Brisbane Port - Australia Zoo

When our ship stops in Brisbane in Oct, we'd like to go to the Australia Zoo. We'll be in port from about 8am - 6pm. Wondering if we're better off doing the ship excursion, or if there is a better alternative?

You certainly have plenty of time to visit the zoo however there is a big BUT. That negative involves the Bruce Highway which is the road you will need to travel on in order to get to the Zoo.

While there is every chance you could drive yourself there and back without a hitch there is also the chance of getting delayed by an accident somewhere on the highway. We travel to and from Brisbane frequently and sometimes it's fine and sometimes it's not however the traffic is nearly always very heavy. The highway is also pretty notorious for crashes.

I'm not sure what day of the week you will be docking but if it's a week day you would be going against the bulk of the traffic but personally I wouldn't risk the trip independently as it's over an hour each way.

In this particular instance I would advise going on the ship's tour just to be on the safe side as in the event of any traffic jams you won't miss the ship.

I'm sorry to sound so negative but it's not a pleasant drive on that highway at the best of times.

I hope you have a lovely day at the zoo though. I'm sure you will enjoy patting some kangaroos.:D

G

Thanks![emoji3]

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Agree with Bronte above.

What other cities are you visiting, on your cruise or before or after there may be better options.

I too agree with what Bronte has written... being a Brisbane girl myself who more or less has the Bruce Highway as her back yard driving it can be a nightmare at the best of times... I recommend doing a Ship Organized Excursion by the Cruise Company. Simply because you will have that peace of mind to know that if for any reason you are late to the boat the boat won't leave. Where as if you choose to go solo then you risk being a pier runner should you be late.

Another option if you want to be closer to the boat but still be around animals is the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary at Daisy Hill. Don't let the name fool you it's not just koalas there are other wildlife as well.

Hope this helps! [emoji846]

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I too agree with what Bronte has written... being a Brisbane girl myself who more or less has the Bruce Highway as her back yard driving it can be a nightmare at the best of times... I recommend doing a Ship Organized Excursion by the Cruise Company. Simply because you will have that peace of mind to know that if for any reason you are late to the boat the boat won't leave. Where as if you choose to go solo then you risk being a pier runner should you be late.

 

Another option if you want to be closer to the boat but still be around animals is the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary at Daisy Hill. Don't let the name fool you it's not just koalas there are other wildlife as well.

 

Hope this helps! [emoji846]

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The OP might want to go to Australia Zoo in particular, but I agree with the suggestion that the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary is excellent with a wide variety of animals. However, it isn't at Daisy Hill. Lone Pine is at Fig Tree Pocket, a suburb of Brisbane. The Daisy Hill Koala Sanctuary is a koala habitat at Daisy Hill, south of Brisbane. This is much further out of town than the Lone Pine Sanctuary. For someone wanting to see a wide variety of Australian animals, Lone Pine is excellent. To get there I suggest that a taxi from the centre of Brisbane would be best.

Another point - I am not sure which ship the OP will be on. Unless it is P&O or one of the smaller Princess ships (Sun or Sea Princess) they will dock at the Grain Terminal at the Fisherman's Island wharf. This wharf is about 45 minutes' drive from the centre of the city, but it is reasonably conveniently located for someone wanting to travel on the Bruce Highway north of Brisbane. The wharf is not too far from the Gateway Bridge that leads onto the highway. At the wharf there will be taxis there and a shuttle bus to the CBD but there are no rental car depots anywhere in the area.

The OP might want to go to Australia Zoo in particular, but I agree with the suggestion that the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary is excellent with a wide variety of animals. However, it isn't at Daisy Hill. Lone Pine is at Fig Tree Pocket, a suburb of Brisbane. The Daisy Hill Koala Sanctuary is a koala habitat at Daisy Hill, south of Brisbane. This is much further out of town than the Lone Pine Sanctuary. For someone wanting to see a wide variety of Australian animals, Lone Pine is excellent. To get there I suggest that a taxi from the centre of Brisbane would be best.

