OZ Blog #13 Hartleys Crocodile Adventures.

There was so much to see at Hartley's Crocodile Adventures it really demanded its very own blog!

This guy was the welcoming committee .... tame as Mate!

It’s quite an experience, you can wander around and see all sort of dangerous animals (from a distance).

Not sure about this turtle tho - apparently crocs do eat them from time to time.

Not a case of “shell be right Mate”.

These next two photos are through glass.



My very first crocodile pie, quite tasty, hoping to avoid being crocodile tucker myself.

The snakes show. Tracey tried to convince us that snakes are the perfect pets - better than cats or dogs - but she didn’t convince me.

This one is the second most vemenous, I forget just how many thousand people the venom could kill, anyway I don’t really need or want to know.

She even got one of the brave kids out of the audience. This snake was only 18 months old, I don’t think it is dangerous.

These guys certainly are....

That dragon fly is pretty safe though.

This was the Crocodile Attack event, where this guy goes in with one big croc and feeds him. 

Classic Aussie dry humour and bravado, the first thing he did was take off his boots. His comment “if a croc grabs you what’s the difference if you've got boots on”.

Although he does this every day, no way its a put on.  That croc is doing what crocs will do.

Appparently it’s the vibrations in the water that they zero in on.



He showed us how the crocs do the death roll, and it’s highly effective so they tell me.

Boy did he have to move fast for that gate....





He can have his job, no matter how well it’s paid, he loves it I reckon.



They have a bird enclosure where we go in with them and are able to photograph the birds really easily. 

The Kookaburra is becoming my favourite Aussie bird.

Cassowary are a huge bird, fairly timid in this environment, but out in the wild they can be dangerous too.

The iconic Koala Bear. Their diet of Eucalyptus is one of the reasons they are so lethargic and why they sleep a lot - sometimes 20hrs a day.

On the trip back to Cairns we spotted a tourist attraction of a different kind and totally safe.

We stopped at Kuranda and checked out the market, it's on every day and there is plenty of it.

The artist at work right in the shop, no secrets, he’s getting the colours and shapes from an image on his phone.

Lots of Japanese tourists about. These two lovelys shared an icecream, very Asian I reckon.

At Mareeba’s famous Coffee Works, where you can sample different blends of coffees, teas and chocolates all at the same time.

Not so good for me I was buzzing for quite some time.





I loved the thoughts behind the overall concept and set up of Coffee Works. In my opinion it really does “Work”.

The artist behind this, I feel is right on with her statements below. Hats off to you Annie Webber.

The Coffee Museum is very comprehensive, and I learned and enjoyed many facts about coffee.

Obviously today’s women are not petitioning against coffee drinking, from my personal experience!

So that was another fabulous foray down off the Tablelands into the Cairns area.

Next blog I return to Yungaburra, the market, go to see the Curtain Fig tree and prepare for a trip to the Cape.

Till then stay safe, have fun and be creative!

Cheers

Jimu and Christine.

Oz Blog #12 Platypus, Atherton, Cairns, and Trinity Beach.

Whoop dee do,

Life on the Tablelands is a happening place!

Below is the small creek that runs through Yungaburra, a 2 minute walk along the creek to see a Platypus feeding.

We watched the final day of a  cycle race series called Tour of the Tropics.

A 3-day event, this was one of the Criterium races. This guy made his break and took off on lap 2 

Here is the pack which for 40 minutes didn’t make any impression on his lead until 3 laps from the end when he got caught with 1 lap to go.





An amazing pattern (fungus I think) on these leaves,  I did the same walk a week later in different weather and this was gone!

These two guys I remember from a not so recent trip to Cairns.

They are now in a pub in Atherton, they were rescued from the Blues Bar in Cairns which is no longer and these were headed for the dump.

This was over 10 years ago, and I’ve still got that sax, that hat and those pants.

The falls at Millaa Millaa, are certainly a tourist attraction

Wot a great use of hair ... it was a cold day too!

The Atherton Table lands is famous for waterfalls. You have to do something between the cafes, coffee and tea plantations, chocolate shops, vineyards and distilleries, so they invented waterfalls.

Below is the shed where we are parking up our caravan over the Queensland summer (big thumbs up to Peter and Ann of Nardoo fame) till we return next year to resume our jaunts around Australia.

A tricky bit of backing, with heated directions/instructions, we survived it.

When we popped up the roof we only had about 40mm clearance...whew!

Millaa Millaa is quite famous for its dairy produce and before that its timber. This is in fact a Kauri tree tho a slightly different Latin name than the NZ Kauri. 

Unbelievable as it may seem, yes they do have Kangaroos that climb trees. They even have rope bridges across some of the roads so they can get across the road without being hit. I took the photo below as proof to my disbelieving brother-in-law in Whangaparaoa who thought I was pulling his leg (as if I would?). Fair dinkum Mate! 

We headed down off the tablelands and into Cairns for a few days to check out the Great Barrier Reef and some other attractions around this area.

Aussies relaxing as only Pelicans can.

A contemporary Aboriginal art exhibition was on in town, with quite a bit of reference to the recent past and “white fella’s” influence and attitudes.







The future leaders of Australia - maybe but not soon.

Christine took a tour of the Barrier Reef in a glass bottomed boat. The coral was quite colourless, not what she expected to see.

We headed up the coast a little and found (by mistake) Trinity Beach and what a find.

Nice little cafes right on the beach with such a lovely outlook.

I took a similar shot last year about 1000 km south at Cooloongatta.

That’s one hellava long beach (just joking!).



Trinity Beach was a training beach for troops during World War 2.

They practised and rehearsed the beach landings in as real a situation as possible in Queensland for the real thing in Europe

Quite amazing to think this beautiful beach was used for this type of activity. Don’t we live in changing times.

Next we headed north to Port Douglas.

It’s an absolute tourist town mecca - I counted 5 Gelato icecream shops in Main Street.

And I didn’t even partake, honest injun.

Well that’s all for this blog. Whew I get tired just viewing what we’ve done in Australia .

Next we headed to Hartleys Crocodile Adventures and man was that hair raising stuff.

Till then stay safe, be creative and have fun.

Your good life depends upon it!

Cheers

Jimu & Christine.