Camel Riding

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Camels - Tick. Another animal of the list! We got up early Sunday morning and had breakfast again sitting in the sunshine. The weather here at the moment is just perfect and who ever thinks this is cold needs there head checked. After breakfast we went down to Lighthouse beach in search of camels. We didn’t exactly have to search much. After all they kind of stand out. It was $50(€30) each to take a half hour ride with the camels. First we were fitted up with helmets and then we got on to our camels. I was told mine had a toothache and was a bit grumpy so that put me at ease straight away. When they groan/growl it sounds more like a lion than what you might think a camel sounds like. They also have long sharp teeth that would take an arm off if they felt the need to! The owners of the camels were two characters to say the least. One guys relations came from Roscommon so when I told him my parents came from the county he took an extra interest in us. His great great great…….. Grandfather was sent to Australia as a convict many moons ago. He said he couldn’t have been more delighted he was a thief as it meant he got to grow up and live in this magnificent country.

The walk itself was pretty cool and he explained a lot about camels. Did you know they actually don’t store water in their humps? Most people would never associate camels with Australia. Guess how many there are? 1.7 million!!! Most of them wild. They want to cull them as they say the are doing damage to the land but he thinks it should be turned into an industry instead of killing them all. At the moment there is no industry and most camels are on Aboriginal land. After finishing the walk we talked to him for awhile about different animals in Australia and he advised us against going into the water anywhere from Brisbane up. That’s 400kms away and we have already decided to keep our toes on the sand.

Each campsite we stay at has great BBQ facilities so we are making the most of that. We also sit and watch people surfing every day for awhile and each beach is full of them. it’s a pretty cool sport and something would might get lessons in before we go. Tomorrow though I get to finally swim with dolphins. It cost a lot but it should be worth it. It wont be the same as swimming in the wild but it will be more personal as only 5 people will get in the pool with them.

In a bit. DH

Song of the blog: The Bang - Walk like an Egyptian

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Comments

[Maisondubonheur]

Hi
Once you hit Cairns, you've got to do the rafting on Tuly river, really fun. And if you can, try to do some skydiving...not cheap, but still cheaper than in most places. Great camels by the way!