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Cairns Tropical Zoo recently had a visit from Shiryn Burns-Hill and her travel partner Richard Watson. Shiryn won the UK Best Adventure in the World Documentary Maker competition late last year and is here in Queensland enjoying her extensive prize.

Best Adventure is the result of an international competition held by Russ Malkin, producer behind Long Way Round with Ewan McGregor and Charlie Boorman and his Big Earth production company, to find and foster up and coming adventure filmmakers. The competition was also supported by Tourism Queensland and Qantas.

Shiryn, who is studying Broadcast Journalism, reached the top five of the competition with her documentary ‘A Mushing Adventure’, along with other finalists from Quebec, France and San Diego. She impressed the Big Earth team and Russ Malkin with a pitch for another adventurous documentary that won her the prize of an adventure to Queensland.

To see Shiryn’s latest adventures visit her new website www.bestadventure.co.uk

Pictured are Shiryn and Richard with Tilly the Koala and the zoo’s Mammal Supervisor Peita Harrison.

It was a big day at Cairns Tropical Zoo on Saturday May 15th. The zoo celebrated its 30th Birthday in a big way with over 800 visitors enjoying all the extra activities on the day. Live music, face painters, a caricaturist, Tjapukai Aboriginal Dancers, and a visit from Kooee the giant kangaroo all helped to entertain the crowd. Mayor Val Schier was there to cut the cake(s) which were demolished in record time by a large contingent of hungry for cake children.

The Palm Cove Surf Life Saving Club were there as well doing a fund raising sausage sizzle which exceeded all expectations. Seven hundred snags were sold on the day producing one of the club’s best ever fund raisers.

The colouring in competition had over one hundred entries making the winners in the different age groups a difficult choice for the judges.

Zoo wildlife staff mingled with the visitors with a variety of animals to add some extra animal encounters during the day.

Everyone had such a great day and Mother Nature turned on her best weather, so the question has already been asked - “When is the next one?”

Arriving just in time for the Easter holidays, Cairns Tropical Zoo’s latest wombat arrival is sure to put smiles on the faces of visitors to the zoo during the holiday weekend.

The cute 14 month old male Common Wombat came from Featherdale Wildlife Park in New South Wales after being hand raised. He was born in the wild but became orphaned when his mother was killed by a motor vehicle. He joins another 14 month old unrelated female Common Wombat who arrived last week from Cleland Wildlife Park in South Australia.

Whoever turns out to be the friendliest - in wombat terms - will be the zoo’s new wombat tourism ambassador to replace Molly, who has be meeting tourists for the past ten years. Molly will enjoy a relaxed retirement at the zoo’s sister park, Kuranda Koala Gardens.

Pictured:

• Left: Mammal Supervisor Peita Harrison holding BamBam the new arrival.
• Right: Senior Mammal Keeper Kirsten Latham with soon to be retired Molly.

Following on from Tourism Queensland’s immensely successful "Best Job in the World" competition, a world-wide search for the "Best Experience in the World" competition winner ended with Barbie Defeo from Huntington Beach California taking out the coveted prize.

The winner of the competition began her five-week all-expenses-paid trip to assist Island Caretaker Ben Southall, here in Far North Queensland.

Barbie, joined by husband Paul, and daughters Kelsey and Shelby, began the first leg of their adventure with a visit to Cairns Tropical Zoo. Their first experience of Queensland was with Australia’s magnificent wildlife, and much time was spent feeding the kangaroos and cuddling Diesel, one of the zoo’s koalas.

During their stay in the far north the Defeos will experience white water rafting, hot air ballooning, and will visit the World Heritage-listed Daintree Rainforest and the Great Barrier Reef - two of Queensland's biggest international drawcards.

After visiting Magnetic Island off Townsville and immersing themselves in the underwater magic of Reef HQ, they will then make their way further south to the Whitsundays to meet Island Caretaker Ben Southall at his office on Hamilton Island.

Barbie said the reality of winning the "Best Experience in the World" competition had only just started to sink in once they arrived in Cairns.

