Hartley's

Today we spent the morning finalizing our plans to visit Kuranda.  We were up last night until midnight working out logistics. The goal was to hit the Kuranda markets, to take the Skyrail lift, and to check out an animal park called Rainforestation, where they take you through a lake in an amphibious WWII military "duck". The trouble was figuring out timing and how not to get stuck in Kuranda without transportation. If we took the Skyrail up, we wouldn't have a car. One of us could drive, but that would be no fun. We found a taxi service that would take us to Rainforestation from Kuranda, but Ariel had read that the last Skyrail left Kuranda at 3:30, which didn't give us enough time in Kuranda or the park before having to leave.  After realizing this, we decided to shelve the Kuranda trip, and instead head North to look at crocodiles.  

We got everybody showered and out by 10:30 and headed the mere 15 minutes North along Cook's Highway to Hartley's Crocodile Farm.  The sun was shining, it was legitimately warm out, and there was more blue in the sky than white. The farm is just past Ellis Beach, inland from the town of Wangetti. The farm is marked by an unassuming sign that we might have missed had we not been looking for it.  We pulled into the parking lot, and got in the ticket line. The park entrance is made up like a rain-forest, with odd spiky trees and a pond full of prehistoric looking fish. The ticket-lady gave Ariel a brochure and explained the schedule of events for the day.

The crocodile feeding had just started, so we rushed over to the feeding lake to see a man tossing dead chickens into a wetland habitat area full of about 40 crocodiles. The largest of which was a massive giant named 'Spartacus' whom I believe was 4 meters in length. 

When the feedings were over, we grabbed some lunch.  Burgers, excellent fries, and a couple skewers of crocodile meat, so the boys could say they had eaten some, and yes it still tastes like chicken.   After lunch, Ariel and JP went out for a smoke,and William and Henry went to check out the aviary section of the park.  While waiting for the 1:30 lagoon boat ride, I found Henry and William had run ahead and found some black swans, and some black necked storks on the other side of a waist-high fence. The swans were comically aggressive, lunging at anything that got close enough to snap at. The storks just stood still, I'm sure, mortified by the behavior of their companions.

 

The tour boat arrived, and began loading passengers. In line, Henry showed me some pictures of a giant spider he found in the aviary. It looked exactly like the spider I saw there in 2006. I wondered how long those things lived... We filed in the boat, and the tour guide gave us a brief tutorial on how not to loose appendages.  She backed the boat into the square kilometer man-made crocodile habitat explaining that when the crocs lay eggs, the park employees draw straws to decide who goes in to retrieve them.  She dangled some chicken on the end of a bamboo pole, and obediently, a couple of well trained crocs swam over and jumped for it, making the distinct 'poomp' noise when their jaws snapped shut with 3000lbs of force.   We passed the oldest crocodile, who was supposedly 100 years old and totally blind, but still the dominant croc in the pond. After the boat trip, we followed the group of tourists to the croc-farm tour, where we got to see the incubation vats and cinder-block pens where the croc-farmers segregate the crocs by size so they don't eat each other. After this part of the tour, we decided we were done with crocodiles for the day, but before leaving, we had to go pet the wallabys.

We followed the map passed the 'take a photo with a baby crocodile' booth, and the empty 'CROC ATTACK!' arena, to the wallaby and roo petting area, an open field with a handful of the animals scattered around, munching leaves and generally looking complacent. In the center of the field was an oblong sheltered area fenced off for a lone Koala, sleeping peacefully. I circled the Koala pen, and accidentally walked through a spider's web.  I never found the spider, but moments later, something bit me in the back of the leg, so I'm assuming that was payback for wrecking the little guys hard work.  We noticed a designated smoking area inside the petting area, which, both JP and Ariel thought was a really odd combination. Hopping and laughing, Henry chased a baby wallaby across the field. Surprisingly it eventually let him catch up, and even let him cuddle it a bit. I checked the spider bite to make sure my leg wasn't turning black, and we headed to the exit.   The park exit is strategically located on the far end of the gift shop, so on the way out we purchased Henry a crocodile bracelet for 8 bucks, a far more affordable souvenir than the croc wallets which were going for almost 300 dollars. I didn't check the price of the brief-case... In the parking-lot I helped henry tie on his new souvenir, but left it loose, so he could take it off when we went swimming, which was our next plan of action.

We drove up the coast to Oak Beach, and jumped out. There was a perfect blend of rocks on one side, and beach on the other. We searched the rocks for shells, finding some good ones, then the boys played in the waves for about an hour. Henry said this was the most fun he'd had all trip.  It was getting dark, so we headed back to the hotel to clean up before dinner.  We all agreed that weather permitting, we should hit the beach every remaining day in Cairns. It's hard to believe we only have 2 days left here.  Heading back we took some pictures at Rex Lookout, overlooking the beach and Double Island. 

When we got back, the boys jumped in the hot tub, and Ariel and I walked down the esplanade in search of lattes. About three blocks down, we found a coffee-shop/diner called Cockey's which fit the bill.  We noticed they had a dinner menu featuring bangers & mash, lamb shank, and ribs.  The prices looked reasonable, so we went back to the hotel to grab the kids.  Henry was looking frantically for his crocodile skin bracelet, and after not finding it in the expected places, he realized that he hadn't seen his bracelet since the beach, and, as he'd forgotten to take it off before swimming, it was probably now lost at sea. 

Dinner at Cockey's was quick and uneventful.  The food was decent, and everyone was in a good mood. The boys joked with each other, and we headed back to the hotel for the evening.  Tomorrow we do Kuranda for real.  We'll need to be out the door by 9:00AM sharp to catch the tram, so tonight we go to bed early.