What a Croc!!!

Now
Seeing as we returned from our

Cape York Trek

without sighting a crocodile in any of our river crossings or rivers!!

 Seriously i thought they would be swimming around everywhere just waiting for us to step into their snapping jaws!

I would of been happy just to have spotted a big one sunning itself on the bank!!

Even though i did see a nose it was just not quite as exciting as seeing the whole big fat rest of him!!!
As i have had this craving for a while now & i was really dying to see one in the flesh!
So we decided the only way was to cheat & head off to
Hartley's Crocodile Farm for the day!

This place was so worth the visit!!

For starters the drive from Cairns to there is so pretty!!
They say
( whoever they are?? )
 That it is the 2nd most pretty drive in Australia!

The first being

The Great Ocean Road!

Hartley's was the first place in Australia to breed Croc's in captivity!

Because of the game shooting of crocodiles that took place in the 1950's & 60's

their decline began & they were in fear of becoming extinct!

Television companies produced many documentaries @ Hartley's which raised public awareness

of their pending demise!

The government declared in 1974 that our Crocodiles were to be protected!

Crocodiles were hunted for their skins & meat!

Yucko i say!

Although a Croc skin hand bag would look good i feel hanging off my arm!

but the only way i could afford one is if i won lotto

as the starting price is

$2,000.00

Hartley's started farming crocs in 1989 therefore saving them from extinction!

They export their skins & meat all over Australia & the world!

We arrived at about 11am paid our admittance fee & in we went

First stop was the souvenir shop they have crocodile belts there which started @ $200.00

no handbags in sight maybe they go straight overseas?

Lot's of lovely crocky things though to browse over or buy as we did!!

From there we headed in to the restaurant as the waft of frying crocodile was

calling us & tempting our taste buds!!.....NOT!!!

Whilst waiting for our tour to begin we decided to have lunch no croc burgers for us

fish & chips sound good!

As we were sitting on the deck which over looks the man made canals & river system

where the crocs just swim up & down in full view!
I stood up & looked over the railing down below

just as i did i thought wouldn't it be funny if there was on under me & well yep there she laid

this giant croc right below my feet!!!

On the boat & our tour guide started the usual spool

One thing though she did say that made me nervous was.........
In the event of the boat sinking don't bother grabbing the life buoy!
Over our eyes went to this
thing that looked like a giant donought!!
Everyone laughed
Bar me!

Fantastic!!
 What a useless piece of equipment that is

just dangle your legs through the hole & snap!

Instant amputation!

Right about now i was ready to disembark!!!

I seriously questioned myself at what i was even doing here

for one i hate boats & for two i am too young to die just yet!

Well

After i composed myself the trip up the river was fantastic & did not disappoint!

The tour guide did the usual dangle the dead chook from a pole trick & wacko
crocs came out of nowhere
some of these were huge & the average age of the biggies was 50 years!

After our river trip we did the farm tour

that was also very interesting the guide went on to tell us how the farm works

The workers at Hartley's go into their croc infested waters & take by hand some of the crocodile eggs from their nests!

 How brave are these people & so dedicated to their job!!!!

Or

Maybe they are really just mad & get off on the adrenalin rush!

Can you imagine how aggro that mother croc would be if she spotted them!!!

Once they extract the eggs they are then incubated & when hatched transferred to big cement pens to grow to a certain size & then killed!

I had to pipe up & ask him how this was done?

With a bullet to the head he said!

It is unbelievable how all these crocs get on so well

 he also told us it is rare for them to fight!

they are so crammed in there & all happy to just crawl & walk over each other & then plop down for a snooze extremely lazy they are!!   

Me getting up close & personal!!                           So brave I was!!!                                            

Even this little fellow had to have his snout muzzled as his snap would break your finger!

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As we strolled around the park along the walk ways

 i glanced over & right before our eyes croc's everywhere we could not believe how close we were to these prehistoric mean agressive yet beautiful creatures!!!

Apparently crocodiles are the only 1 of  2 animals in the world that will deliberately hunt humans!

Highly intelligent & very patient creatures they are!

As 

the saying goes though 

"You will never see the one that takes you"

Doo-doo-doo-doo!!!

I thought the other was a shark but as usual i was wrong it is

The

Polar Bear!!

Well that was a great day & fed my cravings well!

Hopefully as we travel more of Australia & head to

The Northern Territory

we may get to see them in the wild!

Till Next Time
Happy Croc Spotting!!

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