns area wishing to visit a zoo would be better off visiting other facilities in the area, such as Hartley's Crocodile Adventures, Wildlife Habitat or Cairns Aquarium, which are pricier but far more worthwhile.
Ultimately, I do not recommend Cairns Koalas and Creatures for any visiting Zoochatters, due to the lackluster exhibits, small collection consisting almost entirely of common species that can be seen in almost any Queensland zoo, and uninformative signage. This facility seems to exist solely to capitalise on the niche of "place where tourists can see koalas close to the docking location of cruise ships" left empty by the closure of Cairns Wildlife Dome.
Species list:
Queensland Koala (Phascolarctos cinereus adustus)
Rose-crowned Fruit-Dove (Ptilinopus regina)
Red-winged Parrot (Aprosmictus erythropterus)
Rainbow Lorikeet (Trichoglossus moluccanus)
Noisy Pitta (Pitta versicolor)
Gouldian Finch (Chloebia gouldiae)
Eastern Bearded Dragon (Pogona barbata)
Boyd's Forest Dragon (Lophosaurus boydii)
Common Bluetongue Skink (Tiliqua scincoides)
Pygmy spiny-tailed skink species (Egernia depressa species complex)
Coastal Carpet Python? (Morelia spilota mcdowelli?)
Jungle Carpet Python (Morelia spilota cheynei)
White-lipped Tree Frog (Nyctimystes infrafrenata)
Margined Coralfish (Chelmon marginalis)
Copperband Butterflyfish (Chelmon rostratus)
Emperor Angelfish (Pomacanthus imperator)
Lavender Tang (Acanthurus nigrofuscus)
Twospot Surgeonfish (Ctenochaetus binotatus)
Regal Tang (Paracanthurus hepatus)
False-eyed Wrasse (Halichoeres biocellatus)
Sixline Wrasse (Paracheilinus hexataenia)
Bluestreak Cleaner Wrasse (Labroides dimidiatus)
Blackaxil Chromis (Chromis atripectoralis)
Chequered Rainbowfish? (Melanotaenia splendida inornata?)
Spangled Perch (Leiopotheropon unicolor)
Freshwater mussel species (Veselunio ambiguus?)
Various corals
The first display seen upon entry is a reef tank displaying a handful of species of local marine fishes, such as Margined Coralfish, False-eye Wrasse, Emperor Angelfish, Bluestreak Cleaner Wrasse and Regal Tang. The tank does have signage, but it is very poor, most species are unsigned and several species are signed that are not on display. No scientific names are provided whatsoever. This will become a recurring theme with the signage in this facility.
Next is a tank that is modelled off a mangrove forest, but is freshwater and no species that actually inhabit mangroves are displayed. Signage is similarly bad as the reef tank, with four species signed, only one of which is actually displayed - the 'Mitchell River Rainbowfish'. I had no idea which species this was supposed to be (as no scientific name is provided), but it seems likely that they are Chequered Rainbowfish. Additionally, the tank houses Spangled Perch and a freshwater mussel species.
Next is a small, dim aviary seemingly intended to represent a rainforest habitat, housing Red-winged Parrot, Rainbow Lorikeet, Noisy Pitta, Rose-crowned Fruit-Dove and a flock of very out-of-place Gouldian Finch. The birds did not seem to be in good shape, being scruffy in appearance, inactive, and generally stressed. Signage was still lackluster for the birds, but at the very least was accurate to the species on display.
Adjacent to the aviary is a series of terrariums housing a handful of common herptiles of rainforest habitats, including Boyd's Forest Dragon, White-lipped Tree Frog, Jungle Carpet Python and another unspecified subspecies of Carpet Python (possibly Coastal Carpet Python?). Two terrariums bore no signage and I could not locate any animals within them - one supposedly houses millipedes. I paid little attention to the text plastered all over the walls of the facility as most of it is extremely basic flavour text with little in the way of educational value, but I couldn't help but notice that a paragraph about snakes on the side of a terrarium was clearly generated with AI. Shameful.
Next is the Queensland Koala enclosure, one of the worst I have seen. It houses three individuals in a small indoor exhibit with zero privacy for the animals, and no attempt made at any kind of naturalism. Additionally, the koalas are frequently handled for the aforementioned photos with visitors. Absolutely abysmal.
The final display is two simple open-topped terrariums with a desert theme, housing three species - Eastern Bearded Dragon, Common Bluetongue Skink, and Pygmy Spiny-tailed Skink. Very little to be said about these unremarkable terrariums, besides the fact the signage is terrible, signing the former two species merely as 'bearded dragon' and 'blue tongue lizard'. Again, no scientific names are given.
The facility is extremely small (everything can be seen in easily less than ten minutes), and exhibits are unremarkable at best and downright poor at worst. While the admission fees are the lowest of any zoo or aquarium in the Cairns area, I do not believe it is good value for money - a visitor to the Cairns area wishing to visit a zoo would be better off visiting other facilities in the area, such as Hartley's Crocodile Adventures, Wildlife Habitat or Cairns Aquarium, which are pricier but far more worthwhile.
Ultimately, I do not recommend Cairns Koalas and Creatures for any visiting Zoochatters, due to the lackluster exhibits, small collection consisting almost entirely of common species that can be seen in almost any Queensland zoo, and uninformative signage. This facility seems to exist solely to capitalise on the niche of "place where tourists can see koalas close to the docking location of cruise ships" left empty by the closure of Cairns Wildlife Dome.
Species list:
Queensland Koala (Phascolarctos cinereus adustus)
Rose-crowned Fruit-Dove (Ptilinopus regina)
Red-winged Parrot (Aprosmictus erythropterus)
Rainbow Lorikeet (Trichoglossus moluccanus)
Noisy Pitta (Pitta versicolor)
Gouldian Finch (Chloebia gouldiae)
Eastern Bearded Dragon (Pogona barbata)
Boyd's Forest Dragon (Lophosaurus boydii)
Common Bluetongue Skink (Tiliqua scincoides)
Pygmy spiny-tailed skink species (Egernia depressa species complex)
Coastal Carpet Python? (Morelia spilota mcdowelli?)
Jungle Carpet Python (Morelia spilota cheynei)
White-lipped Tree Frog (Nyctimystes infrafrenata)
Margined Coralfish (Chelmon marginalis)
Copperband Butterflyfish (Chelmon rostratus)
Emperor Angelfish (Pomacanthus imperator)
Lavender Tang (Acanthurus nigrofuscus)
Twospot Surgeonfish (Ctenochaetus binotatus)
Regal Tang (Paracanthurus hepatus)
False-eyed Wrasse (Halichoeres biocellatus)
Sixline Wrasse (Paracheilinus hexataenia)
Bluestreak Cleaner Wrasse (Labroides dimidiatus)
Blackaxil Chromis (Chromis atripectoralis)
Chequered Rainbowfish? (Melanotaenia splendida inornata?)
Spangled Perch (Leiopotheropon unicolor)
Freshwater mussel species (Veselunio ambiguus?)
Various corals
