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Hartley's Crocodile Experience - Crocodiles are a fact of life living here. They are in the marshes, creeks, rivers and the oceans. They have been around since the dinosaur age (not sure which one) and are the creepiest looking things.
The park is quite large and I hustle to take it all in. First up is the Cassowary Garden. What is a Cassowary….a colorful, large, non-flying rainforest bird that is now endangered. They provide an essential function for the forest by eating tree fruit then pooping out the seeds of trees as they wander around thus replanting trees. Without them, some tree species would become endangered as well. The circle of life - we just do not get it. These birds have an interesting defense mechanism - they can jump 3 feet off the ground from standing. They have 3 toes - but one is a mean looking dagger like claw which they use to gut the offender. Check the pictures out and look at this claw - crazy. The other unique aspect of these birds is that the female lays the eggs however the male sits on, hatches and looks after the young. The female is then allowed to wander around again looking for another good male - now that's the way I like it - uh huh uh huh!
Second stop, a tour of the Crocodile farm. It is now illegal to hunt Crocodiles in the Northern Territory. It used to be popular for the skin for shoes, boots and bags. Now, crocodile farms have been established to provide the animals for this purpose. They have it down to a science. As you can see from the pictures, they only have 50 or so crocs 2-3 years old per pen so they don't become territorial and fight. Crocs are very territorial in the wild. Where do they get them - they collect the eggs from the population living in the park in the waterways - a 3 man process; one to stand guard, one with the boat, and one to collect. They have to mark them with a pencil on the right side up as they baby crocs are in a water filled sac in the egg and will drown if turned over.
Next - the Lagoon boat. Check out the pictures of these huge crocs jumping out of the water to grab the chicken. They just sit there watching, then all of a sudden - boom - out of the water. So would not want to fall in croc infested water!
Off to the crocodile feeding. They guys feeding them were so close and the crocs in this area were huge! There are a couple of pictures of a bird who wanted to steal some uneaten chicken, but was afraid to go to near - Crocs look like they are sleeping but they are totally awake and ready to strike!
The fresh water crocs are much different than salt water - much smaller with different teeth. They can *gallop* on land in order to get to water quickly. Still creepy!
Lunch was crocodile meat on salad - very tasty and they gave you a ton. I took the rest - a lot - for dinner. I also encountered some folks who were rather rotund, were asleep at the table and THE PIE. ***a note about PIES in Australia - perhaps a throw back from England however, they are OBSESSED with the things - a lard and flour pie crust with some sort of filling. They could be meat, fish, vegetables or sweet. They eat these calorie loaded things morning, lunch, snack and dinner. No wonder there is a weight problem here! I did not partake -even one. Go figure.
After lunch, I wandered around the Gondwana Gateway - An Evolutionary Walk. The Gondawa continent was made up of several countries - see the pictures - and it explains the origin of Australia's wildlife. The animals are so different here as the continent had a lengthy isolation from the other land masses and the flora and fauna had to adapt in order to survive a changing climate and habitat.
Before my 2pm pick up - I went to the gift shop - purchased a small, exquisite crocodile bag and a crocodile tooth on a rope necklace at a reasonable price! A great day; and learned SO much. Note to self, in areas with crocodiles, stay away from the water's edge; you are inviting trouble!
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