Cairns, Crocodiles and Cassowaries
Nov 15- 17
After three months of travel, at long last we had arrived in the Land of Oz. We had chosen to fly into Cairns on the northeast coast and drive down the coast to Sydney in time for Christmas and New Years. Tropical Queensland is a lush oasis of rainforests and beaches in a country plagued by drought and, luckily, we had avoided the crowds by arriving at the beginning of their low season when temperatures start to climb into the 30’s on a daily basis. The heat and humidity was a welcome change after New Zealand. For the first few days in Cairns, we stayed at the Bohemia Resort which is a backpacker hostel masquerading as a hotel. The exterior was beautiful with a large pool, complete with waterfall and poolside bar, while inside, the rooms were a bit spartan but clean.
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Although we were anxious to get out to the Great Barrier Reef, unusually high winds and rough seas made conditions on the ocean and visibility less than ideal. Instead, we hung around Cairns and spent a few afternoons lounging by the town’s beautiful waterfront lagoon.
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The kids especially loved playing in the children’s waterpark and even made friends with a little guy who reminded me of Arnold from Different Strokes.
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I kept waiting for him to yell, “Whatchoo talkin’ bout?”
One of our first priorities was to find a car. Due to the high cost of rental cars, we had decided to buy a car and sell it before leaving. We ended up buying a 1994 Toyota Camry with low mileage from a dealer for just over $4000. Now that we had wheels, we were no longer dependant on shuttles and taxis and were free to explore the area. After waiting around for three days, the winds were still high so we decided to head up the coast to Cape Tribulation for a few days. Along the way we stopped to admire the many beaches, but rough surf and the threat of “stingers,” the deadly box jellyfish and Irukandji jellyfish, kept us out of the water. These annoying pests inhabit coastal waters off Queensland’s northern coast from November to May and you risk an extremely painful and possibly fatal sting if you swim without a “stinger suit,” a sexy mesh suit that covers you from head to toe and protects against stings.
Just north of Cairns, we happened upon Hartley’s Crocodile Farm and stopped for a visit.
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What a rush! After a short tour of the farm, we were taken on a boat ride on their private river system that is home to 28 crocs.
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Our boat had Plexiglas windows so we were able to sit right next to the water and see the awesome beasts up close.
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It got really exciting when our guide started feeding the crocs chicken heads attached to the end of a 10 foot pole. He would lure them right up beside the boat and hold the chicken head about 4 feet above the water so the crocs would have to leap out of the water to get it. All I can say is, “Wow!”
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Words can’t describe the sight of a 750 pound 12 foot long crocodile propelling half his body out of the water, or the loud crunch as he snaps his powerful jaws shut. Our guide showed us puncture marks on the steel pole and described an incident where a hungry croc had lunged over the barrier at the front of the boat and he had forced him back using the pole. That sure made our hair stand on end! Needless to say, Simon and Alexa were completely in awe of the crocodiles and talked about the boat trip for days. But that wasn’t the end of our adventure. After the boat ride we went to a croc feeding where one of the keepers gave a talk while standing in the enclosure with about 20 hungry estuarine (saltwater) crocodiles with nothing but a three foot high wire fence between him and the crocs. As he talked (with his back to the crocs) he would casually toss chicken heads and raw meat to them as they crept up behind him – it was like he had eyes in the back of his head. Of course, it didn’t hurt that all the kids gave him ample warnings when one was sneaking up on him. After feeding the saltwater crocs, he moved onto the smaller, less aggressive, freshwater crocs where he got right in the enclosure with them.
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He assured us that these crocs don’t stalk humans like their saltwater cousins and will only a take a single bite if provoked, but won’t drag you to the bottom of the river to make a meal of you. Oh in that case…needless to say, by the end of the feeding session, my nerves were shot, but the keeper emerged unscathed. After our visit, Simon declared that he was going to be a crocodile keeper when he grew up (oh, joy!).
The crocodile farm also had a small nature reserve with native animals like wallabies, koalas, emus and cassowaries.
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I must admit that I had never even heard of a cassowary before, but was amazed when I actually came face to face with one – it looked like it came straight out of a Dr Seuss book. They are enormous endangered flightless birds with blue and red crested heads, are the largest land animals in Australia and are found only in Northern Queensland and Papua New Guinea.
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Although they are relatively shy birds, they have been known to get aggressive if they become accustomed to being fed by tourists and can disembowel a human with a single toenail. Warning signs abound throughout Northern Queensland cautioning tourists to drive slowly through cassowary habitats and to avoid feeding them or risk hefty fines. We were hopeful that we would spot one of these elusive birds on our journey up the coast – from the safety of our car.
To see the rest of our Queensland photos, visit our web album.
Tags: Australia, Cairns, Queensland, Travel
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