Hmmmm. This quite a good question. I think, it really depends on what you want to see; Australia zoo has a great Aussie collection, and is a very famous attraction; whilst smaller, growing zoos such as Darling Downs, and Rockhampton would also be a joy to visit. Personally, I would recommend Darling Downs zoo to a zoo lover, merely because of it’s growing size, amazing animal collection, it’s impressive exhibits, and facilities. None of these zoos are close around Gold Coast though, so if you’re looking for one around the gold coast, than Lone Pine Koala sanctuary would be a good visit for tourists arriving from overseas as it has a great display of Australian wildife.
As far as I am aware, David Fleay Wildlife Park, Currumbin Sanctuary and Sea Wolrd are the only zoos on the Gold Coast. All are good in different ways. Also @Jambo Rockhampton Zoo is around 8 hours away from the Gold Coast, so I doubt any one on the Goldcoast would be willing to go that far.
It all depends on what you are interested in as @Jambo said. South-east Queensland has a large number of zoos/ wildlife parks/ aquariums, which all have their particular target audiences/ specialisations. On the Gold Coast, Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary is a great all-round wildlife park for the zoo enthusiast and tourist alike. Currumbin has an excellent bird collection and show, a large nocturnal area with many lovely species (Feathertail Glider, Water Rat, Yellow-bellied Glider etc.) and good range of iconic Australian animals. If you are a zoo nerd and seek particular rarities, David Fleay Wildlife Park is an excellent example of a small wildlife park, that focuses on space and quality. Highlights include the wonderful nocturnal show, the wildlife (especially water birds) and their mammalian gems (Bridled Nailtail Wallaby, Proserpine Rock Wallaby). The Gold Coast also has two large theme parks with animal collections; Dreamworld and SeaWorld Gold Coast. Dreamworld has a solid collection of native wildlife and of course Tiger Island (which received a renovation a few years back). Sea World of course has a nice collection of aquatic species (dolphins, seals, polar bears, penguins etc.) Both facilities are very pricey in my opinion and are usually very busy. Also, there is Paradise Country which has a very small collection of native wildlife. Currumbin, Dreamworld and SeaWorld are all accessible via public transport. David Fleay takes a little planning to get there. Others collections in South East Queensland include Darling Downs Zoo (an excellent zoo however it is very much focused on its local audience, and has a growing collection of mainly exotics), Ipswich Nature Centre (approximately one hour from Brisbane and it has free admission), Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary (I am not a big fan of the place, but it’s very accessible from Brisbane), Walkabout Creek Nature Centre (a very small facility with excellent viewing for platypus). On the Sunshine Coast, there are four additional places. Australia Zoo is very much marketed towards international tourists and they have a small collection of native mammals. Their bird and reptile collections are solid. Wildlife HQ, is very much like Darling Downs Zoo, a privately-owned zoo with a growing range of exotics. They also have some excellent wildlife encounters. SEA LIFE Sunshine Coast is a standard aquarium, with a reasonable range of species, however it has some nicely-done areas (freshwater areas). They also hold four species of seal, and their seal show is very popular. The final place is Maleny Bird World, which is an interactive facility with many species of parrots, finches etc. in a series of walk through aviaries.
