Located on Green Island, which is about an hour's boat ride from Cairns. We were staying at the resort on Green Island (see my report on wildlife I saw during my stay in ZooChat Big Year 2023). Green Island gets a lot of day visitors from Cairns as it is the nearest "swimmable" beach to Cairns, and this is the only "attraction" besides the beach on the island. it was established by crocodile hunter George Craig in 1972 and is still owned by the Craig family.
The park is tucked in behind the resort on the pathway that winds from one end of the island to the other. The exterior has a shipwreck theme facing onto the path and visitors enter through a hole in the "hull". After passing through the gift shop and paying at the gate, the visitor enters the aquarium hall. Eighteen home-sized aquariums (ten on one side, eight on the other) line the hall. They are all inhabited by reef creatures of appropriate size. Overall this was an attractive display.
Moving to the back and outside, we enter the crocodile area. There are claimed to be over 40 crocodiles although it did not seem like that many to me. They include Cassius, who is claimed to be the world's largest captive crocodile. Apart from two New Guinea crocodiles and what appeared to be an alligator, they were all saltwater crocodiles.
The crocodiles are housed in traditional pools surrounded by wire fences, Large trees provide ample shade. I was there at the same time as one of the talks that are given through the day. The talk was interesting and informative.
A feature was the large collection of South Pacific and Indonesian carvings. The collection was certainly impressive and I imagine it might be of considerable interest to those with an interest in this form of art.
The park is tucked in behind the resort on the pathway that winds from one end of the island to the other. The exterior has a shipwreck theme facing onto the path and visitors enter through a hole in the "hull". After passing through the gift shop and paying at the gate, the visitor enters the aquarium hall. Eighteen home-sized aquariums (ten on one side, eight on the other) line the hall. They are all inhabited by reef creatures of appropriate size. Overall this was an attractive display.
Moving to the back and outside, we enter the crocodile area. There are claimed to be over 40 crocodiles although it did not seem like that many to me. They include Cassius, who is claimed to be the world's largest captive crocodile. Apart from two New Guinea crocodiles and what appeared to be an alligator, they were all saltwater crocodiles.
The crocodiles are housed in traditional pools surrounded by wire fences, Large trees provide ample shade. I was there at the same time as one of the talks that are given through the day. The talk was interesting and informative.
A feature was the large collection of South Pacific and Indonesian carvings. The collection was certainly impressive and I imagine it might be of considerable interest to those with an interest in this form of art.