This year for Stan's birthday we got on a plane and flew up to Port Douglas to scuba dive the Great Barrier Reef and explore the Daintree Rain Forrest. It was stunning!!
We flew into Cairnes, Queensland (about 2.5 hours north) and then drove 1 hour north to a Port Douglas. This is what we saw along the road when we got near Port Douglas. We pulled over and jumped right in! It is spring here in Oz so after a long, kind of cold winter we were ready for some sun!
The water was probably the warmest ocean water I have ever been in. It was almost too warm, like bath water--AMAZING!
After a spontaneous beach stop we drove past a crocodile tour and pulled in. We watched a bunch of outback hicks try to feed crocodiles by hand, while trying not to be eaten. It was really entertaining!
Port Douglas is right next to the Daintree rain forest which just happens to be the highest capita of crocodiles per square meter in Australia. They have salt water crocodiles and freshwater crocodiles and just about every river, ocean or puddle had a DO NOT SWIM, crocodiles sign next to it...so much for spontaneous swimming in the ocean right?
Watching crocodiles eat while getting our river boat tour...
This top one is not a close up shot. I was next to the window and her face was about 5 feet away from me. In the picture below there are 5 crocodiles-can you see them?
A crocodile can hold its breath for up to 5 hours and can hide in about 3 feet of water without you knowing it is there. They can only open and close their jaw but not go from side to side so they eat by ripping limbs off, throwing them up in the air and catching them. They drown their prey first so if you get your hand caught in a crocodiles mouth, your best chance of survival is to poke its eye and hope that it opens its mouth as a knee-jerk reaction. When we walked around the town of the Daintree Rain forest there were all sorts of signs for missing dogs or people with "suspected crocodile attack" written below...creepy!
Welcome to the outback right?
1 comment:
Scary! Glad you are home safe and sound. You two really are quite adventurous and brave souls.
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