I revisited Currumbin Widllife Sanctuary last June and spent several hours there, they have expanded quite a bit since my last visit. This is not an in depth review, but just some of the highlights (from my point of view). Hybrids - the first sign I came to identified the ONLY hybrid that Currumbin endorses and encourages: http://www.zoochat.com/60/sign-166422/ The Lorikeet feeding - still in the same place it always was, with what appears to be the same equipment. This is free, as the sanctuary entrance has moved to a point beyond the lorikeet feeding area, but some rather ugly covered wire fences now adjoin the area to separate the main part of the sanctuary from this area. But the result is the locals and tourists can come and feed the wild lorikeets free of charge (and have their photo taken, and visit the two gift shops and the cafe). For anyone who is unaware of the background, for more than 40 years wild rainbow lorikeets descend on the sanctuary a few times a day in their hundreds to be fed, and will happily sit on peoples hands, shoulders and heads in order to get a feed, but I arrived after the peak feeding rush. http://www.zoochat.com/60/rainbow-lorikeets-166427/ http://www.zoochat.com/60/rainbow-lorikeets-166428/ http://www.zoochat.com/60/lorikeet-feeding-166419/ The Green Cauldron - a large mesh-covered domed structure with four levels internally, connected by a central staircase built into an artificial tree trunk. Contains many different enclosures mainly for reptiles, a few birds and some nocturnal mammals. http://www.zoochat.com/60/signage-166439/ http://www.zoochat.com/60/green-cauldron-interior-166399/ http://www.zoochat.com/60/green-cauldron-interior-166400/ http://www.zoochat.com/60/green-cauldron-interior-166403/ http://www.zoochat.com/60/green-cauldron-interior-166401/ http://www.zoochat.com/60/green-cauldron-interior-166402/ http://www.zoochat.com/60/green-cauldron-interior-166406/ http://www.zoochat.com/60/green-cauldron-interior-166405/ http://www.zoochat.com/60/venomous-snake-tanks-166404/ http://www.zoochat.com/60/lace-monitor-enclosure-166418/ http://www.zoochat.com/60/channel-billed-cuckoo-aviary-166358/ http://www.zoochat.com/60/angleheaded-dragon-enclosure-166353/ Eel Feeding - there is a large lake that almost bisects the sanctuary, it is not part of the sanctuary but adjacent to it. Periodically it is connected to the ocean. It has always been a haven for waterbirds, particularly pelicans, but I didn't realise there were eels in it (never really thought about eels, to be honest). Once a day the park staff feed the eels, the eels come up to a particular little beach and when the keepers appear the eels come out of the water onto the beach to be fed. I counted over thirty individuals and some were close to 1.5 metres in length. http://www.zoochat.com/60/eel-166372/ http://www.zoochat.com/60/eels-166379/ http://www.zoochat.com/60/eels-166378/ http://www.zoochat.com/60/eels-166377/ http://www.zoochat.com/60/eels-166376/ http://www.zoochat.com/60/eel-166375/ http://www.zoochat.com/60/eel-166374/ http://www.zoochat.com/60/eel-feeding-166373/ Walkthrough Aviaries - Currumbin has two, the Forest Fringe Aviary, a small walkthrough built around a pond with kingfishers, stilts, wompoo pigeons, rosellas, mannikins and woodswallows. A nice quiet aviary where you can sit in the dappled sunlight and relax. http://www.zoochat.com/60/forest-fringe-aviary-166383/ http://www.zoochat.com/60/forest-fringe-aviary-interior-166384/ http://www.zoochat.com/60/forest-fringe-aviary-interior-166386/ http://www.zoochat.com/60/forest-fringe-aviary-interior-166387/ The other aviary is a Rainforest Aviary, an absolutely enormous structure built around a part of natural forest on a hillside with a waterfall and stream running through it. It is a little noisy because of the water, dark because of the trees and, during winter anyway, felt cold. But it is enormous. Although not as long as Melbourne Zoos aviary, it is wider and higher at the lower end of the hillside. It must surely rival, if not exceed, the interior volume of Melbourne's aviary. It houses a variety of species, including black cockatoos and eclectus parrots, bowerbirds, ducks, ibis, herons and pigeons as well as many small softbills. Must be fantastic in summer! http://www.zoochat.com/60/rainforest-aviary-interior-166430/ http://www.zoochat.com/60/rainforest-aviary-interior-166429/ http://www.zoochat.com/60/herons-ducks-166413/ Endangered Frog Breeding - like many other zoos, Currumbin has a shipping container to breed their endangered frogs. According to the signs they have two species: the Eungella Tinker Frog and the Spotted Tree Frog. http://www.zoochat.com/60/frog-breeding-container-166391/ http://www.zoochat.com/60/signage-166438/ http://www.zoochat.com/60/signage-166440/ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The Green Challenge This is something that was introduced to Currumbin Sanctuary late last year, and apparently it has resulted in a significant increase in visitation to the park. The company that put the Green Challenge into the sanctuary have many more scattered around the world (mainly in Europe, I believe), but there are only tow others in Australia, and they aren't in zoos. The Green Challenge is an aerial (or elevated) obstacle course. In other places large poles are inserted into