Australia: Face to face with a fella called Ella

A rare nocturnal spotted-tail quoll comes out of hiding. Photo / Supplied

His beak is about as long as my finger and I'm fairly confident he could bite the entire thing off if he wanted.

But as I hold out a tiny sunflower seed, he picks it tenderly from my fingers.

I think I've made a friend.

The yellow-tailed black cockatoo named Yella had a difficult life before being brought to Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary on the Gold Coast and I wouldn't blame him if he had a bit of attitude.

He was brought to the sanctuary's hospital with a broken wing. He then underwent a sex change of sorts when handlers realised "Ella" needed to be given a more masculine name.

Yella is one of a raft of living, breathing exhibits at the park's Green Cauldron Experience, which shows off animals native to the nearby site of an ancient volcano. Australia's Green Cauldron stretches from Byron Bay to the Gold Coast and west towards the Great Dividing Range, sheltering a huge diversity of rare flora and fauna.

Dominating the area is NSW's Mount Warning, formed more than 20 million years ago after a huge eruption saw the walls of the now-extinct volcano collapse.

We later explore a small part of this distinct place, but before that we learn more about its inhabitants, some of which have a genetic history that stretches back to the supercontinent, Gondwana.

Yella is one of those inhabitants. In the exhibit he's joined by creatures great and small, my favourite of which is a hyperactive spotted-tailed quoll.

Once known as a tiger cat, the unusual-looking marsupial is the size of a domestic cat, with reddish-brown to chocolate-brown fur, white spots and a pointed face.

From the same family as the Tasmanian Devil, the nocturnal animal is rare. I'd certainly never seen one before, which made the experience all the more special.

Watching from a few metres away is Gandalf, a sulphur-crested cockatoo who underwent a lifesaving operation when his wing was removed due to a tumour.

The clever ex-patient now raises funds for the sanctuary's animal hospital, taking coins off visitors and putting them in a money box.

In another exhibit, a green tree frog contentedly sits on the head of a python.

"They live quite happily together," our guide Claudette tells us, explaining that pythons don't eat cold-blooded animals.

When we take a drive later to the nearby Mt Cougal section of the Springbrook National Park to visit the real Green Cauldron, we're not as lucky spotting wildlife. But it's peaceful sitting on a rocky outcrop, watching a waterfall by ourselves, and we wish we'd brought a picnic.

And if you want to see the animals, you're better off visiting the Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary anyway.

AUSTRALIA

Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary: Is on the web at currumbin-sanctuary.org.au.

Where to stay: For information on staying at the Outrigger Twin Towns Resort, including package deals, visit outrigger.com.au.

Further information: Information on Gold Coast attractions and experiences can be found at verygc.com.

Jessica Marszalek was a guest of Tourism Queensland.

- AAP