We had an extended lie-in today as we’d both had little sleep (Danny - due to his stupid back, and Corrie - due to her swollen foot after being attacked by bugs.)
We had a breakfast and then went to wait for a lift to a crocodile farm. The lift was from a little old lady who takes backpackers on outings like this for a small fee. She’d decided to do this as there’s no easy way of getting to these places for travellers unless they have a car. Obviously she makes some money out of it but it was worth it and she was very nice and talkative. She dropped us off and then simply went to sit and read whilst we went on the hour and a half tour of the croc farm.
The guide was also very good and certainly new his crocs well. There was only a small group of us so it was easy to fire questions at him and he’d gladly share his knowledge (Best tip of the day: If you do find yourself face to face with a croc in the wild… RUN… and keep running! No climbing up trees as they’ll wait, and no zigzagging as many zoos will tell you – the crocs will just run in a straight line and catch you as you zig or zag!) As we went around the different enclosures our guide fed the crocs (dead chickens – feathers n’ all) and you could hear the power of their jaws (about 3000psi for a big croc.) We also got to see some of the biggest crocs they have, at just over 5 metres long but huge in width and height also. The current largest living croc on record (on an island outside Cairns) is about 5.5m long and they have one here that is 5.3m (One was killed many years ago at was recorded at about 8 metres long! The guide showed us a pic of this croc’s skull next to the skull of a croc from over 200 million years ago that was found, and the 8m one was dwarfed by it – we’re glad those things aren’t still lurking in the waters.)
At the end of the tour we all got to hold a baby croc with its mouth taped shut, though it did seem to wriggle about a lot when Corrie came to hold it… As you can tell by comparing the pictures below!
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