SDSU Australia 2016: May 21st

This morning we left our hotel at 6:30 a.m. to catch our flight to Cairns (pronounced cans). We had an uneventful three-and-a-half-hour flight. We were all looking forward to sunny skies and warm weather, but we landed with cloudy skies in a drizzling rain at 25 degrees C (82 F) and a high humidity.

Arial view near Melbourne

Arial view of red desert in route to Cairns

We were given a short tour through the city of Cairns and saw many sugar cane fields on our way to Hartley’s Crocodile Adventures. At Hartley’s, we were fed a late dinner buffet with beef steak, fish, and crocodile sausage. Most everyone at least tried the crocodile. We then got to go on a boat tour through the crocodile swamp where our guide got some action out of the reptiles as well as told us stories and habits of the crocodiles. All of the crocodiles at Hartley’s have names; the tour guide on the boat knew all of their names and introduced us to them as they jumped out of the water to get the food. Everyone made it back safely from the boat tour and after that was over we went and watched a crocodile attack show. Jesse and his daring co-worker worked to show us how the 4-meter crocodile, Hagrid could attack using different methods of baiting and irritation, as well as preying methods. We also learned that crocodiles can hold their breath for 20 minutes and has the ability to close its throat so it can grab prey while under water. We then had the chance to walk around and view the other animals such as Koalas, Wallabies, Kangaroos, and various birds. While on our walk we had the chance to look at Trinity, a 50-year-old crocodile who came to Hartley’s after he had been tormenting water skiers.

Hagrid the crocodile jumping up to get food.

Mother and Baby Koala Bears

The bus ride back to our hotel was led in song by Jimmy and Kyle who sang whatever came to mind.

This evening we went to Tjapukai cultural park to experience the aboriginal (Australian natives) culture. We learned about the culture and origin of the aboriginal people. Aboriginal performers put on several performances throughout the night. The aboriginal performers dressed in their traditional attire with instruments of their culture. Some instruments were used for music as well as weapons. Bayley and Angel both got pulled up on stage to lead the group dance before our meal. After our meal Jimmy volunteered to compete in a contest with another tourist to see who played the Didgeridoo (a long wooden flute) the best. After the performance we had a buffet meal and were served crocodile and kangaroo meat.