Collected from hotel in Surfers Paradise and made our way to the zoo in Beerwah via Brisbaine. Please note that the journey is approx 2.5 hours. On arrival the driver took us straight to the turnstiles where we walked straight into the zoo, no queueing for tickets. The zoo is not huge but definitely plenty to see and do. We spent 6 hours there prior to our coach journey back. We had the pleasure of watching Robert Irwin perform the crocodile show (please note he's not there daily). He was a great entertainer, as he departed on his own in his 4x4 he saw us still standing so stopped his car, opened the window and chatted to us, we got a few photos too. He was happy to chat and had no security. I also booked an animal encounter where I fed the Giraffes. One of the zoo keepers takes photos of your experience and emails you the lot, I think I had 12 photos. They print one for you too and you have option to buy more but they have already been emailed to you. If booking an encounter, ensure it's after 1030 incase the bus is delayed in traffic. A dedicated area is also on display of Steve Irwins life.

I had read previous reviews before booking and was fully aware of the 6 hour round coach trip from Surfers Parsdise, which in my opinion was well worth it for a fabulous day at Australia Zoo. My only criticism is the driver who barely spoke, only to bark a few instructions. Perhaps more worrying was their driving which left a lot to be desired and was pretty questionable at times with numerous suddenly braking at which I often had to close my eyes, thinking we were going to hit the car in front. Australia Zoo though was an incredible experience and we were fortunate to have Robert and Terri Irwin in the Crocosseum.

This experience was so great! It seemed a little unorganized at first because the van showed up a few minutes late and the drive didn’t know who was on the wine tour and who was on the other glow worm tour, but it ended up being so great! Andy and Anthony were both so nice and sweet and told us all about the questions we had, and the bus ride back everyone slept so we also slept. lol the zoo was amazing. 10/10 recommend!!!

Seeing all the pics of Steve Irwin was very emotional….he was so inspirational and such an awesome legend/wildlife warrior. We loved it all and everything that we experienced at Australia Zoo including the Croc Show at the Crocaseum and the gorgeous Tiger at the Tiger Area. Also, all the awesome friendly welcoming staff. The merchandise options are terrific and plenty and very reasonably priced. Thank you Irwin Family and the well kept and well maintained beautiful Australia Zoo xox

Okay, I was extremely worried about the bad reviews I was reading prior to booking, but I had a very limited time on the Gold Coast and just Australia in general. I thought when am I going to ever get the opportunity to visit THE Australia Zoo again as I was visiting all the way from Los Angeles. I’ve been obsessed with the Irwin Family since I was a little girl and Australia Zoo had always been on my bucket list. So I went ahead and booked this hoping for the best. The main concerns I’d seen with the bad reviews were the reliability of the bus company failing to communicate when/if the bus was cancelled for the day if they didn’t reach the minimum amount of people required to make the trek to the zoo for the day. Because of this, I messaged the tour operator the night before to confirm the meetup time and place. The tour operator confirmed with me and so that put me at ease. The next morning, the bus picked me up and a few other people at our meeting point in front of Mantra Legends right on time. The bus ride from Gold Coast is a total of about 3 hours one way so 6 hours round trip. Sounds agonizingly long when coming from Gold Coast especially as the bus has no bathroom facilities and doesn’t make a stop for passengers to use the bathroom. Does stop in Brisbane to get more passengers but no one is to get off the bus for any reason during the stops. So just make sure you go beforehand and refrain from drinking too much liquids. Surprisingly the length of time flew by for me both ways as I was chatting with a few local passengers. Bus is clean and modern. Now, for the zoo. INCREDIBLE. Never been to a zoo so interactive and educational. I had the time of my life seeing all the different species of animal. Was super excited for the Crocoseum show. It was amazingly entertaining and the cherry on top to this whole excursion was the Irwin’s coming out to feed the crocs during the show!!! It was a dream come true for this lifelong Irwin family fan. It was beautiful and emotional seeing how the family has continued on Steve’s legacy. Their passion for animals and conservation is inspiring. So yes overall great experience! The bus gets there around 10am and you are directed to meetup back at the drop off point at 4pm. So u have about 6hours to enjoy the zoo which I felt was a good amount. I believe those who have had a negative experience with this booking, but I just think I happened to go on a day where everything went right. Hopefully with the bad reviews the bus company has seen, they’ve made it a point to be better and more communicative if the bus needs to be canceled for the day. With my experience however, I would recommend

I booked this tour my son and myself. We got up at 5am to get to the meeting point and no one turned up. It was really hard to get hold of anyone to find out where they were. Eventually as it turns out, they did not meet the minimum requirements for numbers that day, but had not bothered to tell us the trip was canceled. My son was really disappointed as we were so excited to visit Australia Zoo. If we had known earlier I could have rented a car and driven up. Really poor service and I feel let down by the company.