 

 

 

Another point - I am not sure which ship the OP will be on. Unless it is P&O or one of the smaller Princess ships (Sun or Sea Princess) they will dock at the Grain Terminal at the Fisherman's Island wharf. This wharf is about 45 minutes' drive from the centre of the city, but it is reasonably conveniently located for someone wanting to travel on the Bruce Highway north of Brisbane. The wharf is not too far from the Gateway Bridge that leads onto the highway. At the wharf there will be taxis there and a shuttle bus to the CBD but there are no rental car depots anywhere in the area.

You're right it's fig tree pocket... I get those two confused... can you tell I only stay on the north side! Lol

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Knowing Brisbane roads, I would be going with the ship excursion too (even though they are more expensive). Only takes one accident on the Bruce Highway and you could be stuck for hours..

If you need any more info, just ask :)

Definitely go on a ship's tour but I would go to the Koala Sanctuary instead of the Zoo. If it's Aussie animals you want to see there are koalas, kangaroos, wombats, Tassie Devils, echidnas and birds as well - kookaburras, cockatoos, varieties of parrots and lorikeets. It's a lot closer to the port and I think the excursion leaves time to go into Brisbane on a riverboat as well.

We'll be on Golden Princess, in October. So, it looks like port of Brisbane. The Koala Sanctuary looks interesting. We would only be allowed 2 hours at the zoo, and probably more bus time than zoo time. So, that may be a better idea. What would be a good way to get there?

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We'll be on Golden Princess, in October. So, it looks like port of Brisbane. The Koala Sanctuary looks interesting. We would only be allowed 2 hours at the zoo, and probably more bus time than zoo time. So, that may be a better idea. What would be a good way to get there?

 

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I suggest taking the ship's shuttle bus to the CBD and then a taxi from there. It would be very expensive (I guess around $100) to get a taxi from the Grain Terminal where the Golden Princess will dock. Once again guessing - a taxi from the city to Lone Pine would probably be around $30.

If you are looking at Lone Pine there is a cruise company - Mirimar (mirimar.com) - it has been around for years and it goes direct to Lone Pine which makes for a nice leisurely day. It leaves from the city so would probably take the shuttle to the city first. Otherwise it is about 15mins drive from the city in a cab or buses go there too.

If you are looking at Lone Pine there is a cruise company - Mirimar (mirimar.com) - it has been around for years and it goes direct to Lone Pine which makes for a nice leisurely day. It leaves from the city so would probably take the shuttle to the city first. Otherwise it is about 15mins drive from the city in a cab or buses go there too.

I have checked into the Mirimar cruise for other cruise ship passengers in the past. I don't really recommend it. The Mirimar leaves from close to the Brisbane CBD at 10am. To allow time to get to the Mirimar, passengers would probably have to be on the shuttle bus before 8.30 (allowing 45 minutes to CBD, then walk to the Mirimar etc.) The Mirimar gets back to the Cultural Centre pontoon at 3.30. Allow 30 minutes to walk to the shuttle bus pick up, add waiting time for the bus and 45 minutes back to the Golden Princess. This is at least 5pm. I do not know what time passengers would have to be on board.

I am also concerned about the limited time at Lone Pine. I recommend the shuttle bus to the CBD, then taxi to Lone Pine. I did check out the bus option for someone, but it was a bit complicated for a visitor.

I might be wrong, but doesn't Princess offer the Koala Sanctuary as a tour? I know the young crew love to go there and the ship puts on a couple of subsidised buses for them.

We did the ship's excursion (Holland America) to Australia Zoo in 2014. Felt the tour was too rushed......definitely could have spent more time at the Zoo , which is well worth seeing.

We were then taken to a town for a very quick lunch (only enough time to find somewhere to buy it and then back to the bus for a stop off to view the Glasshouse Mountains in the distance.

In my opinion, which I also mentioned in my feedback to the company on departure, was that this tour would be better if the whole time was spent at the zoo, where lunch is available.

