Day 19 - Crocodiles, Lizards, and Snakes

Woke up this morning at just before 7:00 AM as we wanted to get an early start on our day.  Earlier means cooler - and we can use some of that. Even though it's only 30ish degrees, the humidity is in the high 80% range makes it feel 10 degree's hotter and it's hard to cool off because ones sweat does not evaporate. I got dressed and we had some of the fruit I purchased from the Wooli's the day before with yogurt. That hit the spot! We also tidied up a little bit as today our apartment was to be cleaned so we put things away that we would normally leave out. 

We went downstairs a few minutes early and were the first to arrive. Next was Margaret and Steve, and then the final couple was Alf and Di.  Alf had a good question when he came out of the elevator, "Why do we meet in the lobby, when we have to all go to the second floor to get the cars?" I wish I had a good answer for that one. Regardless, we stepped into the elevator and went up one floor to the parking garage, located our vehicles and started the trip.

At one point on the drive to Hartley's Crocodile Adventures, I was attempting to pass a slower vehicle. Remember, I'm driving on the opposite side of the road than I'm used to, sitting on the opposite side of the vehicle than I'm used to, and having to remember that the left lane is the SLOW lane here and not the passing lane.  All this while just trying to pass safely and keep my eye on my google maps.  That's when I realized that I was on-top of a corner that i needed to turn at, and Alf was following me.  I quickly put on my blinker and made my way over 3 lanes all while saying out loud, "I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry.", which was directed to Alf.  Of course, he couldn't hear me as he was in his own car.  We laughed about that when we arrived at the Crocodile park.

The Crocodile Lagoon at Hartley's Crocodile Adventures

We arrived just in time to get a ticket on the 9:30 AM tour on a special boat on their crocodile lagoon. We were even instructed to not lean on the plexiglass that protected the sides of the boat, as if the crock's were hungry, they will see/sense you close to the water and lunge at you. Nobody wanted that so we all leaned a little inward. The first stop was to show us a female croc using bait. I'll try and post the video below, but I haven't always had success with these.

One more of some bait he put on a branch and a bird came down and snatched it from the branch.

I have to admit, these are pretty impressive creatures. You would not want to be close to the water's edge when they are lurking. You likely wouldn't stand a chance.

Next, we made our way to the snake talk where one of the park handlers brought out two snakes. A Python (nonvenomous) and a kind of brown snake (venomous). You can tell by how he handles them, which is which. The Python was the first one and the handler described how they attack their prey. A python kills its prey using constriction, a precise and deadly process that goes beyond simply squeezing. It begins with an ambush, striking quickly and biting the prey with sharp, backward-facing teeth to secure its grip. The snake then wraps its muscular body around the victim, applying immense pressure. Rather than crushing bones or suffocating the prey, pythons primarily cut off blood circulation, causing cardiac arrest within seconds. Yikes!

The second one that he brought out was a venomous one and you will note he has a special stick to assist in the case that the snake decides to attack. It did not, thankfully, as the handler described that this one seemed to be doing very well (this was his first time bringing this one out so the public could see it). He indicated that today, very few people die from venomous bites as to the work that has been done creating anti-venom. If I recall correctly, he described that only 2 people died in Australia from snake bites last year.

He also described what to do if you are ever bitten by a venomous snake. You are supposed to wrap a tensor bandage around the limb starting from tip towards the body. This is to minimize the movement of the limb which slows the spread of the venom. Then, of course, you are to get to the nearest hospital so they can administer an anti-venom. I'm not much of a snake person, but this was both interesting an informative.

There was a crock in the enclosure where the snake talk occurred and he had come up to the surface and was just watching what was going on.  I got a pretty good closeup of his one eye.

There was also a reptile exhibit which we walked through and I took a couple of photos of some of the creatures they had.

A Mona Ground Iguana

A Huge Reticulated Python

Our next stop was the feeding demonstration.  This is where a few of the crocodile handlers use raw meat and show you how they crock's will snap at the food. There is no amount of money that you could offer me to step into that cage. Just hearing the sound of their jaws slamming shut is enough to scare you to death. I will try and post a video here so you can here what it sounded like.

After this we made our way to the little restaurant area that was on-site and had a light lunch. Margaret was determined to have the Japanese pancakes made at Oishi Oishi back in Cairns. Nobody complained about this; so that's exactly what we did. We finished our light lunch, did a slow pass through the gift shop (found a $4250.00 crocodile handbag in the display case), and then made our way to the vehicles. The sun was shining directly into the front window of the cars making the black leather seats a bit like a cast iron frying pan. Ouch. Even the steering wheel was hot.

Once again, I led the way, but I lost Alf just getting back onto the highway from the crock farm. They indicated that there must have been 30 cars or more after I pulled out, yet Alf beat me back to the parkade. I guess he knew a shortcut. From there we made our way to Oishi Oishi and everyone ordered their own Japanese pancake (well, Alf's was a waffle, but close enough). We learned from the last time here that these are not meant to share (if you know what I mean). 

Margaret, Laureen and I decided to meet at 3:00 PM in the lobby and head over to the swimming lagoon to cool off. It was 32 degrees C outside with 85% relative humidity. It felt like 40 and you just can't cool off by sweating. So, the plunge in the salt water pool was a welcomed event for the afternoon.  We spent just over an hour soaking in the cool water, letting the heat be drawn out of our pores. 

Back to the room for a shower and a bit of downtime before meeting for dinner at 6:00 PM. We started our laundry so that most of our clothes will be clean as we start to think about the next leg of our journey - Bali, Indonesia. We don't leave until Thursday, but it's always better to be prepared. I'm sure we'll do at least one more load of laundry before we leave here.

Dinner was at the Rattle N Hum Bar and Grill. Here, you have to place your order at a special counter, go to the bar to get your own drinks and then when your dinner is prepared, you go back to the same order counter to pick it up. Needless to say, I left myself a large tip for the stellar service I offered. Laureen and I shared a full rack of BBQ Pork ribs. I was a little shocked at the size of the platter that came out - but was glad to be sharing them. They were pretty tasty! I'd have to say I was horrified that I was able to finish what Laureen left for me of those ribs.

We then went back to the Night Market as Margaret wanted to pick up a few things.  We wandered around looking at the wares, but being cautious as we need to make sure to pace ourselves as we have four other countries to visit. Alf picked up a loud shirt for an event that he had coming up while we were there. After about 45 minutes of wandering we made our way to Baskin and Robbins where we each had a bit of ice cream to top off the evening. We also took a couple of pictures of the gals and the guys together.

Tomorrow is going to be a lighter day as we are going to drive to Edmonton, Australia and see if we can take a photo by an Edmonton sign. We'll meet in the lobby at 10:00 AM.

Tomorrow will be our last full day with Steve, Margaret, Alf & Di as they will start their journey south on Wednesday.

Curt and Laureen in Cairns, Australia