LillCrocodile!
May 25th 2008 06:51
My first experience with a crocodile has left a scar for life. No, not a real scar. I wasn’t mauled if that’s what you’re thinking. No. I was blind! You see I grew up in country Victoria where the most dangerous animals are snakes (and we hardly ever saw them it’s too cold most the time!). So, being the contentious traveller I am, I thought I’d go and see a crocodile in a cage before I go far enough north were they run wild. (Just the thought of wild, man eating animals being on the loose was so foreign to me, I mean, in Victoria you don’t have to worry about that kind of danger swimming in a river or pond, or walking near water).
Back to the story. I was in Bundaberg Queensland, doing fruit picking work to pay for my travels. While everyone else was doing the usual drinking and TV watching after a hard day on the farms, instead of joining them I went on my little adventure...
A short walk from the backpacker hostel was a kind of zoo. Not really a zoo because the only animals were one crocodile and a few birds in cages scattered around. It wasn’t a zoo at all actually. But it was all open to the public for free. I was nervous. I had nothing to be scared about, it was in a cage, why was I so nervous? I walked down the track along the Burnett River towards the ‘non-zoo’. I turned up the hill to where I was told the croc was. And I saw it... the cage. I walked further up and the whole enclosure was revealed. The cage was grey and black and dirty covered in rust and grime. There was a pool of green water in the middle surrounded by smooth, concrete edging and patchy grass. But... no Croc.
I was disappointed, I had hoped to see it but it was obviously resting in the water. There was no one else around to ask if the croc was even in the cage so I walked around the other enclosures to pass the time. Five minutes later I lost patience with the birds in their pens and went back to the old rickety cage. Still, no croc. I left, disappointed and walked the river track back to the hostel. I was almost back when I decided I’d turn around and have one more look.
Only about 10 minutes had past by now. I walked up path to the cage, not expecting anything, but hoping. I looked in and there, there it was! I held my breath; it was a shock to see it. It was huge! What’s more it’s grey, heavy, fat, three metre long, body was not wet! And I knew. I knew there was a reason I needed to see a croc in a cage before in the wild – they blend well with the environment!
To this day I CANNOT believe I was staring right at the big beast TWICE and I couldn’t see it! Talk about a shock. I felt pretty stupid. It’s one of those situations that you think is impossible. You know, you think you couldn’t be tricked by an animal camouflage, but, when it’s an animal you’re not used to seeing, well, what can I say, it got me. I’ll never forget it and thank goodness for the cage.
A great crocodile farm I highly recommend is in a town called Innisfail in far north Queensland on the way to Cairns. I definitely saw all the crocs when I went a few months later! Happy travels
Back to the story. I was in Bundaberg Queensland, doing fruit picking work to pay for my travels. While everyone else was doing the usual drinking and TV watching after a hard day on the farms, instead of joining them I went on my little adventure...
A short walk from the backpacker hostel was a kind of zoo. Not really a zoo because the only animals were one crocodile and a few birds in cages scattered around. It wasn’t a zoo at all actually. But it was all open to the public for free. I was nervous. I had nothing to be scared about, it was in a cage, why was I so nervous? I walked down the track along the Burnett River towards the ‘non-zoo’. I turned up the hill to where I was told the croc was. And I saw it... the cage. I walked further up and the whole enclosure was revealed. The cage was grey and black and dirty covered in rust and grime. There was a pool of green water in the middle surrounded by smooth, concrete edging and patchy grass. But... no Croc.
I was disappointed, I had hoped to see it but it was obviously resting in the water. There was no one else around to ask if the croc was even in the cage so I walked around the other enclosures to pass the time. Five minutes later I lost patience with the birds in their pens and went back to the old rickety cage. Still, no croc. I left, disappointed and walked the river track back to the hostel. I was almost back when I decided I’d turn around and have one more look.
To this day I CANNOT believe I was staring right at the big beast TWICE and I couldn’t see it! Talk about a shock. I felt pretty stupid. It’s one of those situations that you think is impossible. You know, you think you couldn’t be tricked by an animal camouflage, but, when it’s an animal you’re not used to seeing, well, what can I say, it got me. I’ll never forget it and thank goodness for the cage.
A great crocodile farm I highly recommend is in a town called Innisfail in far north Queensland on the way to Cairns. I definitely saw all the crocs when I went a few months later! Happy travels
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