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!

Day 136 Kuranda Train Ride

This historic rail line was essential to starting up Cairns as a tourist town.  Built before World War I, it served as a link between the mining towns and the coast.  There are a billion facts about the rail line that I could tell you but the cool ones are that there are 15 tunnels and at least 12 bridges we traveled on as we ascended the mountain range to the town of Kuranda.

This was one of the largest bridges we crossed.

On the other side of the bridge was this waterfall.

The train made a pit stop to allow us to look at a historical waterfall that had been made into a dam.  It is a small dam because when it becomes the rainy season and floods the entire area that seems bare becomes a massive waterfall with various rapids. 

Once in the town of Kuranda, we did a bit of shopping and went to a petting zoo of sorts.  Here is a swamp wallaby with her baby.

Natalie and Kate finally got to hold their koalas, which girl do you think the koala preferred to be with?  Let the pictures decide!

My brother and I were fortunate enough to get a sweet photo with some kangaroos!

My family finally got to see what a wombat looked like!  This creature is actually related to the koala!

My mom is feeding the common wallaby in this picture.

And in this picture we can see my father has not lost his magical touch with animals...he's so good with them, haha.

Overall, it was a good day petting kangaroos and koalas while enjoying a beautiful scenic trip by train.

Day 135 Green Island

For my mother's birthday we headed out to Green Island for some snorkeling on the Great Barrier Reef. 

Here is the actual island.  If you look you can see the actual reef right behind my parents in the water.  The reef is really affected by the tides.  When it is shallow the whole top of the reef is out of the water.  It is a shame though that this area was a top tourist spot because it gets so shallow it is difficult for people to move around and the reef was subject to damage from human visitors.  The deeper parts were much more beautiful and untouched. you just had to get out there.

When we first arrived the beach was pretty expansive, by the time we left where we were standing was about two feet deep.

That is a sea cucumber chilling on the ocean bottom.

Everybody in their snorkel gear!

An orange starfish

The further away my brother and I swam from shore, the more beautiful the reef became.  The water was also more clear than near the shore because of less distrubance.

 

While I may not have gotten to swim with a sea turtle like my mother got to, I did have the good fortune of being able to swim with a sting ray!  There it is!

Day 133 Jervis Bay Whale Watching

My mother finally came through on her promise to take us whale watching even though she probably originally had planned for us to do it in the States somewhere.  Nonetheless, she came through at the beautiful location of Jervis Bay.  Although we didn't see these particular humpback whales jumping up out of the water, we got to see this youngster slap his tail in the water.

Check out the video!

My mother really enjoyed the rock formations that enclosed the bay.  You can see the tail of the whale right alongside the cliff. 

We got to see more than just whales though.  My mother spotted some penguins and the rest of us spotted seals and dolphins.

They were playing in the waves the boat was making as we headed to shore; jumping out of the water and racing us. It was really neat.

My buddy from Switzerland happened to be going on the same whale watching tour as us so we got to share the experience with him.  He was studying abroad as well.

After the whale watching boat ride, we found a salt water natural enclosure with fish and ducks and we watched them compete over the food we threw in.

Then we got back to Wollongong where my family got to go out to eat with Rylan and Doug.  They were really good company and I'm gonna miss hanging out with them.

Day 132 Mount Kiera Lookout, Kiama Blowhole, Kangaroos

After seeing the city from the ground level, I took my family to the top of Mount Kiera.  We cheated by driving to the top rather than hiking but in all fairness the usually path was too wet and slippery to climb.  Behind us you can see the city and the ocean.

After that, we slowly made our way down to Jervis Bay.  Well, I definately had to take them to the Kiama Blowhole.  Good thing I did, the swell in the ocean was huge creating massive eruptions of water against the rocks.  You could hear the roar of water coming through the tiny cave.

When we first got there though, there were whales about 100 yards off shore going North as they migrated from the cold southern waters.  We saw a humpback whale breaching the water, but unfortunately it was too unpredictable to get a good picture.  It was really spectacular watching the waves hit the rocky coastline.

As you can see, the blowhole was really erupting when we were there.  There is a size comparison for you.  You would not want to get stuck in the water by these rocks. NOOOO WWWAAAYY

After checking out the blowhole, Kate and Nat went off to check out the town.

Nick and I went exploring, checking out the tidal pools and stuff.

On the way back from the end of the rocky pennisula.

For lunch it was mandatory my family try the Australian kebab, relative of the gyro wrap.  Beef or Chicken which was roasted, wrapped up in lettuce, tomato, onion, cheese, tabouli, garlic sauce and bbq sauce = goodness!

We finally found the kangaroos.  My family was so happy to see them.  They were bouncing all over the place for them as well.

As we were looking for kangaroos we also ran into my arch nemesis, the laughing cuckaburro.  hmph...still mad that two of them stole my lunch. Not cool man, not cool.