Pet Porpoise Pool at Coffs Harbour

Mr6 and I enjoyed a fabulous day yesterday
at a friends 7th birthday party.

She celebrated at the Pet Porpoise Pool.

We loved these little penguins.
They are seriously cute.

This gorgeous dolphin was so cheeky.
She threw her ball over the side of the pool
to interact with the kids.
This pool is the resting pool
the dolphins go here to get away from people
but freely choose to interact when they feel like it.

When our birthday girls big sister
picked up the ball the dolphin was right against the window
mouth wide - the kids were entranced

Here you see the dolphin anticipating the ball
and looking around the corner to follow its progress

and here the dolphin is looking up
on top of the pool, waiting for the ball.

The Porpoise Pool encourages interaction
between the audience and the marine animals
and these animals have all been rescued or were born here.
The 2 dolphins in the pic above are in the performance pool,
they are father and son
Beaky and Zippy
Beaky was rescued locally and is world famous
as the first dolphin to balance a ball on his nose
Zippy surfs along on top of one of those giant gym balls.
They are very playful and seem to love the people visiting them.
They are playing catch with a ball
and slowly swimming up and down
the side of the pool visiting everyone.

Here they are giving Mr6 a kiss

In another pool live
huge fish, Port Jackson sharks and sea turtles.

The kids are feeding them

and this is the view from below.

The seals and sea lions are lovely as wellmore kisses
from a beautiful sea lion this timeThis mighty big fellow is Sampson,
wandering through the park
with his trainer to take part in the show.


Mr6 got to feed him a fish
Mr6 is around 20kg,
Sampson around 300kg and an elder at 21 years
They were both very gentle with each otherOur birthday girl was asked to scrub Zippys teeth
Then the dolphins put on a spectacular showThey can leap up to 6 m out of the water!
I was amazed at the control they showed
and that they didn't fall over the side of the pool
they are so obviously very clever and at home in their space
One of our party guests having a ball with a seal!she was such a good catch this lovely girl seal
More dolphin loving,
here Beaky is swimming on his back
along the wall so everyone can pat his bellyMr6 had to have one more visit
with the penguins and got to feed them
He loved these little birds.

This is the second time we have been to the Pet Porpoise Pool, we have totally enjoyed both visits. This park is fairly small compared to the much larger and glossier ones on the Gold Coast and offers a much more personalised service, it is unique in the way the visitors are encouraged to interact with these special animals, they also have lots of birds- pelicans, peacocks, cockatoos and a pond area with Australian tortoises. If you are ever in Coffs Harbour, NSW, Australia do try to visit.