This place is brilliant. We spent a couple of hours there enjoying all the birds. Well worth a visit.
Visited this place on the way to Agnes Water, and two words...don't bother. Most of the birds are caged, the owl display was a joke, the grass was overgrown in their enclosure, and you had to view them from quite a distance away. The place was generally run down, there was little information to be had. The kangaroo enclosure was also a joke. I do not believe that this is a free flying aviary, why have birds in cages then? I understand that public liability expenses are at an all time high, but surely the birds can be better displayed in a free flying aviary, more like their natural terrain. It is terrible that such majestic birds are kept in such appalling conditions. Save your $20/person. It is just encouragement and justification for the people who run this place to keep bringing in birds that should be on the wing in their own country.
This attraction is up for sale and I don't know the circumstances of why this is, but there is so much that could have been better. The birds themselves were certainly loved and well looked after but the place Looked a little run down, from the sparsity of the gift shop with old brochures and notices, to dried up water holes in the aviary. We were given to understand by staff that there would be a lot of interaction with the birds. Even warning us to take off our watches. There are a wide variety of species but none of the birds came near us. There is a beautiful outdoor area populated by kangaroos, an emu, swan, cassowary, guinea fowl, etc. which could be made more of. Our best moment was back in the gift shop where the staff let us hold their friendly owl, who had lost a wing. He was friendly and we really enjoyed this interaction. My husband made the comment that it reminded him of the movie: We Bought A Zoo.
We had so much fun! There were many different species of birds and the avery is easy to navigate and well maintained. The staff were very friendly and were never to busy to share their knowlegde and a interesting story or two. We shared part of our time with some cheeky sun conures on our shoulders, which added much fun to the experience. The birds appear well cared for and appreciated by the staff. All in all a great experience and well worth the $20.
I have driven past this place many times on my travels up and down the Bruce Hwy in Qld. Finally we set aside some time to go there and I'm glad we did. The birds are lovely, all in good condition and very friendly - one in particular was too friendly and just would not get off my husband's shoulder! The kangaroos outside were peaceful and didn't mind us getting up close to them. Well worth the entry fee and the time taken to go through the place.
We stopped in to the bird sanctuary on the drive to Cairns and were pretty impressed. Working in the industry, we went in very skeptical of a roadside attraction but it blew us away how healthy the animals were and how well maintained their enclosure was for such a small business. The staff were friendly and the only warning was that the animals might land on us and interact with us. Well worth the price for what you experience. Drop in if you need to stretch your legs and hang out with some beautiful animals instead of the usual truckstop rednecks... Great work
We've been to this place a couple of times and had different experiences both times. The first time, we bought some chips and coke at the shop on the way in and got mobbed by birds inside! The conures were very keen to get into our snacks - I'm not entirely sure that selling these foods to visitors on their way into the bird sanctuary is a good idea, as they're surely not good for the birds to eat. We got no warning about the birds destroying our stuff either - they bit through my necklace, handbag strap and part of my camera strap. I didn't mind too much as I was happy to be able to interact with the birds. The second time we went was a completely different story - we didn't get a single bird landing on us, and we didn't even see all that many birds compared to the first time we went. It was about 6 months later, and at a later time of day, but it was like a completely different place. The macaws (and some other birds like owls, peacocks, cockatoos) are kept in separate cages which visitors can't access. There are also some kangaroos and emus you can see. It's a nice place to visit if you love birds and are on a trip up or down the coast, but I think I prefer some of the other aviaries in Queensland like zoom in cairns, the Kuranda bird house, and the Maleny aviary, where you can be guaranteed to have more contact with birds.
The Flying High Bird Sanctuary truly is a hidden gem - won't find it (yet?) easily in a tourist guide, we just saw it when passing by, wanted to stop for a short time, and spent a couple of hours there!Some of the bigger birds are caged, but many of the smaller ones are flying freely, especially parrots and the likes. Some will come to sit on your shoulder, there was a couple of south american parrots that we could even pet while they were sitting on us !
What a beautiful place so many beautiful birds , some very tame that come say hello .Look out for the birds near the entrance shouting "hello and what you doing" soo cute :).
Found this gem on the way back from Brisbane. Quite a collection of birds in a pleasant free fly area. They have exotic macaws, parrots, conures, owls and others in cages but it has a nice feel as you walk around. There is a viewing seated area and a feeding area where some of the more cheeky birds come in closer. There is also an open area where there you can walk around with kangaroos, emus, chooks and swans. The downside, it has a really expensive entry fee at $20 per person. I think the cost is to help feed everything and maintain this attraction as it wouldn't be cheap to run. I didn't mind the extra cost as I could see where the money was spent and the commitment of the owners to run it. You can get a nice cup of tea and coffee plus basic food (sausage rolls and sandwiches) It's not a bad little stop off and lots of the parrots talk. Take a camera with a long lens - you won't be disappointed. I got shots of baby birds in the nest and close ups of beautiful birds I wouldn't normally get to see.