Last week I was passing through Coffs Harbour and decided to visit the Pet Porpoise Pool. Here are my brief impressions.
Dolphin Encounter, Dolphin Swimming, Seal Swimming, Seal Swim
Small. Tiny, even. Not sure exactly how big, but I'm guessing only two acres at most. And in that small space they have two large pools for the dolphins plus seating, four tanks for the Sea-Lions, one aquarium tank, a penguin enclosure and pool, a freshwater turtle pond, and a picnic area. Their map also says they have kangaroos, emus and pelicans in an enclosure behind the picnic grounds, but I managed to miss them.
It took me ten minutes to walk around the entire place and see everything. It would have taken less time if I wasn't taking photos. Having said that, I ended up staying for more than an hour because I kept going back to places to try and get more photos (mainly the aquarium). Unfortunately, I arrived between shows so didn't get to see what the presentations were like.
Admission for adults is $32, which is very steep for the size. But there are a couple of things built into the price that you would normally pay extra for elsewhere: Dolphin Kisses and Seal Kisses are free, and start half an hour before a show. Obviously, if their photographer takes a photo of you being smooched then you pay for the photo, but if you have your own camera there's no problem. And outside of show and kissing time there is free interaction with the dolphins poolside (if the dolphins want to play). You can pet, scratch and tickle them, and when I was there they had a football which they would catch in their mouths if you threw it to them and then bring it back to you for another go.
Getting in the pools with the dolphins is also possibly, but that experience you have to pay for.
The two dolphin pools are a good size, and are interconnected so the dolphins can be moved from one to another for draining and cleaning purposes. The Show Pool is separated from the larger pool by a gate, and the larger pool itself is split in two by a fence and gate, so three separate enclosures can be created if need be. The larger pool also seems to be deeper. In the Show Pool at one end a broom head is fixed to the bottom for the dolphins to scratch themselves on. The dolphins are Indo-Pacific Bottlenoses, and I think I heard them say there were five (and at least one was born at the park).
The sealion exhibits are not great, but adequate. Concrete enclosures with a large wire front and a concrete tub/tank. They are not a large size, but the seals all get to go out for kisses, shows, walks and training. A sign on one enclosure said "New Zealand Fur Seal", but the occupants were both Australian Sea Lions.
The Aquarium Tank was a concrete circular tank about five metres in diameter and about three metres deep (bit hard to estimate depth). Several underwater viewing windows on one side of the structure. The interior was pretty well empty except for a broken old wooden boat on the bottom and some stones - no rock outcrops or artificial reefs, just a circular tank. The fish were local species - Cobias, Drummers, Snapper, Flatheads, Bream, Perch, Cod and a single Green Turtle.
The Freshwater Turtle exhibit was what you would expect from any zoo or fauna park (or maybe even the backyard of a Turtle enthusiast) - a pond (about two metres in diameter) surrounded by sand and grass, with some small shrubs and basking sites. The Turtles were Short-necks (E.macquarii) and Long-necks (C.longicollis).
The Penguin area was also comparable to many you would find in zoos, with a pool of reasonable size (albeit vivid blue) and a well landscaped dune area with breeding burrows/boxes. I counted seven Little Penguins, but there may have been more in the boxes. Good signage too.
There were two other displays not on the map - a three-foot fish tanks with a clown fish and some damsels, and a pair of sulphur-crested cockatoos in an open enclosure near the penguins. I'm guessing they were unable to fly, one appeared to have a very bad wing. Both were inside a shelter made of corrugated tin. The shelter was pretty crappy and looked like it had been knocked together with pieces of scrap, but I guess the cockatoos probably did that themselves, probably in less than half an hour.
I did take lots of photos, but there is no gallery for the Pet Porpoise Pool so I'll just have to wait for Sim to return to create one before I post them.
As always, the above review was my opinion only - I encourage everyone to visit if they are in Coffs Harbour and post their own impressions.
Hix
Dolphin Encounter, Dolphin Swimming, Seal Swimming, Seal Swim
Small. Tiny, even. Not sure exactly how big, but I'm guessing only two acres at most. And in that small space they have two large pools for the dolphins plus seating, four tanks for the Sea-Lions, one aquarium tank, a penguin enclosure and pool, a freshwater turtle pond, and a picnic area. Their map also says they have kangaroos, emus and pelicans in an enclosure behind the picnic grounds, but I managed to miss them.
It took me ten minutes to walk around the entire place and see everything. It would have taken less time if I wasn't taking photos. Having said that, I ended up staying for more than an hour because I kept going back to places to try and get more photos (mainly the aquarium). Unfortunately, I arrived between shows so didn't get to see what the presentations were like.
Admission for adults is $32, which is very steep for the size. But there are a couple of things built into the price that you would normally pay extra for elsewhere: Dolphin Kisses and Seal Kisses are free, and start half an hour before a show. Obviously, if their photographer takes a photo of you being smooched then you pay for the photo, but if you have your own camera there's no problem. And outside of show and kissing time there is free interaction with the dolphins poolside (if the dolphins want to play). You can pet, scratch and tickle them, and when I was there they had a football which they would catch in their mouths if you threw it to them and then bring it back to you for another go.
Getting in the pools with the dolphins is also possibly, but that experience you have to pay for.
The two dolphin pools are a good size, and are interconnected so the dolphins can be moved from one to another for draining and cleaning purposes. The Show Pool is separated from the larger pool by a gate, and the larger pool itself is split in two by a fence and gate, so three separate enclosures can be created if need be. The larger pool also seems to be deeper. In the Show Pool at one end a broom head is fixed to the bottom for the dolphins to scratch themselves on. The dolphins are Indo-Pacific Bottlenoses, and I think I heard them say there were five (and at least one was born at the park).
The sealion exhibits are not great, but adequate. Concrete enclosures with a large wire front and a concrete tub/tank. They are not a large size, but the seals all get to go out for kisses, shows, walks and training. A sign on one enclosure said "New Zealand Fur Seal", but the occupants were both Australian Sea Lions.
The Aquarium Tank was a concrete circular tank about five metres in diameter and about three metres deep (bit hard to estimate depth). Several underwater viewing windows on one side of the structure. The interior was pretty well empty except for a broken old wooden boat on the bottom and some stones - no rock outcrops or artificial reefs, just a circular tank. The fish were local species - Cobias, Drummers, Snapper, Flatheads, Bream, Perch, Cod and a single Green Turtle.
The Freshwater Turtle exhibit was what you would expect from any zoo or fauna park (or maybe even the backyard of a Turtle enthusiast) - a pond (about two metres in diameter) surrounded by sand and grass, with some small shrubs and basking sites. The Turtles were Short-necks (E.macquarii) and Long-necks (C.longicollis).
The Penguin area was also comparable to many you would find in zoos, with a pool of reasonable size (albeit vivid blue) and a well landscaped dune area with breeding burrows/boxes. I counted seven Little Penguins, but there may have been more in the boxes. Good signage too.
There were two other displays not on the map - a three-foot fish tanks with a clown fish and some damsels, and a pair of sulphur-crested cockatoos in an open enclosure near the penguins. I'm guessing they were unable to fly, one appeared to have a very bad wing. Both were inside a shelter made of corrugated tin. The shelter was pretty crappy and looked like it had been knocked together with pieces of scrap, but I guess the cockatoos probably did that themselves, probably in less than half an hour.
I did take lots of photos, but there is no gallery for the Pet Porpoise Pool so I'll just have to wait for Sim to return to create one before I post them.
As always, the above review was my opinion only - I encourage everyone to visit if they are in Coffs Harbour and post their own impressions.
Hix
