For a wonderful and informative adventure in New Zealand’s Auckland visit Kelly Tarlton’s Underwater World and Antartic Encounter. This attraction was built in a old storm water holding tank and now houses some of New Zealand’s and the Antartic’s finest collection of sea life. The complex features a huge acrylic tunnel with moving footpath where you can get an up close look at some amazing fish including huge stingrays and sharks. The largest stingray called Phoebe weighs in at over 200kg and has a massive wingspan of over 2m. The highlight of the visit for most people is the penguin encounter, here is one of the few places outside the Antartic where you will see the king and gentoo penguins. The centre has plenty of informative interactives and lots of fun for young and old.
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Posted in: Animals, Must see, Pacific.
Tagged: Auckland
The Daintree about an hours drive north of Cairns in Australia’s tropical Queensland is home to the giant Barramundi. This fish sits apon the Barbeque garden at the Timber Museum and Gallery. The Barramundi isn’t the only big thing found in the rivers of these parts of Australia, the freshwater crocodile is also in plentiful supply. The region has several river cruises to choose from and you are all but guarenteed to see one of these ernormous and deadly reptiles on your journey.
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Posted in: Animals, Australia, Must see.
Anglesea on Victoria’s Great Ocean Road has a very unique Golf Course where you play your 18 holes with herds of Kangaroos watching on. Established in the 1950’s the golf club is one of the premier clubs in the region. The club is visited by hundred’s of visitors every day who stop by for a close up look at these beautiful animals. The kangaroos don’t seem to care too much about the flying balls and can be often seen enjoying the sun right in the middle of the green while golfers are trying to play shots.
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Posted in: Animals, Australia, Must see.
Tagged: Victoria
About two and a half hours drive east of Darwin in the heart of the World Heritage Listed Kakadu National Park you will find one of the worlds most unique hotels. A huge crocodile shapped hotel. This luxury hotel is at Jaburu in the heart of Kakadu. The hotel, created by a Darwin architect working with the local Aboriginal people, measuring over 250 metres long the head holds the foyer, reception, gift shop and restaurants. While the body is home to the 110 luxury rooms. The legs are the stairs to the rooms while the tummy of the beast is home to the pool and gardens. The whole reptile is covered in a green scale like metal cladding. Tourist coaches pull up in the jaws of the crocodile to offload and pick up the hotel guests.
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Posted in: Animals, Australia, Hotels, Kitsch Stuff, Must see.
Florida’s Gatorland has been entertaining guests for more than half a century, decades before Orlando became the theme park capital of the world. Opening in 1949 the family owned park has been at the forefront of Alligator preservation in the area. Now set on over 110 acres the complex is home to thousands of alligators and quite a few crocodiles as well as lots of other scaley reptiles, birds and other animals. One of the highlights of the park is the Gator Jumparoo show where huge alligators jump out of the water to snatch food of a handler. The giant reptiles jump nearly two metres off the surface of the water. There is also a gator wrestling show where some mad fool wrangles a 8 foot alligator in front of a full stadium- he must be mad. Gatorworld is open daily and is a great place to escape the hustle and bustle of Disneyworld or Universal Studios for a few hours.
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Posted in: Americas, Animals, USA.
Tagged: Florida · Zoo
Shepparton is in centeral Victoria in the Southern State of Victoria and is known for its fruit growing and more recently its painted cows. The city has come alive with plastic cows all painted in different styles and colours by local and some quite famous artists including Ken Done and indigenous artists Kevin Atkinson and Melinda Solomon.
There are disco cows with mirrors, there is a moomaid some sort of mermaid crossed with a cow and even a tulip cow but our favorite is the penquin cow. The cows have became that popular that they have been exhibited all around Australia and even overseas.
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Posted in: Animals, Australia, Kitsch Stuff, Must see.
Elephants are a very important part of Thailand’s culture and over the centuries have become one of the countries most important animals and a symbol of power and strength. Their admiration can be seen in Thai symbols, buildings, statues and the like. Still today elephants are used in many traditional roles including working in the forest and mountains, used for transportation and are an important tourist drawcard to the country. Today most of the 2600 or so elephants live and in many cases work in elephant camps. One of the more popular elephant parks for tourists at Mae Sa which is outside of Chaing Mai here visitors can see the elephant’s amazing skills and even visit the elephant nursery where the little elephants grow up. Several tour groups also offer elephant trek tours where you can ride elephants through the farmlands and forest of Thailand.
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Posted in: Animals, Asia, Must see.
Tagged: Thailand
Kilimanjaro Mountain is an inactive strato volcano in north eastern Tanzania rising 5895 metres over the African savannah it is the continents highest peak. The surrounding plains are known as Kilimanjaro National Park and is home to one of Africa’s greatest game parks. Fortunate today most of the shooting in this UNESCO World Heritage Area is from cameras with thousands of people visiting each year to see the spectacular an in many cases threatened wildlife. Elephants, Zebra, Giraffe, Lion and Gazelle are only a few of the magnificent beasts who call the park their home. Many visitors come to the park to climb the mountain which offers great challenges to the climber with steep peaks and one of the few places in Africa which experience ice and snow.
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Posted in: Africa, Animals, Must see.
The Gold Coast in Queensland’is home to Australia’s only Polar Bears. These magnificent animals are the major drawcard at Seaworld and attract thousands of visitors a day. Seaworld has 3 polar bears Lia a female and the wild boys Hudson and Nelson who were orphaned in Quebec Canada before moving to Queensland in 2004 aged 9 months. The bears live in a magnificent enclosure which has fresh running water, plenty of space and room for fun. Visitors are treated with two viewing areas, one above and a special glassed exhibit where they can see the bears having fun underwater.
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Posted in: Animals, Australia, Must see.
Tagged: Queensland · Zoo
Steve Irwin the Crocodile Hunter is no longer with us but he has left behind one of the worlds most beautiful zoos. This interactive zoo is located on the Sunshine Coast in Queensland Australia about an hours drive north of Brisbane. Set in thickly planted palms and bushland are some of the world’s most amazing animals including Elephants, Tigers, Koalas, Kangaroos and of course plenty of reptiles including the saltwater crocodile. The zoo gives visitors a once in a live time chance to get up close and touch some of the rare and endangered animals including a chance to feed the three Asian Elephants. There are shows in the massive Crocasium Stadium and lots of fun to be had for all ages a trip to Queensland would not be complete without a visit to Australia Zoo.
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Posted in: Animals, Australia, Must see.
Tagged: Queensland · Zoo
