One the way to our next destination, if there is something worth looking at, our bus driver will stop and take us on a short tour. Here are a few pictures from two of our stops. The first set is of Boulders Gorge. There are huge rocks in the middle of this river. It is actually a pretty amazing sight. There is a story that the Aboriginals tell in regards to why there are huge boulders there but it is fairly long and I didn't catch it all because the river was so loud. So anyways enjoy these few!!
We also got to stop at a crocodile farm. They raise the crocodiles from young to sell for their leather and meat. No we have not tried any of the meat yet!! They also get 'Problem Crocodiles' from the local rivers. These ones are not aloud to be sold for their meat or hide. They are just used for breeding purposes. They have around 80 large crocodiles and thousands of little ones. They grow extremely slow! The place that we stopped at is known to have the largest crocodile in captivity. Five meters long. He is huge!! We also got to watch a feeding which was pretty cool. We never got any pictures of that due to dead batteries in the camera and the rest of the batteries in stow-away under the bus!! We did get video of it. The videos are not uploaded onto the computer yet but I will try to post them at a later date!! The crocodile in the pictures below is eight years old. Believe it or not, one that size could take a finger or two and if he got you on the back of the leg, he would take a pretty good chunk. Then there are a few of us with a Bearded Lizard. These little guys are surprisingly pokey! They are the ones that there neck flares out when intimidated. Enjoy these!!
Interesting tidbit of information about the crocs. Being absorbed in crocodiles and swamps right now for VBS has me quite interested in that!
ReplyDeleteIt is amazing how much you can actually learn about the animals from your guides. The spikes on their backs, are actually used to heat their blood. It gives them a larger surface area so that they can warm up faster and therefore become more active. That too is why they sit with their mouths open. It collects more heat. Also, if you look inside their mouths, you can not see down their throat. There is almost like a seal at the back of the throat so that they can catch their prey and drown it or whatever they need to do, without being filled with water! Pretty neat. I can send you a picture of that if you would like me too!
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