Great Barrier Baby!

Day at the Croc farm!!!!

While Liz & I were chillin in Cairns we went to visit the Crocodile farm at Hartley's Crocodile Adventures where we saw a ton of crocs (behind fences though).

So I FINALLY saw my first koala! Too bad it wasn't a wild one but they were still stinkin cute!!!


This is a Cassowary-a very distant relative to velociraptors because they have giant claws just like them-even though you can't really see them in this picture-you'll just have to take my word for it. They also make this loud sound off the forest floor that sounds like a boom box blaring the bass-very cool birds! AND we got to hand feed them too!
The koalas slept most of the time...zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
This was the Attack Show where a trained professional...goes into the fenced in area with a crocodile & "plays" with it & shows you how it attacks!
He even got the croc to do the dead man's roll...theres a piece of meat attached to the rope he's holding.
Again don't worry folks...he's a trained professional who's been doing this for twenty plus years
So this part is where you get to go on a boat & they cruise you around the lagoon where theres a bunch of crocs swimming around freely.
Then they hang a stick with meat hanging off it right next to the boat & the crocs jump out of the water & rip it from the poles!!!!!
There was also a snake show too.
Some sort of lizard
Little ducks that have not yet been someone's dinner


SOOooo...the story here is that someone told me if you eat green ants they're supposed to taste like lime soda...and as curiosity would have it...
I had to see for myself!
You can just barely see it on the tip of my tongue there


More kookaburas. Actually when we first walked in them & the koalas were so still we thought they were stuffed & fake...until one of them twitched & then we realized we were a foot away from real live koalas!!!!

But this one isn't real. Makes for fun cheesey photos though!

Kickin it in Cairns!

It's hard to tell but this is a mango tree & the light brown thing in the picture is a bat or "flying fox" as they call them down here.
Liz is pointing to a ginormous grasshopper!!


Liz & I all dolled up & ready for a night on the town!





While most of my time is spent on the farm outside of Mareeba I do get to hop on the bus & head into Cairns every now & again for a weekend off. I actually really like the city of Cairns-it has a relaxed easy going feel to it with plenty to do & lots of tourist stuff nearby. Thats not even mentioning all the opportunities there are to go out on the Great Barrier either on boats, diving or snorkeling trips. I plan to wait till I'm done working & ready to hit the road again before I go diving on the reef. Liz ended up quitting her job in Alice Springs (literally in the middle of Australia with nothing around) & came over to the east coast & we spent a few days in town together then she came & visited me on the farm. Its a lot more fun having someone I can talk to again & meet up with in town.

Critters on the farm!

Big green tree frog chillin on the front veranda.
A big ol' stick bug hangin around the house!
Daddy emu with his baby chix. The funny story is that the last batch of kids he wore out from running around for food too much. We have to keep an eye on him & make sure he doesn't lose this batch too.
White lipped tree frog-apparently sorta rare-but again sitting on the table on the back porch.
Passing by wallaby in early morning dew.
There are so many stinkin cute baby calves all the time. I got Troy to name his last one Bambi cause we found it on its 2nd day & it was falling all over the place -reminded me of the movie.
Frog in the bathroom-actually at night they sneak in everywhere & are hopping all over the house. They are poisonous though so you can't touch them with your bare hands. Apparently they came over by accident on a ship from England centuries ago, their population exploded, & now they're a huge pest. Sadly they have killed of numerous native plants & wildlife so the aussies try to kill them whenever they get a chance.
This gian toad I found in my boot one morninng as I was groggily trying to stuff my foot in & thinking, "what is in my boot-did I leacve a sock in here?" When I shook my boot out jumped Mr. Toad. They really are everywhere-hiding in mop buckets, under newspapers-quite inconvenient!
A few kangaroos in a nearby paddock getting an evening snack.
A kookabura! They are also everywhere-and YES is IS true they laugh at you while they sit in the gum trees-just like the song-except I usually feel like they are either mocking me or about to attack like a pack of hyenas. The kids assure me the chances of me getting eaten by a kookabura a very slim.
One of the dogs-Rove. He is usually the culprit for stealing and hidind my flip flops. You can't leave anything lying around while Rove is out.
One of the beautiful little finches they breed.
This is a cattle bird that got stuck in the molasses tub. So I went all national geographic & baled him out & washed him off...
but then he was freezing cold & soaking wet-unable to fly away so I towel dried him off too...only to have him get back in the next three days in a row at which point I got tired of saving his life. Sadly he met his demise 3 days later in yet another tub og molasses...and no birds have fallen in since.
This little caterpillar was making his journey from front of house to back via the living room.

So I've probably taken a million pictures of various critters I've come accross while working on the farm. Pretty much everyone knows by now that if any animals come wandering by they tell me to run & get my camera because I always want a picture of it. I just wanted to share a few of my strange encounters so far.

Over & out rainbow trout!