The Cairns Night Zoo



Zoe at pool

Tim under the
waterfall

One of the pools at the
camp there are 5 pools

Tim at the pools

Tim being thrown in
the Pool

Thursday brought us another warm balmy day with clear skies. We decided to spend the day around the pool. The children soon made friends and before long they were sharing water guns and having water fights with a small group of other children. The caravan park has three separate water/pool areas.

Today we were at what Tim calls the whale pool as there is a whale waterslide which spouts water out as they slide down it. The children were having such a good time we took our lunch down to the pool so we didn't have to disturb their play by bringing them back to the caravan.

Dinner at the Zoo

Cane toad

Owl

One of the favourites - koala

 Taking it all in

We booked to go to the Cairns Zoo for their night visit. At this stage we have one car between us, taking five passengers, and as we have drawers in the rear area we are unable to put in the additional two seats. So Roger and Jake took the shuttle and we met them at the zoo. It is a matter of taking turns for rides in the shuttle! The evening commenced at 7 pm with a two course dinner and drinks were included. We were then all given torches and the tour of the zoo commenced. The first stop was to see the dingos (we had seen one in the wild just a few days ago), then to an arena to have the habitat explained and see a variety of animals including a cane toad, a koala which everyone could touch, and various other animals. Next stop was to see the koala in the gumtrees - there were at least fifteen and they were divided into male and female. They were up very lose so it was easy for everyone to see. A black head python was brought out to be shown. Next visit was to the alligators on the way to see the crocodiles. They were just huge and Peter and I are not looking forward to seeing one of those in the wild! From here we wandered the dark paths to meet up with heaps of kangaroo. Food was available to feed to them and this was the most popular part of the tour for the children. Damper and tea was served around the campfire  It was 

Time to touch the python

One of the
crocodile

Zoe gaining confidence

really interesting to be wandering around the zoo in the dark, even though it was not a huge zoo. The last stop for the night was at the cafe where drinks and nibbles were served while a guy played popular Australian music on his guitar and sang and encouraged everyone to join in. They had homemade instruments for the guests to use to form a band with the staff and it was lovely to see the children so keenly involved. Dancing commenced and reluctantly Roanne and Roger joined in. For the last song of the night they volunteered adults from the audience to join the band and Peter was given a wobble board. What a great time he had. Finally as we left the area to make our way to the exit a wombat was on show for everyone to see and touch. It was a great experience for the children and we really enjoyed it as well. It was well run and the three and a half hours went very quickly.

It was my turn to take the shuttle with Roger! I could pretty well guarantee that I wouldn't fall asleep and expect Roger to carry me back to bed from the drop off point!