the ground to facilitate this, but at Currumbin they have a mature forest growing on a hillside so they used this instead. Platforms are built around the tree trunks at increasing heights and are connected to each other by steel cables and various other ropes and swings etc. There are three different levels of difficulty - easy advanced, and hard (refered to as Green, Red and Black) - with corresponding increases in heights (the highest platform is 19.5 metres above the ground - that's 64 feet!). The different ways of getting from one tree to another are called 'games'. Participants don a jumpsuit and a harness with two caribenas and a pulley. To follow the course they have to walk on a single steel cable, ride a zipline, swing on a rope Tarzan style, walk a wooden bridge, climb mesh nets, swing from monkey rings etc. It costs $20 per person to participate, and the full course takes about an hour and half to complete. You can get off at the end of each stage if you wish, and the $20 is for all day and multiple times if you wish. The people running it told me they have had several organisations come out for team-building exercises, and during the school holidays it runs all day and may have as many as 300 people on it at the same time! I just had to give it a go! Unfortunately, I was wearing sensible shoes (comfortable for walking, but without a tread) and I found they were slipping off the steel cables I was balancing on, I had to hook the cable against the heel of the shoe which made progress a little slow. I completed the Green and Red sections before bailing (combination of the wrong shoes and not being anywhere near as fit as I thought I was!) I was permitted to take both my pocket camera and a video camera with me on it (the jumpsuit has large pockets) so I could take some photos (see below). Overall, despite it being strenuous and exhausting (24 hours later I was feeling a little stiff and sore - I had muscles in my armpits I didn't know I had that were aching), it was a hell of a lot of fun and I can see why it is so popular. When I go back it will be with good solid shoes. I'm just disappointed there isn't one near Sydney so I can take my workteam there on our days off. I thoroughly enjoyed it and STRONGLY recommend anyone remotely interested to try it out. http://www.zoochat.com/60/green-challenge-166407/ http://www.zoochat.com/60/green-challenge-166408/ http://www.zoochat.com/60/green-challenge-166410/ http://www.zoochat.com/60/green-challenge-166409/ http://www.zoochat.com/60/grass-owl-aviary-166398/ Hix
Thanks for the detailed review, as I recently saw a similarly themed adventure zone area at the Louisville Zoo in the state of Kentucky. Parts of it look almost identical to the Green Challenge that you climbed on.
I was told there were some in zoos in both Europe and the States, but they couldn't tell me which zoos. Give it a try next time you're in Louisville! Hix
There is something similar to the Green Zone at Mt tamborine, only i believe it is harder and based on actual training areas of the army. I recently participated i that with my nephew an niece and can attest to the new muscles that you discover. Did the Cauldron place actually have wildlife in it? Last time I visited it, it was empty.
Nice comments Hix, enough to encourage my first post (of course, working there makes me a little biased). Interesting to see what you picked as your highlights as well. Lots of birds and no mention of those overrated furry things that get way too much attention! It was the largest (not sure on what basis, but I would assume total area) in the southern hemisphere until a couple of years ago. You're right about it being a little dark, we just started thinning some of those mature trees, so it should be a bit more open next time. This is actually how it came about, and was designed and constructed by the same people (Adventure Parc) who run other courses throughout Europe as well. It might be slightly easier than the one at Mount Tamborine, but probably not by much! Also, a shameless plug: as of July, it's now included for free in the entrance price
Well, I picked out things that I hadn't seen before (Hybrid signage, Green Cauldron, Eels, Green Challenge) or were impressive (Rainforest Aviary - just mentiond the Forest Fringe in passing). And I had to mention the Lorikeets because that is what the sanctuary is famous for (I used to visit regulalrly back in the 60's and 70's). There was nothing that really stood out as far as the furry things go - Kangaroos and Koalas are in every zoo and fauna park, dingos are just as common and so are wombats and echidnas. Their exhibits were all OK, but nothing spectacular (although I didn't get to see the Rock Wallabies). The Tassy Devils were in OK enclosures, and I particularly liked the large enclosure near the Kiosk. The Tree Kangaroo enclosure had some decent climbing trees, and a joey, but from the boardwalk I was looking down on them (unless they were at the top of the palm). I don't like looking down on things - did lots of that in the 80's when pits were still commonplace. @Jay - every exhibit had something in it. There's even a Black Cockatoo sitting on a perch ion the public area. Like the Rainforest Aviary it was also a bit dark, shaded by trees. Especially in the morning. Disappointed that the Chocolate Factory has gone. Hix
