Tuesday, September 4, 2012

Day 137 Hartley's Crocidile Cruise

After seeing the more gentle creatures of the Australian landscape, it was time to see some of the more deadly creatures.  The Saltwater crocidile that I am next to is between 13 and 16 feet long.  The size of his head was literally a third of my body length.  They have the strongest jaws out of any creature on the planet.  Even more than a Great White Shark.

When is the last time you saw one of these owls in the wild?  I was suprised to see one chilling with the crocs.

If my brother really wanted to impress me I thought he would have tackled one of the 15 foot crocs but alas he decided to settle for holding a baby.

This place had kangaroos and wallabies as well. This redback wallaby was a little thirsty so Kate and I helped him out.

I couldn't get a picture of his face but this is a Spotted Red-tail Quoll.

No, this is not photoshopped or fake.  That is the actual size of a croc that was being fed a chicken.  The thing looks like a dinosaur.

The crocidile in the picture above was allowed to have a girlfriend and despite being only 10 years younger than him, she was only 10 feet long while he was 16 feet long.

His name was Sollie.  Properly named after the poor dog he ate that led to his discovery.

After watching Sollie get fed, we went to a snake show in which this brave girl allowed herself to be wrapped up in an andaconda coat.  Australia is home to the most poisoneous snakes in the world and has six of the top ten living along its east coast.

Talk about your typical Aussie Croc Handiler.  This guy had the thick accent, dangerous antics and everything.  He was really provoking this croc and it was crazy how close he would get to it.


After the show, we were lucky enough to go on a mini croc cruise where they feed the crocs in the big open enclosure.  It was really awesome to see the power of these animals tails as they propelled themselves up out of the water to snag the chicken.  When their jaws shut, it would make a loud sound like a pop if they missed.  I wouldn't want to be in their jaws.  They can hold their breathe for 45 minutes underwater, so if they get you under the surface...your chances are slim haha.

When we got to our next location which was Cape Tribulation, we had a lovely encounter with this Golden Orb Spider.  Here is the scenario of what happened.
Dad, "Nick, what's that thing on your shoulder?"
Nick -"I don't know" to which Dad quickly shuts Nick out of the room. "Josh what is it?"
Josh- "It's just a Huntsmen dude relax..." WRONG!
Turns out if my brother had been bitten by this spider which was on my brother's shoulder, he would have ended up in the hospital.  It almost crawled on his head!

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