Recommend seeing Australia Zoo if you get the chance.

Haven't been to Lone Pine Sanctuary, but heard good reports about it.

Enjoy your trip,

A major advantage of Lone Pine Sanctuary is that the travel time is much less than going to Australia Zoo. This leaves a lot of time to be spent looking at the animals. This is important when a visitor has only one day with a starting and ending time that is determined by the ship.

Rosee made a good point - the tour she did from Holland America had only a short time at Australia Zoo and time in a small town (probably Beerburrum) etc. The tour operator is likely to be the same whichever cruiseline the person is cruising with.

I might be wrong, but doesn't Princess offer the Koala Sanctuary as a tour? I know the young crew love to go there and the ship puts on a couple of subsidised buses for them.

Unfortunately, this cruise does not offer an excursion to the Koala Sanctuary.

Unfortunately, this cruise does not offer an excursion to the Koala Sanctuary.

Even if it did, I think you would be better going on your own. You can spend as much time as you like looking at the various animals. You can buy lunch inside Lone Pine and the prices are not too bad. We took a group of American friends to Lone Pine because one of them had the major ambition to cuddle a koala. She got her wish at Lone Pine. The group of 10 visitors loved Lone Pine. The ship we were on stopped at Portside so we were able to hire a van from Budget and do a tour of Brisbane as well as spend a couple of hours at Lone Pine.

Even if it did, I think you would be better going on your own. You can spend as much time as you like looking at the various animals. You can buy lunch inside Lone Pine and the prices are not too bad. We took a group of American friends to Lone Pine because one of them had the major ambition to cuddle a koala. She got her wish at Lone Pine. The group of 10 visitors loved Lone Pine. The ship we were on stopped at Portside so we were able to hire a van from Budget and do a tour of Brisbane as well as spend a couple of hours at Lone Pine.

Agree with all this and your directions re shuttle and cab are spot on. If there's time after patting, cuddling, feeding all the Aussie creatures you could travel back to the port on one of the rivercats. It's great way to see a bit more of the city, and cheap too!

Agree with all this and your directions re shuttle and cab are spot on. If there's time after patting, cuddling, feeding all the Aussie creatures you could travel back to the port on one of the rivercats. It's great way to see a bit more of the city, and cheap too!

I will add that the CityCat (ferry) doesn't go as far up the river as Lone Pine, and it does not extend to the mouth of the river where the ship will be docked. Otherwise, I agree that a ride on the CityCat is a great way to see some of the city.

I will add that the CityCat (ferry) doesn't go as far up the river as Lone Pine, and it does not extend to the mouth of the river where the ship will be docked. Otherwise, I agree that a ride on the CityCat is a great way to see some of the city.

The river cat went to within a few hundred metres of our ship when we were there a month ago. We caught it both ways into the city/Southbank. Would there be enough time to catch a cab from Lone Pine to somewhere like Southbank then catch the rivercat from there back to the ship?

The river cat went to within a few hundred metres of our ship when we were there a month ago. We caught it both ways into the city/Southbank. Would there be enough time to catch a cab from Lone Pine to somewhere like Southbank then catch the rivercat from there back to the ship?

Some ships are too big to get under the Gateway Bridge so have to dock at Fisherman's Island instead of at Portside.

The ferry goes to Portside (Brett's Wharf), but not to Fisherman's Island.

Some ships are too big to get under the Gateway Bridge so have to dock at Fisherman's Island instead of at Portside.

 

The ferry goes to Portside (Brett's Wharf), but not to Fisherman's Island.

Do we know what ship the OP Cathy is sailing on? It could make a big difference to the advice we're giving.

She said Golden Princess in post #10.

Golden docks at Fisherman's Island, she's too big to go under the bridge.

She said Golden Princess in post #10.

 

Golden docks at Fisherman's Island, she's too big to go under the bridge.

The Golden is a much nicer ship than the littlies so I guess you have to roll with the Princess shuttle into the city. It's an easy walk over the bridge to Southbank though if time allows.