More than 23,000 entrants from 150 countries applied for the opportunity to help Ben explore the Islands of the Great Barrier Reef as part of Tourism Queensland's "Best Experience in the World" competition.

The combined Rotary Clubs of Cairns family fun and duck race day, was held under perfect skies and saw the event raise more than $40,000 for charity. As part of the day’s activities, children were invited to dress up as ducks with the winner taking out the cash prize of $500.00 donated by Cairns Tropical Zoo.

Families were entertained by cheerleaders and clowns, a flyover by World War Two aircraft, and a surprise visit from the Cairns Taipans basketball Team. Rotarian Ron Cheeseman said the annual event had become an icon in Cairns and had raised $150,000 for various charities in the past six years.

Pictured:

• Anna and Evan from the zoo with Taipans’ mascot Joe Blake meeting one of his kin.
• Anna with the winner of the Dress up like a Duck competition Tracey Radford.
• Evan with Fluffy the Crocodile and friends.

Hot on the heels of winning the Cairns Regional Council’s 2009 Garden Award for best Commercial Premises Garden, and the council’s Water Wise Award, Cairns Tropical Zoo has picked up yet another accolade, this time from Travelling in Australia magazine.

The zoo is the 2009 winner of 'Australia’s 20 Best Experiences Awards' in the category of Best Theme Park / Wildlife Experience.

Tourism products from around Australia were supplied to an international judging panel of Premier Aussie Specialists in a variety of categories including Eco Tourism, Accommodation, day touring etc. The panel was looking for the best of the best and as such is a significant award.

Pictured is staff member Rebecca Hamilton proudly displaying the award at the zoo’s entrance, and the actual award.

Meet Oscar and Felix - the newest arrivals at Cairns Tropical Zoo.

These two Lesser Sooty Owls are just six weeks old with faces that only a mother could love. In a fusion of ugly meets beautiful, these chicks have captured the hearts of all of the zoo’s staff.

The two were bred in the zoo as part of an ongoing breeding program and in time will be trained for use on a glove in order for visitors to see these fabulous birds up close. They will also be seen at Cairns Night Zoo in the coming months.

These birds would normally be found in tall rainforest and wet eucalypt forest from Cooktown to Paluma near Townsville. Their call is a distinctive and instantly recognisable descending screech.

Some of the survivors of the February bushfires that devastated Marysville in Victoria, recently visited Cairns Tropical Zoo for a bit of well needed R and R.

The group had been enjoying a week’s holiday at Mission Beach and the Cassowary Coast and visited the zoo’s animals on their way to the Cairns Airport for their return flight home.

Organised by Cherelle Skelly from Djarawong B and B near Mission Beach, the group spent the week relaxing, exploring the rainforest, visiting attractions such as Paronella Park and experiencing tandem parachuting.

All accommodation, tourist venues, meals and airfares were all kindly donated by local tourism operators and Virgin Airlines.

Group spokesman Graham Brown said that everyone had been overwhelmed by the support and generosity of the tourism industry in the Tropical North.

Images - Marysville residents enjoying some up close time with the zoo’s animals and wildlife staff.

Karim Hemani from Los Angeles certainly had a surprise up his sleeve when he and girlfriend Mindy Fortune visited Cairns Tropical Zoo last month. After enjoying a leisurely breakfast at the zoo, the couple went to have a photo cuddling a koala. Karim had been planning a very different marriage proposal for the day and had secretly prearranged to have Diesel the koala present the engagement ring to Mindy during the photo session.

Would she say Yes, or would she say No? Karim and zoo staff all held their breath waiting for Mindy’s anticipated reply. However there was no cause for alarm and the ruse all went according to plan when a very surprised Mindy agreed to tie the knot.

Karim’s wedding proposal to Mindy had the zoo staff in stitches with his comparison to spending a life with Mindy like eating a chocolate bar everyday.

Inset images show the happy couple with Diesel and keeper Karissa Butler, and the ring. Main picture shows a much relieved Karim with his undercover koala Agent Diesel.