What a terrible night we had as it was extremely hot and humid. We had the fan blowing on us but even with that we were both not able to get a good night sleep. Oh well, this was the point that we realized that we were too far north into the tropics and with the current weather (hotter than normal for this time of year and the rainy season starting early) we would need to consider where we would be staying.
We are up and moving by 7:30 am and even then just walking from the van to the camp kitchen is like walking through a sauna and of course we were sweating simply because we are breathing. We hurriedly finished breakfast, packed up and hit the road. Our thinking – get going and get the van airconditioner working. Great plan since it worked well.
We are on the last leg to get to Cairns and it is only a 3 to 4 hour drive. We checked around for anything worth stopping to see on the is short drive, but nothing seemed to be suggested. However, we stopped in Innisfail (it was time to change drivers and Wes needed a bio break) at the Tourist Information center. We discovered that the Johnstone River Crockodile Park is located in the city. We got directions and headed over to explore this park.
The first thing we discovered was the knowledgable and friendly staff. We were invited to hold a young salt water crocodile named Fluffy. Don’t worry, the mouth was taped shut but we were instructed on how to hold him since his teeth are actually on the side of his mouth and we could easily ‘cut’ ourselves on them. Fluffy was very docile and never gave us any concern.
In the store front to the park there are two stuffed crocodiles. Watch out Wes, he is right behind you!!
We then wondered around the park looking into the penned areas looking at the crocodiles in their ponds. Much of the ponds are swampy looking with green scum floating on the top. Each pen identified the croc, age, length/size and where the Croc was from.
We also came across the large sized pond where there are alligators. Apparently there are over 2000 crocodiles and alligators in the park.
We finished walking around the many the area with the crocs and gators we moved over to visit with the Wallabees and Kangaroos. Once again we were able to feed them with a package of food provided as we came in. The Swamp Wallabee was very friendly and followed us everywhere expecting to be fed. The other roos were very complacent but would accept some food when offered but they did not feel the need to follow us around.
Then we came across the Dingos. The Dingo is Australia's wild dog. It is found in Australia, in all states but Tasmania. They are found throughout the mainland of Australia, close to a source of water. The Dingo is a medium sized dog, with a bushy tail, and red to yellow coat. Dingos do not bark, but they do howl. It is not a native animal to Australia, and it is unsure how it arrived on our land.
Across from the Dingo pen is another pen where we found a bird we never heard of before called the Cassowary. This is a flightless bird with the beautiful blue neck that is extremely dangerous. The middle toe of each foot has razor sharp ridges on the underside and the birds attack with a forward swinging of the feet as they jump. This bird has been known to have killed at least 2 people when it was defending itself or its territory. Also this flightless bird is endangered since it lives in rainforest regions only.
Other birds we saw in the park included Emu’s, Rainbow Lorikeets, Red Wing Parrots and other exotic Australian birds.
By the time we finished walking around and exploring we were invited to take a walk with one of the park attendees who was going to feed some of the Crocodiles. What a wealth of information we gained from him and he talked about the dangers of the crocs and the potential hazards of working around them. I did not know that a croc could jump 2/3 of his length into the air – so if the crock is 3 meters long he can jump 2 meters up which means – don’t lean over the fence to get a better look!
We had a great time at the park but eventually we had to continue on Cairns to see about finding a place to stay. However we also needed to find a gas station soon. In Australia the grocery stores give you a coupon to get 4 or 8 cents per litre discount at participating gas stations if you spend more than $30 on groceries. So we had a coupon and we were waiting to find a participating gas station. We know that we can go about 450-480 km on a tank of gas (more I am sure but we are not sure of the tank capacity so only know when it says Empty). We have Karen locate one for us and it means we will be about 435 km on the tank by the time we get there – and that is too close for comfort. Of course we should not have worried. For those wondering gas prices here are about 1.25 per litre.
We get the park and we have already decided to check out the cost of staying in one of the cabins that are air conditioned. We are now in Cairns until we leave next week so we are thinking we will likely stay in one place and do day trips from here. We had discussed an 2 day (overnight cruise) to the Great Barrier Reef but after some research decided that a day trip would be just as good. After some recommendations and more research we locate and book on a cruise for tomorrow and then we had to sort out where to stay.
We talked to the camp and learned that with our discounts and if we stay for a week we could have a cabin with kitchen, bath and airconditioning for about $20 a night more than what we have been paying for campsites. We have ‘moved’ out of the van into a cabin and are settling in for the next week. We both are glad to have a bit more space than the van provided but more importantly we both look forward to a nights sleep in a cooler room.
Wow, hard to believe, only one week left here and we have a list of things to see and do yet in this area so we start tomorrow with the cruise – then we will have to see what else we can get off the list.
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