Day 25 - Crocodile Safari tour & suitcase sort out!

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o first, and foremost, my room is getting sprayed today! Hopefully, they will exterminate the beetle/cockroach thing, and also get the couple of lizards that are also squatting in my space!

So my sleep was ok, but intermittent! The rain was crazy overnight! i heard it beating on everything it landed on! I got up to check my washing, but it was all good as it is well sheltered in the covered in balcony.

I woke up to my alarm at 7:15, got a quick shower, arranged my handbag, and I was off for the day.

I had pre-arranged breakfast with Angelika to meet at 7:45. Perfect timing, we met on our way into the restaurant area. I had a simple continental breakfast today. Just changing things up from eggs!

I was amazed to see the boys at breakfast this morning, all fresh as daisies! I wasn’t expecting that. They’ve apparently got a rough sea day ahead in the sun, and rain. If we can believe the weather forecast! I guess they have age on their side… I remember those days, when I could get up the next day after an excessive, belly full of alcohol, and a late night, and still function normally.

I really do hope they have a great day. I’m disappointed that I made the decision not to go, but I just didn’t want to suffer the rough sea, and rain! Although it does mean that I miss out seeing Whitehaven beach. It was the snorkelling part of the trip that was cancelled, the rest of it is still available to do… with warnings! So I’m going on a crocodile safari day! Not sure how that’ll unfold, but I am looking forward to it.

4 of us have opted out of the trip, so we are all going to the crocodile safari instead. It is in a small rural town called Prosperpine.

The bus picked us up, we set off, picking various small groups along the way. As we were driving along, we’ve gone from a good road, to a not so good road, we’re now on a dirt track. We came to a sudden halt, there are many white, bald looking cows laid in the road. The driver just kept on edging forward, eventually they moved.

The road became more of a forest track, it’s quite dense, then here we are!! We arrived at the group meeting area,

We get on the site, have a talk about what’s going to happen today. Then we get onto the boat to go on the Prosperine River. We are going to see the mangrove ecosystem area, and observe the inhabitants including birds, fish, reptiles and crustaceans.

Our first sighting was a baby crocodile which is called a hatchling. This one was about 18 months old. We were informed that crocodiles lay an average of 12 to 48 eggs at a time. The hatchlings stay in their eggs for 55 to 100 days. The sex of each crocodile baby depends on the temperature of its egg during a critical moment during the first half of its incubation period. Only less than 1% of the hatchlings will make it to adulthood!

We sailed up, and down the river. We saw many young crocs, but none of their parents, which is pretty normal, as their parents leave their babies to it, after they are born!

It’s disappointing that we didn’t see any big crocodiles, but again, not surprising as they are known to sleep all day, and come out at night. It was a relaxing experience, just sailing up and down the river.

At 12:00, we were back on land for a lunch break. We had beef sausage, chicken, beef and barramundi with salad, potatoes and noodles. I didn’t manage all of the beef, or the sausage, but I enjoyed what I ate.

After lunch we set of on a set of carts that are being pulled by a tractor. We are going to be driven around the vegetation and wildlife in a freshwater wetland habitat.

There are many Melaleuca trees in the first area; an enclosed forest. The taller melaleucas are commonly called paperbarks, or tea-trees. Hidden between the trees we also saw a few wallabies, but I’ve yet to successfully photograph one!

We moved on to the wetland area, the Goorganga flood plain. He talked about all of the wildlife around, and how the plants have been used over many years for medicinal purposes, giving demonstrations as we went.

We went back to the meeting area to experience tasting a ‘Damper’ and English breakfast tea from Cairns!! This is what they called, having smoker, I guess it’s an equivalent of having afternoon tea! The damper was like a cross between a scone, a cake and bread; it was something different for me to eat, but I liked it! Obviously, the tea was nice!

I’ve enjoyed the day, but I have to say, I’m not sure what kthe reason was, but we were all so sleepy! Both on the boat, and the tractor train. All the kids were so quiet too! The only time we were all completely awake was when we were being fed and watered! I’m not sure if it was the fresh air, the motion of the boat and tractor train, or the guys voices, but seriously, everyone was nodding!!!!

All done, the coach came back to collect us to return us to our hotels. As we got near, I decided to get off the bus in the town area so that I could have a good look around, as we will be leaving early in the morning. This will save me from having to walk the hill both ways. I’ll only have to do it to return to the hotel…. Once!

I was tempted a couple of times, and to be honest, when you still have another four and a half weeks to carry your suitcase…. You think twice about adding to it unnecessarily!

When I did get back to the hotel, I’m guessing that my room has been debugged, as they’ve left my balcony door wide open, so I should be in for a better nights sleep tonight!

I’m going to have a bit of time to reorganise my case. As each day you take stuff in and out, then re add dried washing, it all gets mixed up. So I’m emptying it completely, and putting it all bag in to its proper bag! I actually roll and band most of my stuff, then bigger stuff is folded into a square and put in an IKEA ziplock bag. I put similar items together, ziplock it leaving an inch open, lay over it to get rid of the air, then fasten the last inch! It helps to know what is where, and also maximises your space!
Eg: I have a bag for:
shorts
Short dresses
Long items
Vest tops
Underwear
Etc!
Sounds complicated, but makes life on the road much easier!

I also had the time to do my hair properly again. The last time I did it was just before I left Sri Lanka. I did wash it in between due to getting wet through in the rain, so it was nice to do it properly again!

I’ve decided not to go into town for dinner tonight. We have a 7am start tomorrow, so will be up at 6:30. I really enjoy the group dinners, but I can’t do the late night followed by the early morning! Well, technically I can, but I don’t want to! I’m going to have dinner here at the hotel. Angelika is also staying behind as she’s doing her washing here.

Dinner was so nice tonight. I had Teriyaki salmon, noodles and salad. Really enjoyed it! I’m now back in my room, no bugs, lots of rain. It’s been another really good day!

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Comments

[Angela]

I'm a celebrity...but I'm not getting out of here!
Hi Lesley.....you are having some wonderful experiences...and as always I am loving 'following' you. Don't think I could have coped with the bugs though.....you really are a celebrity! Pleased you are hanging on in there...I'd be running a mile!. Take care...looking forward to the next installment. I'm setting off on my own short trip....a week in Fuerteventura to chill and think of Colin...he loved it there....got a flight delay at Manchester and I don't do nothing easily!! 🤯🤔🤔🤯 Take care. .